Proper 16 2015

Proper 16 2015

Sometimes I can’t help but pick on Evangelicalism a little bit… And the thing that’s had my attention for a while now is this saying that gets thrown around by pastors, and is even seen on church websites—it’s the saying that “they want to make Jesus famous.”

Now, I suppose in a culture where celebrities dominate so much of the American consciousness—I suppose I can see where the novelty of the saying comes from… But, then again, I can’t help thinking why it is that people think that Jesus isn’t famous. What’s more, the thought that these pastors or these churches would be the way in which Jesus is made famous is more than a little disheartening, if not a little presumptuous. Not only that, but I’m pretty sure it’s not Jesus, but the Church who really has the P.R. problem.

And it would seem to me, as long as there remains this dissonance—this disconnect between who Jesus is, and what his Church is supposed to be about—it may be that in trying to ‘make Jesus famous,’ the Church becomes infamous. But whether this disconnect is just an issue of Christians misunderstanding Jesus, or just that people of faith are double-minded—I don’t know. However, I don’t think it’s helpful to assume either one. Instead, I find myself wondering about how we understand the faith that we’ve received.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about this conclusion to the long bread discussion by Jesus. Here, we see that he’s beginning to really drive home this idea that in fully taking him into ourselves, that we receive eternal life. He uses familiar symbolism, and references the sacred stories of Israel—all to bring to mind what it is to be a follower of his.

However, as so often happens in life, as soon as the people (here they’re even referred to as disciples)—as soon as they hear Jesus talking about eating flesh and drinking blood…well, they’re obviously a little weirded-out. But it’s not the talk of eating blood and flesh that is necessarily bugging them, it’s that Jesus is presuming to make such an authoritative claim about the commitment to discipleship. After all, he’s using language of covenant with God in connection with himself and his disciples.

 Before long, then, this group begins talking about what a difficult thing he’s asking, and wondering who could even be expected to live up to such an expectation. Just then, Jesus asks them…”I’m sorry. Does this offend you? Does requiring a deep sacrificial commitment from people who want to be associated with God seem to be too much to ask?”

  

It would seem from this interaction that not only was Jesus not interesting in being famous—but, he wanted to make it absolutely clear that faith is ‘hard.’

What I find interesting, though, is that (aside from the 12)—any of these people would have an issue with Jesus talking about faithfulness to God, and being a disciple is hard… I mean, these are Jewish people—they’re “Israelites.” What did they expect discipleship to be?

We only have to look back at the history of Israel to see this cycle of brokenness, and pain. The identity of Israel is one of a people who were drawn through adversity, and given salvation by God—in fact, the name Israel (we might recall) means “one who has striven against God.” So, these are people well acquainted with adversity and faith that is hard…

What’s more, I would imagine many of these people have found their way to Jesus because they were hard pressed by both the Roman Empire, and their own religious elite, besides…

But that’s to say, even though they would be well versed in adversity, this wasn’t the whole of their story, either. Because, as the Chosen People of God, Israel was called from a number of trials and troubles by God. They were invited each and every time that they were delivered to not only remember that God had always delivered them, and always would—but they were also given the choice as to whether or not they would accept being the People of God.

In fact, we saw in the reading from Joshua, this very thing. Moses had led them through the Wilderness, God having delivered them from Egypt. And whether it was at the edge of the Red Sea, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, or even here…after Moses had died and Joshua would lead the people into the Promised Land—the people were asked to examine their hearts and really decide if they wanted this life—the life of being God’s People.

Of course, while the people seem to jump at the choice—they’re all the same reminded that this call is a call to holiness. It’s serious business becoming a confessed Child of God. Sure, it’s better than slavery in Egypt, or wandering in the desert for 40 years—so, in this way it’s an easy choice. And considering what is required of the people of God is pretty clear—we hear echoes of this all throughout Scripture: Love God, Love your neighbor; Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before your God; and care for the sick, the friendless, the needy, the widows and orphans; and not least of all the foreigner in your midst… All of these are pretty clear expectations—and while they’re certainly not simple—at least we’re not guessing at how to appease some angry mysterious deity. The call of God is to love.

Now, as we well know—things between Israel and God were anything but simple. And a read through the Cliffs Notes of the Bible will make it clear that the relationship was a rocky one. Because for as clear as the demands were, and the purposes of God for the People of Israel—what we find is a cycle of unfaithfulness in Israel, the negative consequences of their actions, and God saving them from themselves again…

All of this should sound very familiar to us. After all, not only are we likewise asked at every baptism if we’re willing to continue to follow God, and be people who seek to live out the call that has been given us for generations—but, like Israel, I think we find ourselves constantly needing God’s help and forgiveness. But the point of all of this is not so much about our marketability, or how easy we can make faith appear to people. Sure, anyone can become disillusioned with one church, and go to another. But, it’s not as if we can get disillusioned with Jesus and move on to the next savior. It’s like Peter said, “where can we go?” because Jesus has the words of life. Faith is hard.

Honestly when I get to the heart of all of it, I find that faith costs everything. Faith not only demands my whole self—it demands making myself a living sacrifice to God…and in the power that we claim in baptism, I realize I’m no longer my own.

Beyond this, the difficulty and demands of this faith are not on the fine print, they’re writ large across the broken form of the Son of God, nailed to the cross—who calls us to join him in taking up our own cross.

So, it seems to me that rather than being about the business of “making Jesus famous,” perhaps we’d all be better served by knowing him a bit better ourselves. And what’s more, if we were willing to commit ourselves to being the people that God invites us to be—there would be no question about who Jesus is—and certainly less question about whom we represent…

It’s a hard teaching, who can accept it? But, for those of us who have been thirsty and come to the water—we know that there is no other place to go in faith, and no one who could love us more than God in Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.