When You Think No One Is Watching--October 11, 2022

When You Think No One Is Watching--October 11, 2022

"Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved." [1 Corinthians 10:32-33]

I almost couldn't believe my eyes--almost.

Two days ago, a tweet was going around some circles on social media where a person who names the name of Jesus proudly announced, "I make no apology for mocking other Christians who..." and then they proceeded to name some trivial practice that this particular Respectable Religious person didn't like.  It wasn't simply this person saying, "I don't agree with doing X," or "Here is a list of reasons I don't do Y," but rather, "I won't even apologize for mocking these fellow Christians who do this, because I think it is wrong."

Whew.

Then just yesterday, I kid you not, the leader of a nationally-known religiously affiliated men's organization proudly announced his position that the church has made a mistake by teaching "a Jesus that's an idol--a Jesus that says to love means being nice to everybody.  Jesus wasn't very nice. He wasn't very nice most of the time."  And while I'll grant that Jesus has some strong words of condemnation in the gospels, it is striking to me that his ire is almost always directed at the Respectable Religious Leaders of his day who are arrogant, mean, hypocritical, and condemning--he never condemns people for being too kind.

Hoo-boy.

These are just widely known instances that just happened to have happened in the last forty-eight hours in American Christianity... of course, it was only just a few weeks back I found myself behind a car in traffic whose bumper and rear window had three stickers:  one that had a Jesus-fish symbol, one that had the simple slogan, "Be kind," in frilly cursive script, and one that had a profanity [the one with the F] aimed at the prominent politician the driver does not like.  This is the air we are breathing all the time.  It just so happens that today we come across these words in our journey through First Corinthians that we've been on for the better part of this year so far.  How terribly, ironically, awfully fitting that we need to be reminded of Paul's insistence that we not go out of our way to be jerks to people, for the sake of the gospel and out of love for the people around us--not only those we already like and agree with, but especially those we don't.

There's a certain strand of what passes for Christianity these days that seems to relish, to savor, being bitter, vindictive, and mean-spirited toward others while it both prides itself on all of that spitefulness as a sign of how "tough" and "strong" it is and at the same time casts itself as the poor, put-upon, persecuted church being unfairly attacked for being faithful... when it's really being criticized for not looking like the real Jesus.  And Paul here just can't imagine that being the posture of Christians in the world--not toward other Christians, and not toward anybody else who doesn't share our faith, either.  For Paul, kindness and respect--not causing offense--isn't just a perk we offer to fellow in-group members, as a benefit for being in the Jesus Club with us.  It's our way of life and our position toward everyone. If anything, we are called especially to be considerate and winsome toward people who do not share our faith in Jesus, exactly so that we might get through to others when we do tell people about Christ.  We don't want to turn people away from ever hearing the news of Jesus because we have already alienated folks by our rudeness.  

That's the thing--we may not have the power to "make" anybody come to faith in Jesus, but at least we can do our utmost to remove the obstacles we could be placing in the way that keep other people from being able to hear Good News, because our demeanor in the world is so powerfully un-Christ-like.  It's been said that the gospel will always be something of a scandal to the listening world, but for us who share our faith with others, we need to be sure we are causing "the right kind of scandal."  In other words, if people are upset by the audacious love of God, or the challenging path of Jesus, or the difficult work of truth-telling, justice-doing, and neighbor-loving we are called to, fair enough.  But if people can't even get to the point of hearing the message of Jesus because we've driven them away ahead of time by mocking them, being deliberately rude to them, or sending the message that we "don't want their kind of people around anyway," then we've put the wrong kind of scandal in the way.

It takes so little effort to practice kindness.  It takes such minimal additional thought to treat others with respect.  And it costs absolutely nothing more to speak with empathy rather than with spite.  In a culture like ours that so often wallows in meanness--and in a time when church folks can think they have to be abrasive in order to be faithful--Paul calls us to think before we speak, because he knows that the world around us is listening, whether we realize it or not.  And the ways we treat people when we don't realize others are paying attention will be a more powerful witness, for good or for ill, than any religious sales pitch or sermon.

Lord Jesus, keep us mindful of how we treat people all the time, so that we don't get in the way of your good news with our own orneriness.