It Will Be Hard

It Will Be Hard--July 31, 2017

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but through we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. [1 Thessalonians 2:1-2]

Contrary to popular Christian opinion, the followers of Jesus never got free passes.  Being truthful about that fact may clear one of the bigger hurdles that gets the church tangled up and tripping over its own feet these days.  We never got free passes, and we are not promised entitlements, either.

Sometimes we are so afraid of having obstacles around us that seem unfair, and sometimes we get so obsessed with asking nervously, "But what if it's hard?" about living the Way of Jesus, that we forget that the voices of the New Testament themselves have been saying from the beginning, "It will be hard.  It is worth it.  But it will be hard."  The way of Jesus has always been a way of greater--not lesser--resistance.

In our place and time, it is pretty common to see religious folks acting like they expect the culture around us to make a special place for Christians because we are, or have been, the majority of the population in this country.  We find religious people getting upset when non-Christians refer to events in December as "Holiday" events rather than "Christmas" events, even if they don't share our belief in Christ (and even when the events in question have nothing to do with Jesus--after all, what about an appliance sale really has to do with the birth of our Lord?).  We find people getting really mad if someone can't put cross-shaped monuments or displays of the Jewish/Christian Ten Commandments on public grounds (and yet no one seems to think it could compromise the meaning of the cross or the commandments to have them associated with all-too-often-power-corrupted governments in the first place). 

People who remember an earlier generation when blue laws kept most stores and activities closed on Sundays now get upset when the rest of the world does not automatically make its schedule around the Christian holy day.  In other words, we tend to have a belief that it should be easy for us to be Christians in our culture, and that everybody else around us, while free to have whatever faith they want, should be flexible around our wants and calendars.  We expect free passes and entitlements, and we are bound by the fear that we might not always get an easy path (while we are often unable see how difficult the path is for others around us at the same time!).

Historically, though, that's just now how Christianity was birthed.  Here in these opening verses of Chapter 2 from what we call First Thessalonians, Paul makes that clear.  It appears that Paul is referring to the events we know about from Acts 16-17, where he and Silas were stripped and beaten by a mob for freeing a slave-girl who had a spirit that told fortunes (effectively depriving her "owners" of their income and making them mad over it).  And when the authorities sent the angry mob away, their next step was to throw Paul and Silas in prison (yes, this is the set-up for the story of Paul and Silas singing in prison before the earthquake and the encounter with the Philippian jailer).  And then the next thing you know, Paul and Silas head over to Thessalonica, and there's an angry mob waiting for them there, too.  Nevertheless, in every town, and even when they've been horribly mistreated, Paul doesn't give up peaking the good news of Jesus wherever he goes.  Paul did not expect a free pass. Paul did not assume he was entitled to a friendly hearing--and he wasn't afraid when he didn't get one.  He knew that he was in store for a lifetime of opposition and that his voice would always be one from the margins. In fact, it might just be that the followers of Christ are only being authentic to the way of Jesus when we are a voice on the margins. And Paul was convinced that the news he was bringing was just so inherently good, so compelling and beautiful and true, that it was worth telling, whether or not the crowds and the authorities made it easy for him or not. 

If Christianity is not merely a hobby--something that can easily fit into the pockets of free time in our already booked calendars--then it is worth living out this faith of ours whether or not the culture or the powers of the day around us makes it easy for us or not.  And at least as Paul's story makes it clear, we Christians have not traditionally been given free passes by the world around us, because the world around us knew that we Christians were dangerous to the order of things "as they are."  If we really are part of a revolution, a movement, and not a pleasant pastime, then we should not expect to get special treatment.  If anything, we should be prepared for the powers of the day to make it harder for us bring the news of Jesus. 

After all, following Jesus will lead us to seriously question our economics, our politics, our personal comfort and its cost to others, and how much of ourselves we give up to technology.  Paul and Silas were beaten and stripped at the decree of the authorities because their actions to liberate the slave-girl cost her owners a profit.  And the world around us, enamored as it is with profits, is always going to have trouble with Christians who question whether our piles of money are worth our devotion.  The world around us is always going to be upset when we go around announcing that the emperor is wearing no clothes.  That's how it has always been for us.  This is going to be hard--that's how it is to be a part of the movement of Mercy in a world lulled into inertia in the pursuit of keeping comfortable.

I had a professor in seminary who once asked in a sermon, "Can Christianity survive in times of persecution?  Certainly--we have plenty of evidence from 2,000 years of history that the church even thrives at the times and places where it is pressed the hardest.  But can Christianity survive in times of comfort?  That is much more in doubt." 

What did President Kennedy once say about the dream of going to the moon within the decade of his presidency?  "We choose to do these things, not because they are easy--but because they are hard." Things worth doing are usually like that.  That's part of how you know to give your life to them.

If we spend our time and energy fussing that the world has not given us free passes or preferred status in the public square, fearful about losing a privileged place and therefore willing to sell out our character in the hopes of making friends in high places, or spouting angry words because we have not been given special entitlements for being Christian, then we are wasting minutes and words that could be spent simply bringing the good news to people around us and letting the grace of Jesus speak for itself.  And in fact, we would be spending our energy and time serving ourselves by trying to make it more comfortable to be Christians, rather than serving Jesus and others bringing the Good News to people even when there is no special place made for us at the table.

So how will we spend our energy today--complaining that we Christians are not given special enough treatment, or simply putting the love of Jesus out there for people, whether or not we get a pat on the back from anybody for doing it?  Are we willing to share the Good News only if we get a free pass to do it, or have we found the Gospel so compelling by itself that we cannot help but live it and speak it, regardless of what the rest of the world does about it?  That kind of witness is going to turn some heads....

Lord Jesus, give us the courage and love to keep sharing your Good News rather than looking for easy outs or the path of least resistance.  And give us the wisdom and passion to see where you are leading us today.