I Liked Jesus Better Then 5

Jaroslav Pelikan, that great church history scholar who taught for three decades at Yale, once said “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Some, of course, think (foolishly) that all tradition is dead and that all things now living are alive. But we can be wiser about this, and it is the fine line between tradition and traditionalism that sometimes creates enormous problems for the church.

That is whyRubel Shelly in his new book, I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Christian… And I Liked Him Better Then makes the statement that “today is the sabbath!”  Religion, so he argues, can so easily get in God’s way! What at one time stabilizes can later destabilize. Religion controls; God is beyond control.

What do you think of his idea that the church is the medium of the gospel today? What happens when we see church members as family members and not as fellow volunteers? Is your church more like a restaurant or a family?

Jesus cut into the heart of this debate when he said “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

But sometimes the traditions are more important than people. He tells the story of the man who was healed at Bethesda (John 5) where, to the surprise of the traditionalists, a man recently healed by Jesus was walking home and folks were irritated because he was carrying his mat on the sabbath. Well, well, it’s obvious isn’t it? The rules were in the way of seeing that God had been at work to heal a man, and instead of rejoicing they were worried about breaking rules.

If God is at work, we should support God’s work.

It is not uncommon for many people to feel they have to choose between Jesus and religion. Scripture’s aim is not itself but Jesus. In this very text Jesus had to make just that point (John 5:39-40). Rubel says the biggest enemy of Jesus is traditionalism. And so he proposes three insights:

Inclusion. Traditionalists want to make outsiders feel unwelcome; Jesus wants outsiders to feel welcome.

Affirmation. Traditionalists always affirm traditions over people; Jesus affirmed people over traditionalism.

Relationship. Traditionalists trusts rules; Jesus offers a relationship. Traditionalists — count on this one — are those who are always worried that love will lead to license and will become a slippery slope to who knows what.

These things are hard to measure, but the most valuable things of life are often hard to measure.