On Not Being Like Jesus

By John Frye:

I think if someone asked first century Jesus what he thought of conflict, he would respond, “Conflict? Conflict is my middle name.”  Mark’s Gospel early on presents staccato notes of discord between Jesus and the religious leaders of Israel. Undoubtedly Mark has arranged these disparate episodes to move from the religious leaders’curious concerns about Jesus to their united plot to kill Jesus. These conflicts appear in Mark 2:1-3:6 with 3:6 (NIV) reading, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

What had Jesus done? He said things and he did things. In these conflict episodes Jesus pronounced forgiveness, dramatically healed others, ate with riffraff, broke customary protocol (didn’t fast), disregarded purity laws while eating, said that he was “Lord even of the Sabbath,”and “worked”on the Sabbath (by healing). With words and deeds, with teachings and behaviors, Jesus was undermining, even exploding the religio-social fabric of his people.

Jesus’sayings and doings dismantled reality. Amidst all the amazement that Jesus generated was also a current of fear and resentment mutating to murderous hatred.  What he did made everyone question their unique religion, their daily habits, their definition of the good life, and their one and only God. The disciples, in following Jesus, were not invited to a comfortable church pot-luck; they were following a courageous, creative leader who bull-dozed received reality and introduced a new world.

So, pastoral colleagues, do we really want to be like Jesus? Do we want our churches to be like Jesus? Are we so immersed in American evangelical reality with its received, somewhat idolatrous patterns of theology that when and if Jesus wanted to change things by giving us his upside-down kingdom, we find ourselves in league with the Pharisees and Herodians? The cheap use of the words “heretic,”“heretical,”and “biblical”within the big tent of USAmerican evangelicalism tips the hand of how antsy some are to preserve “the faith”as only they have received it. It’s both sad and comical.

Who do you know that is undermining, with words and deeds, the  received American-evangelical worldview that allows an insipid Christianity to grow moldy and suspect? You don’t see me raising my hand. I am concerned that this will be written in the future: “Then the Evangelicals went out and began to plot with the Republicans/the Democrats how they might kill Jesus.”The trickle down capitalists don’t want to hear about Jesus freely feeding 5000 and then 4000 poor people. “Tell ‘em to get a job!”The Bible says, “Don’t forget to welcome the stranger.”Even if she’s illegal? Your call, church. Left-leaning socialists don’t want to hear that the kingdom of God is not driven by fairness. Even more, in the church there will always be poor people and rich people. Even the Great Judgment will deal out eternal rewards and they won’t all be equal. “Well that’s just not fair!”We don’t adjust well to a monarchy led by King Jesus.

Conflict revolution or conflict resolution? In conversations I’ve had with pastors over the years, most of them, including me, admitted to a deep dislike of conflict. We voiced our common distain for church “trouble-makers.”We’ve yet, however, to hear someone say to us, “I am even LORD of the Sabbath.”Usually, they said things like, “I am LORD of the carpet and drapes”or “I am LORD of the music styles.”Petty, even phony conflicts in Comfortville Community Church. Did Mark in his Gospel want to give first century church leaders a heads-up about what is involved in following Jesus of Nazareth Who was revealed as both LORD and Christ?