Come As You Are--December 20, 2017
"The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor....
Because their shame was doubled,
and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs." [Isaiah 61:1-2a, 7]
Okay, I'm just going to get this off my chest and get it said: sometimes preachers are a real pain.
Sometimes religious professionals (yes, like myself) make a real melluvahess, if you know what I mean, with bad theology that is badly said (although, I guess bad theology that is poorly communicated is a little safer than bad theology that is packaged in a polished rhetorical package--at least bad theology that is boring is less likely to be remembered!). And one of our worst habits, we preachers, pastors, proclaimers, and church "professionals", is to make everything into a morality lesson like the old Goofus and Gallant.
You remember them, right? The stock characters from the old Highlights magazine? True to their names, Goofus was always the bad moral example--being rude or inconsiderate, bossy and coarse, and then Gallant was, much like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. If Goofus cut in line for the school bus, Gallant was the one who waited his turn. If Goofus was the one demanding to pick what to watch on the family room television, Gallant was the one who chose to go do his homework instead of watching TV at all in the first place.
And of course, the implication of these literally black-and-white drawings with captions was to teach children to be well-behaved, rather than to be jerks. And, to be clear, that is a noble and admirable goal. It is not ok to be a jerk, and frankly too many people go through life thinking that being a colossal jerk is the same as "telling it like it is" or "being a winner." So, yeah, we could all probably stand to brush up on our Gallant-isms, to be honest.
But that said, we need to be even more emphatic, even more crystal clear, that the Gospel--the Good News of Jesus for whom we are preparing in this season--is not about how to be a good little boy or a good little girl, and thereby to gain God's love. We need to get this set down like it is a matter of life and death: Jesus did not only come for the Gallants of humanity. Jesus came for Goofus, too--every last one of us Goofuses, even the ones named Steve.
And I say we need to be clear about that because, unfortunately, there are quite a few religious professionals out there broadcasting the message that God is hung up on only working with Gallants.... which leaves the rest of us (all of us, if we are honest) wondering if there is any way that God can really work through the likes of us, or if God only does business with non-stinkers.
I was listening to the radio just yesterday, and I was taken aback to hear a well-known radio preacher, a fella with a national audience and some pretty significant public/civic appearances on his resume, whose take on the story of Mary and the annunciation of Jesus' birth was quite literally this (these are his words, to be clear): "God uses those who are pure... given a choice between using someone who is pure and someone who is impure, God will always choose to work through someone who is a pure vessel."
You heard it: God picks Gallant and has no truck with Goofus. A preacher said so. Must be true. God must have picked Mary because she was a good girl, and therefore that also sets forth the guidelines for any others who wish to be considered for a position in God's company, because Goofuses, stinkers, and sinners apparently need not apply.
But see... here's the thing: that is literally never how God actually operates. Not in the Scriptures, Old or New Testament, and not in our day, either. Mary isn't picked because she's morally better than anybody else. And God doesn't say that only Gallant-types are eligible to be used in God's work. When the voice of the prophet says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... he has sent me to bring good news..." he doesn't give a list of qualifications or moral milestones as his bona fides. He only says, "Here's what God called me to do. Here I am... as I am... I am ready to bind up the brokenhearted and announce liberty to the captives." For that matter, in this passage from what we call the book of Isaiah, the assumption is that God meets those who are stuck with a "Goofus" label and chooses to lift them up, too. Did you catch it there in the last verse from the passage above? Those who are doubly shamed and dishonored--those are the ones promised "everlasting joy" and double blessing. God doesn't stop and say, "Well, only the ones who are wrongly accused, or didn't do anything to deserve dishonor are really counted here." There is a certain divine recklessness here... here in a passage that the people of God have understood for centuries to be about the hope of God's coming Messiah.
We could spend all day looking at how every important name in the story of the Bible, from functional alcoholic Noah to murderous chicken-heart Moses to violent, cheating David to flaky Simon Peter to corrupt sell-out Zacchaeus turns out to have a pretty sizable Goofus score on their permanent records, but even just these words from Isaiah lay it out for us. God just isn't in the habit of only using the ones identified as "pure" by the world, or by the standards of religion. And God certainly doesn't restrict the divine plan to people who would have been labeled "pure" in the preparation for the coming Messiah. God doesn't only look for "pure" people--and a significant part of the reason why is simply that none of us are really all that pure in the first place! Every last one of us is a stinker, a sinner, a mess, with a Goofus-streak a mile wide. The Messiah for whom we have been preparing this season isn't only recruiting from the ranks of people labeled "pure," but meets us where we are, calls us with what we are, and bids us to come as we are, and says, "You, too, you come and be a part of my Good News." So the unqualified, sketchy characters who happened to have been herding sheep on the night of Jesus birth--they are included, regardless of being ceremonially "unclean" and impure. And the pagan Gentile magi, the so-called "wise men" who visit the child Jesus, they are called and used by God despite the fact that they practice the "wrong" religion and surely had all sorts of other potentially disqualifying character traits and cultural practices. And Mary, too, like you and me, surely had a bit of Goofus in her for whatever ways she might have also been Gallant.
All of this is to say, if you have ever found yourself mulling over these words from Isaiah, words about being "anointed" and "sent" to be used by God, and if you have ever found yourself thinking, "But surely not ME, right? I'm a mess in this area of my life... I'm heartbroken in this other area of my life... I'm impure and unclean and broken," well, then the prophet himself says, "Yes, you too are included." Have you been living with shame? Guess what--God chooses you. Have you been dealing with dishonor? Surprise--God promises joy to stinkers in your shoes, too. The whole modus operandi of the God we actually meet in the Scriptures is not nearly as picky as we tend to think--God doesn't hold auditions for the pure only, but instead casts a wide net for the anybodies and nobodies, the so-called "pure" and the "impure," the Goofuses and the Gallants, of humanity. Every last one of us.
