Post #65- Go Tell It On the Mountain!

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“I didn’t’ go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want religion to make you comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity. “

 ~C.S. Lewis

Merry Christmas everyone! The big day has finally arrived (although I can’t tell you where the time has flown, it seems like it was just Christmas the other day and now 2013 is almost gone…wow!). Everyone is entitled to a little Christmas cheer, but for Christians it’s more than just a day of family and gifts, it’s the beginning of it all. Advent (see yesterday’s post) is actually the beginning of the “Christian” calendar, so for Christians the birth of the Christ child trumps the fat guy in the fancy red suit as we turn our faces toward “the Light of the World.”

Advent (the month or so leading to Christmas) is a time of expectancy as we await the Christ child. Yes, it is a time where we rehearse the details the story of Jesus’ birth, but it also gives us an opportunity to reflect on how, as I stated in yesterday’s post, unlikely a savior Jesus was.  For me, more than any other time of the Christian calendar we get to revel both in the humanity of Jesus and in the power and zeitgeist of God’s sovereignty, marveling in the what, the how, and the why of God’s activity in the world. In other words, Jesus is a leader, a Messiah but born in barn. He was poor and he spoke of a mystical transcendental experience, not a violent overthrow of the government. Wow!

So, for me, to take a full and honest look at the conditions and circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus is to be challenged by them. It causes me to ask myself and reevaluate how I have made God into my image instead of recognizing and celebrating how I am made in the image of God.  While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with seeing ourselves in God and therefore God in us (every culture has done it), however, we must be careful because that exercise can lead to a slippery slope, one that leads us to comfort and apathy, rather than challenge and action.

Don’t be too mad at me for ruining the widely held view of Jesus, but may I simply offer who, through the lens of scripture (and a meme I recently saw), Jesus was, and you can decide if we see this Jesus in today’s mainstream Christianity or if we have made Jesus into our (American) image.

• Jesus was radical, challenging the religious status quo (to the point he was killed for it).
• Jesus was nonviolent.
• Jesus hung out with the cast aways (lepers, hookers, crooks).
• Jesus wasn’t nationalistic or patriotic (and in fact he wasn’t American nor spoke English).
• Jesus seemed to be anti-death penalty, anti-greed, and anti-public prayer (Matthew 6:3-6)
• Jesus was not anti-gay (he never mentioned it and was in fact a sexual minority as a 30 year old man who hung around with a group of men…there had to be rumors!).
• He never mentioned abortion or birth control (he could have both were well documented in ancient times, especially Greek and Egyptian instances that date back to 1850 BCE).
• Jesus was compassionate to the poor, never calling them lazy.
• He never justified torture.
• He was not anti-taxes; in fact he taught we ought to give Caser what was Caesar’s.
• He healed without asking for a co-pay, although he talked a lot about money and possessions

Jesus talked about money more than He did Heaven and Hell combined.

Jesus talked about money more than anything else except the Kingdom of God.

11 of 39 parables talk about money.

1 of every 7 verses in the Gospel of Luke talk about money.

But with all of this money talk, NONE of it looks like capitalism, at least as we know it. It looks more like socialism.

• Jesus was anti-slut shaming, no male-female double standards for him.
• He spent many of his formative years as an immigrant, living in Africa.
• He was a part of the working poor who spent the last three years of his life as a homeless, community organizer.
• Furthermore, Jesus of Nazareth was a long-haired, brown skinned, middle eastern Jew, someone a great many of today’s Christians would try to avoid on the street (Wow….Merry Christmas!)

I don’t know about you, but Jesus’ humanity challenges me, all of us. Among many things, for me, the life and humanity of Jesus challenges me to question the Serenity Prayer. Instead of praying to accept the things I cannot change, I now pray to change the things I simply cannot accept. During Advent we’re taught to await a day of love and peace. However the birth and life of the Christ child gives me a swift kick in the butt and tells me be the change I want to see in the world.

During Advent, as a United Methodist (it differs from tradition to tradition) we celebrate:  Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. However, when we take an honest look at the story, we understand that Jesus did not meet the expectations of those of his day and therefore was an unlikely Messiah. So, we ask ourselves, where might we find these “things” in unlikely places.  

We are challenged, among many ways, to keep our eyes open for the hope, love, joy and peace all around us…they have a tendency to show up in unlikely places. For me, they show up, not only in the expectancy of peace on earth, but in the work to ensure it.  Merry Christmas, and remember, be vigilant and diligent for there are #bigthingscoming! 

NOTE: If you’re new to the site it might be helpful to read the first (introductory) post. Also, feel free to post your questions or comments here and you can always reach out to me on Twitter @raycjordan using the hash tag #bigthingscoming.

(Copyright, 2013, Ray Jordan)

The Incomparable Ms. Dolly Parton
"Go, Tell It On the Mountain!"