In the gospel of Mark, there is a story where Jesus is walking with the disciples, and the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest among them. In particular, the disciples are arguing about who will sit on Jesus' right hand and his left. Jesus rebukes the disciples by saying that the one who wants to be the greatest among them must become the servant of all people. Jesus then reminds them that as the Son of Man, his calling is to give his life as a ransom for many
One of the central doctrines of the Christian tradition is the atonement--the fact that in Jesus, God died for our sins and through death, restored our life. In its engagement with this doctrine, the Church has, once again, completely missed the point. Christian theology, then it comes to the atonement, has focused on the question of "how"--how did Jesus' death reconcile us to God and bring us salvation. The atonement theories throughout the centuries propose different answers to this question; some are just plain awful, some are pretty good. But by focusing on the question of "how" they miss the point.
The point of the atonement is not the "how" but the "why"--why did God sacrifice Himself for us and bring us salvation. The answer to the why is found in Jesus' response to the disciples along the road; God's entire existence is based upon self giving love. God sacrificed Himself for us because that is God's nature. God wouldn't think of doing something else. And because this is God's nature, God wants us to do likewise and sacrifice ourselves for others and to live as the servant of all people. The one who is greatest in God's eyes will be the one who sacrifices themselves the most for others.
In the Christian tradition, there has often been a grudging acceptance of serving others. Christians are vaguely aware that they are supposed to serve others, but the significance of service is typically pushed to the back of the Church's agenda. Serving others has its foundation and is grounded in mirroring what God has accomplished in Jesus--we serve others because Jesus did, and Jesus did because that is what God does.
Supporting the work and mission of Caney Spring United Methodist Church and Berlin United Methodist Church, two churches partnered in the ministry of making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world, located in Marshall County, Tennessee.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Children as a Metaphor Again
In Mark's gospel, Jesus says that in order to receive the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children.
This is my vote for one of the most misinterpreted sayings of Jesus. Understanding the text requires an understanding of the rift between our understanding of children and the understanding of children in ancient cultures. We have a largely positive understanding of children and associate qualities like purity, faithfulness, trust, and honesty with children. Consequently, we read the text to mean that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must cultivate purity, faithfulness trust, and honesty. Specifically, we say that today, it is difficult to believe in things like the resurrection, since it is inconsistent with our scientific understandings of the world, and in order to be God's people, we have to simply believe in what seems unbelievable to us--to do so, we have to be simple and trusting in God, like a child trusts a parent.
In the ancient world, children were not perceived like this. Instead, children were seen in a very negative light. Children were not perceived as pure, faithful, trusting, and honest. Children were largely seen as having no value. They were, in fact, largely invisible and ignored.
It also bears mentioning that the association of religiosity with simple faith and trust in what seems unbelievable would have also been largely incomprehensible to an ancient audience. Ancient cultures believed in things like resurrection and healing. These were part of the worldview of ancient people. To say that the task of being religious was to believe in something that contradicted what was largely understood to be plausible would have seemed strange.
With the understanding that children were seen as having no value, let's consider Jesus' statement again: in order to receive the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children. Jesus is not telling us the qualities that we need to cultivate in order to earn a place in God's Kingdom. Instead, we are being reminded that in order to have a place in God's Kingdom, we have to know and understand that we are being given that place not through our own merit, but solely through the grace of the one who extends the invitation. More than anyone else, children were constantly told that they had no worth. If they were invited into an exclusive club, they would know and understand that it didn't have anything to do with their worth.
In order to be part of God's Kingdom of grace; in order to understand what it is and our place in it, we have to begin with the understanding that God perceives us as his sons and daughters who have infinite worth. And that means we perceive ourselves as having infinite worth and others as having infinite worth. If we perceive ourselves with this duality--of our unworthiness in entering the Kingdom of God and our infinite worth as God's children, we will naturally treat others with grace and mercy. This is the world that God is excited about creating.
This is my vote for one of the most misinterpreted sayings of Jesus. Understanding the text requires an understanding of the rift between our understanding of children and the understanding of children in ancient cultures. We have a largely positive understanding of children and associate qualities like purity, faithfulness, trust, and honesty with children. Consequently, we read the text to mean that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must cultivate purity, faithfulness trust, and honesty. Specifically, we say that today, it is difficult to believe in things like the resurrection, since it is inconsistent with our scientific understandings of the world, and in order to be God's people, we have to simply believe in what seems unbelievable to us--to do so, we have to be simple and trusting in God, like a child trusts a parent.
In the ancient world, children were not perceived like this. Instead, children were seen in a very negative light. Children were not perceived as pure, faithful, trusting, and honest. Children were largely seen as having no value. They were, in fact, largely invisible and ignored.
It also bears mentioning that the association of religiosity with simple faith and trust in what seems unbelievable would have also been largely incomprehensible to an ancient audience. Ancient cultures believed in things like resurrection and healing. These were part of the worldview of ancient people. To say that the task of being religious was to believe in something that contradicted what was largely understood to be plausible would have seemed strange.
With the understanding that children were seen as having no value, let's consider Jesus' statement again: in order to receive the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children. Jesus is not telling us the qualities that we need to cultivate in order to earn a place in God's Kingdom. Instead, we are being reminded that in order to have a place in God's Kingdom, we have to know and understand that we are being given that place not through our own merit, but solely through the grace of the one who extends the invitation. More than anyone else, children were constantly told that they had no worth. If they were invited into an exclusive club, they would know and understand that it didn't have anything to do with their worth.
In order to be part of God's Kingdom of grace; in order to understand what it is and our place in it, we have to begin with the understanding that God perceives us as his sons and daughters who have infinite worth. And that means we perceive ourselves as having infinite worth and others as having infinite worth. If we perceive ourselves with this duality--of our unworthiness in entering the Kingdom of God and our infinite worth as God's children, we will naturally treat others with grace and mercy. This is the world that God is excited about creating.
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