So sometimes the best way to prepare for Jesus is, I will confess, to know when to stop listening to the religious professionals around you (yes, he grasps the irony of what he is saying)... at least if you hear from them some nonsense about Jesus only wanting to work through so-called "pure" people. There ain't none. And the Scriptures actually seem to go out of their way to take note of how God's ways are notorious for deliberately seeking out the disqualified, dishonored, and outcast, and saying, "Today's your lucky day, O you beloved of God!"
If you find your ears being bombarded by any of the Respectable Religious Crowd who are insisting that God will only and always choose the "pure" to work with, then let this be your official permission to ignore them. Don't worry--God can still work through them and surely still loves them, but that's only because God loves Goofuses as well as Gallants, and God works through anybodies and nobodies.
And maybe for these last few days before Christmas, if you are seeking ways to prepare your heart and your life for Jesus, let this be the day we get rid of any excuses like, "But I'm not worthy for God to work through me, so this Jesus stuff must not apply to me..." Nope. Just as you are, you are called. God has it in mind to send you with good news to others who need it. Come as you are.
Lord Jesus, come among us, and bid us again to come to you as we are.
You heard it: God picks Gallant and has no truck with Goofus. A preacher said so. Must be true. God must have picked Mary because she was a good girl, and therefore that also sets forth the guidelines for any others who wish to be considered for a position in God's company, because Goofuses, stinkers, and sinners apparently need not apply.
But see... here's the thing: that is literally never how God actually operates. Not in the Scriptures, Old or New Testament, and not in our day, either. Mary isn't picked because she's morally better than anybody else. And God doesn't say that only Gallant-types are eligible to be used in God's work. When the voice of the prophet says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... he has sent me to bring good news..." he doesn't give a list of qualifications or moral milestones as his bona fides. He only says, "Here's what God called me to do. Here I am... as I am... I am ready to bind up the brokenhearted and announce liberty to the captives." For that matter, in this passage from what we call the book of Isaiah, the assumption is that God meets those who are stuck with a "Goofus" label and chooses to lift them up, too. Did you catch it there in the last verse from the passage above? Those who are doubly shamed and dishonored--those are the ones promised "everlasting joy" and double blessing. God doesn't stop and say, "Well, only the ones who are wrongly accused, or didn't do anything to deserve dishonor are really counted here." There is a certain divine recklessness here... here in a passage that the people of God have understood for centuries to be about the hope of God's coming Messiah.
We could spend all day looking at how every important name in the story of the Bible, from functional alcoholic Noah to murderous chicken-heart Moses to violent, cheating David to flaky Simon Peter to corrupt sell-out Zacchaeus turns out to have a pretty sizable Goofus score on their permanent records, but even just these words from Isaiah lay it out for us. God just isn't in the habit of only using the ones identified as "pure" by the world, or by the standards of religion. And God certainly doesn't restrict the divine plan to people who would have been labeled "pure" in the preparation for the coming Messiah. God doesn't only look for "pure" people--and a significant part of the reason why is simply that none of us are really all that pure in the first place! Every last one of us is a stinker, a sinner, a mess, with a Goofus-streak a mile wide. The Messiah for whom we have been preparing this season isn't only recruiting from the ranks of people labeled "pure," but meets us where we are, calls us with what we are, and bids us to come as we are, and says, "You, too, you come and be a part of my Good News." So the unqualified, sketchy characters who happened to have been herding sheep on the night of Jesus birth--they are included, regardless of being ceremonially "unclean" and impure. And the pagan Gentile magi, the so-called "wise men" who visit the child Jesus, they are called and used by God despite the fact that they practice the "wrong" religion and surely had all sorts of other potentially disqualifying character traits and cultural practices. And Mary, too, like you and me, surely had a bit of Goofus in her for whatever ways she might have also been Gallant.
All of this is to say, if you have ever found yourself mulling over these words from Isaiah, words about being "anointed" and "sent" to be used by God, and if you have ever found yourself thinking, "But surely not ME, right? I'm a mess in this area of my life... I'm heartbroken in this other area of my life... I'm impure and unclean and broken," well, then the prophet himself says, "Yes, you too are included." Have you been living with shame? Guess what--God chooses you. Have you been dealing with dishonor? Surprise--God promises joy to stinkers in your shoes, too. The whole modus operandi of the God we actually meet in the Scriptures is not nearly as picky as we tend to think--God doesn't hold auditions for the pure only, but instead casts a wide net for the anybodies and nobodies, the so-called "pure" and the "impure," the Goofuses and the Gallants, of humanity. Every last one of us.
So sometimes the best way to prepare for Jesus is, I will confess, to know when to stop listening to the religious professionals around you (yes, he grasps the irony of what he is saying)... at least if you hear from them some nonsense about Jesus only wanting to work through so-called "pure" people. There ain't none. And the Scriptures actually seem to go out of their way to take note of how God's ways are notorious for deliberately seeking out the disqualified, dishonored, and outcast, and saying, "Today's your lucky day, O you beloved of God!"
If you find your ears being bombarded by any of the Respectable Religious Crowd who are insisting that God will only and always choose the "pure" to work with, then let this be your official permission to ignore them. Don't worry--God can still work through them and surely still loves them, but that's only because God loves Goofuses as well as Gallants, and God works through anybodies and nobodies.
And maybe for these last few days before Christmas, if you are seeking ways to prepare your heart and your life for Jesus, let this be the day we get rid of any excuses like, "But I'm not worthy for God to work through me, so this Jesus stuff must not apply to me..." Nope. Just as you are, you are called. God has it in mind to send you with good news to others who need it. Come as you are.
Lord Jesus, come among us, and bid us again to come to you as we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment