The Center of Everything--February 3, 2021
"Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." [Colossians 2:16-17]
I saw a cartoon years ago that has stayed with me--not so much because it was funny, but because it frightened me. It still keeps me up some nights.
The gist of this cartoon was a spoof on religion in general; it showed a scene on some parallel history where the god-figure (still a white bearded fellow like from the Sistine Chapel) came down to the beings on some planet and said, "All I want from you is for you to be kind to one another. That's all. Now I'm going up into the sky and you're on your own." The next panel flashes forward in time centuries, to see how the succeeding generations have done with the divine commandment to be kind. And (perhaps not exactly surprisingly) the scene depicts people attacking each other. One cries out to his opponent, "We have the truth from god--you are supposed to perform the ceremonial kindness ritual on Tuesday!" And the opponent sneers back something like, "Everyone knows the ceremonial kindness ritual is supposed to be done on Wednesday--DIE, you Tuesdist!"
It's not exactly a knee-slapper of a punch-line, but it sure does pack a punch. Maybe the details are different, but we sure do have a way, we Respectable Religious People, of missing the point and finding ways to fight over side issues. It's like we've simply been told to be kind, and we end up fighting each other over when the right day is to have a ritual to remind us to be kind.
Or, in this case, the letter to the Colossians says, it's really all about Christ, and we end up arguing with each other about whether we should--or should not--celebrate other special days, practice ritual fasting, or observe strict dietary rules about what can or cannot be eaten. And when we use those issues to beat each other up or tear each other down, we are turning our focus away from the One who really should be at the center of everything--Jesus himself.
When we forget that Jesus is center of the Good News, the anchor of our faith, and the beating heart of our lives, we end up letting our differences become ways to beat each other up. We weaponize our diversity by assuming that where there are differences, one person has to be "right" and one person has to be "wrong," and (of course) we all want to believe that our side is the "right" one, making anybody else wrong by virtue of disagreeing. And when we do that, even if we have a big ol' stack of Bible verses to support our position and to confirm our correctness, we have already permanently distorted the Christian faith by turning it into a matter of being saved by proper point-accumulation, rather than the free gift of having no condemnation in Christ.
This is a big deal, so let's slow down and make sure we're all clear on it. Even if I have all the answers on my theology exam correct and do all the things on my religious ritual to-do list, if I think that doing or thinking those things correctly is what keeps me in God's good graces, I've already gone way off course. Today's verses from Colossians remind us that nobody else has the authority to condemn us for any of those patterns of piety, because there is no condemnation for us on account of Christ. We are forgiven, redeemed, renewed, justified. It was never about points, or rituals, or having the correct systematic theology--all of those are just different ways and systems for saying you save yourself by your good deeds or thinking. And what makes the Gospel "the Gospel" is the beautiful, radical claim that you never needed to "do" anything to make yourself acceptable--it has always been a gift of grace given by the God who took on death for us at the cross.
But here, look how we Respectable Religious Folks have wasted an awful lot of energy, time, and good will condemning people whose piety is different--judging the ones who allow themselves to drink alcohol... or condemning the ones who forbid alcohol as being too prudish. Mocking the ones who observe seasons in their worship life like Advent or Lent or the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost as being too "high church"... or snobbishly looking down on those who don't speak liturgical jargon or know the proper names of ecclesiastical vestments. Condemning people who don't practice ritual fasting as being too worldly or weak in their faith... or ridiculing those who do fast as being wed to an outmoded way of thinking. Look at that--we can easily find ways to be jerks to one another over piddling little stuff, and in the mean time, we've lost sight of Christ.
We keep doing this, too--not just in matters of piety or personal devotion, but with new issues that are emerging all the time. We fight over styles of music, each side accusing the other of "doing church wrong." We divide over issues to the point of schism, each side convinced that Jesus is on their team. And often you'll find folks falling into the trap of believing that God is on the side of only their political party--there's an awful lot of that, "You can't be a real Christian and belong to X Party," talk going around, and frankly, it sounds a lot like, "We must perform the kindness ritual on Wednesday--die, you Tuesdist!" We keep finding ways to let things that are not-Christ keep us attacking one another, and in the process, we take our eyes off of Christ Jesus. And when we do that, we forget that even the people we strongly disagree with are still beloved by Christ, completely as a gift of grace. When we lose sight of Jesus, it becomes easier to hate and dehumanize the ones who think or act differently from our ways, but Jesus calls them beloved nevertheless. Just as he calls you beloved, and me too.
That's what we are called to remember and to live in light of today. Before I can look down on anybody else, I have to remember, "This is someone Jesus gave his life for," and that will change the way I interact with them. I sure may still disagree with them, and it is still more than fine to have a conversation with someone else about how and why you see things differently or practice your faith in different ways, but I never get to treat them as less than a beloved child of God. Even if they are rotten to me, I don't have to give them power over me to make me treat them with the same disrespect. Even if they seem unwilling to listen, I can model being a decent, mature grown-up by not sinking to their level and keeping the channels of conversation open from my side. Even if it is hard, we are still called to see those with whom we disagree as people for whom Jesus died... as people who do not stand condemned by God forever.
It won't be easy to practice this new way of seeing other people, but it is worth it. It is worth it every time we stop ourselves from focusing on a side-issue to turn our attention back to Jesus, because it's when my focus is on Christ that I can see all of us--myself included--as beloved and blessed, despite my failings and scars.
So today, don't let anybody make you think for one hot minute that your difference of piety excludes you from the grip of grace... and don't fall for the thinking that you get to condemn someone else whose way of following Jesus is different from yours. When Christ is the center, the lesser worries can go back to their place as lesser worries.
What if, since God has indeed come to us in Jesus, we don't have to fight over what day to perform the kindness ritual--what if every day, we embodied the love we have first found in Jesus?
Lord Jesus, keep our eyes on you, so that we can let lesser things stay lesser things, and turn our hearts to loving like you.
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