Jesus Plays Possum

Maybe it's because I was a history major, I don't know, but when I read scriptures and here stories about people and places (which is all of the Bible), I have the tendency of imagining myself in their shoes - walking. I was reading a passage in Luke and I was blown away by the creativity of Jesus. Time and time again, Jesus could simply call on His armies, or even done it himself -- but He refuses, that would have been just like all of the other Kingdoms and Kings. Jesus came to show us a different Way. Simply put, and as many of you fully realize, Jesus is amazing! This simple truth stood out to me as I read this passage.

On the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) are two of Jesus' disciples. They are dejected. They are frustrated. They are probably a little annoyed and possibly feeling slightly betrayed. The "prophet" they had followed, who claimed to be the Son of God had just been executed by the Romans. Jesus had rejected each power structure: to the Sadducees He refused the status quo, to the Pharisees He pushed them out of their legalism, to the established oppressive nation-state (the Romans) He challenged their authority and to the Zealots He rejected the use of violence. These two disciples walking along the road back to their hometown of Emmaus, the one they left to follow Jesus, probably didn't know what to think. Who was this man? Was he even a prophet? He promised so much, and he didn't deliver. Now they have to go back to family, friends, and co-workers and admit that they walked away from their homes and jobs for a prophet that didn't pan out. The two had heard stories about Jesus rising from the dead, but when some of the other disciples went to His tomb He wasn't there. They didn't believe. Then a stranger walked up.

The stranger says "'What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?' They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, 'You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.'" At this point the stranger (which, as we know, turns out to be Jesus) could have thrown off his cloak and said something along the lines of "Ah ha, behold, it is me, Jesus, the Christ. I have risen from the dead and have come to give you life." At least that is what I would have done. But instead Jesus replies, "What things?" Basically He is provoking a conversation. The two go on to tell this stranger about the prophet who did powerful miracles but was put to death. Much like the power structures Jesus rejected, the two strangers did not have eyes to see and ears to hear (until later that night) and "had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel." Jesus obviously had, but nobody realized it. They had all been looking for the wrong things. The stranger then rebuts the two calling them foolish and then gives them a history lesson starting with Moses and covering all of the prophets who had all pointed back to Him.

Assuming the average walking speed is 2-3 miles per hour, it would take a person around 3 hours to walk the 7 miles between Jerusalem and Emmaus. This is a long time to not recognize the man you followed with your life the past few years. For whatever reason, they don't, and after His rebuke and history lesson, they beg Him to come home and have dinner. "As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!" Talk about drama, you can't make this stuff up! These disciples had to have been impacted in a deep way. Luke says that they headed back to Jerusalem that night (another 3 hour walk - this time in the dark) and told the eleven disciples all that had happened. Can you imagine how energized and excited they had to have been at this point?

Put yourself there on that road to your hometown - dejected, confused, betrayed. Sometimes when Jesus shows up He plays possum just so we can have a deeper revelation of who He is.

Conversion

The most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever.

- Rob Bell

The Shrinking Gospel

Only a fraction of our sins are personal. By far the greater part are sins of neglect, sins of default, our social sin, our systemic sin, our economic sin. For these sins Christ died, and continues to die. For these sins Christ atoned, and continues to atone. . . . As long as evangelism presents a gospel centered on the need for personal salvation, individuals will acquire a faith that focuses on maximum benefits with minimal obligations, and we will change the costly work of Christ's atonement into the pragmatic transaction of a salvific contract. . . . The sanctifying grace of God in Jesus Christ is meant not just for the sinner but also for a society beset by structural sin.

- David Lowes Watson

The Gospel of Jack

One of my favorite singer-songwriters is Jack Johnson. He has some chill acoustic guitar and occasionally adds some ukulele. He did the soundtrack for Curious George, so he is one of my kids' favorites as well. The lyrics he writes are pretty good too. I hear he owns a home in Ashland, Oregon, which is were I went to college, so that makes him even cooler.

I am reading Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis and came across an interesting section titled "True." Bell quotes Arthur Holmes who said "All truth is God's truth," and then adds,

"So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God's and everything in it."

We have the tendency to toss out truth because it didn't come from a "Christian" source. But if we truly believe the above quote, that all truth is God's truth, then truth can come from anywhere. It can even come from the lyrics of a "secular" song.

Bell goes on to explain that the Apostle Paul affirms this when he quotes Cretan prophets (Titus 1:12-13) and Greek poets (Acts 17:28). "Now to be able to quote these prophets and poets, Paul obviously had to read them. And study them. And analyze them. And I'm sure he came across all kinds of things in their writings that he didn't agree with. So he sifts and sorts and separates the light from the dark and then claims and quotes the parts that are true."

Now there are many things that are labeled "Christian" and are not true. For example regarding war, Henry T. Blackaby, a leading evangelical said in 2005, "those who oppose the war to liberate Iraq need to read God's Word. There is no question that the current war to liberate Iraq is a 'just' war – according to biblical standards." Chuck Colson was quoted in Christianity Today as saying, "out of love of neighbor, then, Christians can and should support a preemptive strike." There are plenty of these out there, so you can search on your own for quotes from evangelical leaders about their support of war, any war, which to me, equates to blind patriotism. The Christian Post wrote an article in February of 2008 about how most evangelical leaders still support the the war in Iraq.

Jack Johnson may not believe in God or Jesus, or anything spiritual, I don't know him personally, but the lyrics to the below song are closer to the heart of Jesus than any of the above quotes from evangelical leaders.

But who needs to see what we've done?
Who needs please when we've got guns?
Who needs keys when we've got clubs?
Who needs peace when we've gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
Beyond where we should have gone
We went beyond where we should have gone
Beyond where we should have gone

So, . . . I claim it as truth. We've gone beyond where we should have gone.

"Sleep Through The Static"

(click on the above title to hear the song.
There is also a video from NPR of Johnson singing the song here.)

Trouble travels fast
When you're specially designed for crash testing
Or wearing wool sunglasses in the afternoon
Come on and tell us what you're trying to prove

Because it's a battle when you dabble in war
You store it up, unleash it, then you piece it together
Whether the storm drain running rampant just stamp it
And send it to somebody who's pretending to care

Just cash in your blanks for little toy tanks
Learn how to use them, then abuse them and choose them
Over conversations relationships are overrated
"I hated everyone" said the sun

And so I will cook all your books
You're too good looking and mistooken
You could watch it instead
From the comfort of your burning beds
...Or you can sleep through the static

Who needs sleep when we've got love?
Who needs keys when we've got clubs?
Who needs please when we've got guns?
Who needs peace when we've gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
We went beyond where we should have gone

Stuck between channels my thoughts all quit
I thought about them too much, allowed them to touch
The feelings that rained down on the plains all dried and cracked
Waiting for things that never came

Shock and awful thing to make somebody think
That they have to choose pushing for peace supporting the troops
And either you're weak or you'll use brute force-feed the truth
The truth is we say not as we do

We say anytime, anywhere, just show your teeth and strike the fear
Of god wears camouflage, cries at night and drives a dodge
Pick up the beat and stop hogging the feast
That's no way to treat an enemy

Well mighty mighty appetite
We just eat 'em up and keep on driving
Freedom can be freezing take a picture from the pretty side
Mind your manners wave your banners
What a wonderful world that this angle can see

But who needs to see what we've done?
Who needs please when we've got guns?
Who needs keys when we've got clubs?
Who needs peace when we've gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
Beyond where we should have gone
We went beyond where we should have gone
Beyond where we should have gone

An Economy of Enough

As I read more and more of the stories about Jesus I am struck by the intentionality of Christ. Everything He did, everything he said, everyone he spent time with, ate with and talked with was intentional at that very time -- there was a truth to be learned not necessarily by His words, but by what He was doing, right then. I am reading Brian D. McLaren's Everything Must Change and he points out a couple of these occasions. The most striking is when Jesus feeds the multitudes (many call it Jesus feeds the 5,000, however, the five thousand refers to the men in the crowd. It is possibly more accurate to estimate that Jesus actually fed upwards of 15-20 thousand.)

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”

But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”

They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!

(Mark 6:34-44 NLT)

It is easy to look at this (and other) miracles attributed to Jesus and take them at face value. It is a story about Jesus and his divine power, as well as a deep compassion and love for people. All of that is true, but as usually is the case with Jesus, there is more than meets the eye (or the ears) to this story. When the disciples realize that it is getting late they ask Jesus to send the people away so they can buy something to eat. McLaren points out that "Jesus' reply contradicts both the words 'buy' and 'they/themselves.' Instead of 'they/themselves,' he says 'you,' and instead of 'buy' he says 'give.'"

So many times we can't imagine that what we already have is enough. I'm not talking about some divine thinking about the power of God and if we can only believe in His power we can move mountains. Although that is exactly what Jesus ends up doing in this story, and it is a truth that I haven't quite grasped yet. I'm talking about something much less supernatural. In response to the disciples' request to "send the crowds away to buy something to eat," Jesus says: "You feed them." The disciples' response was probably something like this: "Seriously Jesus? There are possibly 15,000 people here. How?" Jesus tells them simply to "go and see" how much they already have. McLaren goes on, "[Jesus] wants them to count what they already have, because what they already have counts, and is, in fact, enough through God's gracious provision."

Jesus is intentionally contradicting our version of economy and provision and calling us to a radically different economy -- an economy of enough. As in this story, in God's economy of enough the people "ate and were satisfied" (v. 42). In this economy Jesus asks instead for "you" to "give" from what you already have. This is true religion (James 1:27). Finally, and most importantly, Jesus "taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven," gives thanks to God (v. 41). This economy is based on gratitude of the Creator, neighborly sharing and reducing our consumption. When we do this, we will all have baskets of bread and fish to spare (v. 43).