Following Jesus is weird
Complex
Confusing
It has been that way from the beginning
From those first squalling moments in a trough
From that frantic moment when his family fled, political
refugees,
To a far country
To that strange moment in the Jordan
When he was dunked in dirty water with a bunch of sinners
To those moments of thirst and hunger in the wilderness
Tempted
Jesus was not the Messiah people expected
If God were going to come and save
If God were going to come and rule
This certainly is NOT how God would do it
A wrinkled baby, born to a common family
In a rural community
A young man, wandering the countryside
Surrounded by poor people
Powerless people
Hungry people
Sick people
Lost people
We would expect the Messiah to look
Messianic
We would expect a person born into wealth
A person with status and connections
A person who would come in and grab power
If we had been running the show
Jesus would have been born in Jerusalem, a prince perhaps
At least a Sadducee
He would have been raised with privilege
Educated well (not that he needed it)
He would have taken over the Sanheidren
Made the Pharisees his allies
Aligned with the Priests
He would have taken over the power structures of his day
He would have kicked out the Romans
And established the Kingdom
It must have been confusing for his disciples
To watch this one with so much power
The power to turn water into wine
The power to heal
The power to walk on water (how cool is that)
Simply wander along dusty roads
And hang out with the poor
And eat with tax collectors
There was that moment of hope
When he entered Jerusalem
And for a moment it seemed as if
It was really going to happen
He was going to exert his power
But then the meal
Then Jesus, in the dust, washing feet
Then Gethsemane
The arrest
The trial
The beatings
The cross
The death
Of everything
Following Jesus is weird
This one who will not align with Empire
Who will not create a kingdom, but instead establishes a
Kin-dom
A community of love
Here we are with our affluence and privilege
Here we are
Wanting to leverage Jesus so we have more affluence and
privilege
No wonder we functionally ignore so much of what Jesus
taught
No wonder it is so hard for us to “get” what Jesus was
all about
It doesn’t make sense
We don’t believe it
That if we give it all up, we get everything
That if we are last, we will become first
That if we die to the self we will find ourselves
So we try to remake Jesus in our image
We try to make him one who makes people rich
And we try to use him in order to gain power
And we wallow in our affluence
And neglect the poor
We abuse power and forget to love
We exclude and forget to welcome
And it doesn’t work
Following Jesus is weird
And as I sit, on this early fall mourning
In my nice house
Looking out at my nice car
As I sit here with my affluence and yes, my privilege
I wonder
What would it mean to follow him?
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