spoken for a good five minutes. Eventually, a few were peppered in but found themselves in a stark minority. Once he sensed we’ d had enough of this brutal experiment, he said,“ If this is what the world thinks of us, why would anyone want to be a part of this thing? Why would they want to come into our gatherings? Wouldn’ t our songs seem full of empty praise? I’ m just as implicated in this as you are. We’ ve got some work to do, don’ t we?”
I don’ t remember much after that bomb was dropped that day. This line of questioning and the overwhelmingly disgraceful cluster of negative answers have haunted me ever since. Yes, in the book of Matthew, it says that we Christians will be hated, but I’ m pretty sure Jesus did not mean it would be for the above reasons.
Israel was to bless the peoples and lands it came into contact with. God chose this one nation to bring goodness to the whole world. The people of Israel were even instructed to bring good to Babylon, a dark and godless empire. They were to be holy and set apart for a purpose. This is lofty and unfamiliar language today. To be holy simply means to be different from the norm and conformed to the image of God. I was always under the impression that the Israelites were supposed to stay huddled up together and, when a nation got in their way, to smite it. But after rereading the Old Testament, it seems God kept trying to get them to bring shalom, His wholeness, to everyone around them. For the most part, they did not fulfill that purpose.
Then Jesus comes along and invites His followers to continue that original vocation of blessing, shalom-bearing, wholenessdispensing. But just like the Israelites did before us, we turned inward and became insular. We have forgotten our role. We’ ve gone so far from being the blessers of humanity around us to that deplorable list of“ Why are Christians so...”
I want to acknowledge that so many beautiful things are being done in the name of Jesus that no one is talking or writing about. Yes, and amen. Let’ s continue to fan those flames
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