Shocked Speechless

Matthew 22:46 – No one was able to answer him, and from that day on, no one asked him any more questions.

When was the last time you were shocked by something Jesus said? When was the last time his words were so radical they left you speechless? Jesus’ values are so different from our own, those of capitalism especially, that they should shock us every time. They don’t though, do they? I think it’s because we think we already know, and we only want confirmation that we’re correct. Much like the rich, young man whom Jesus advised to sell all his belongings. We don’t want to think that we have done anything wrong or that we lack that one more thing to make our life complete. We like to be certain.

We like it so much, that we no longer ask Jesus any questions. We figure out a meaning of Jesus' life and words that fits into our lives and we stay there, because it’s comfortable. We tame God by imagining that his values are our own. They are not. Jesus famously said that he had no brother, sister, or mother. That should shock us, but it doesn’t. We have explained it away. Jesus also said that following him meant that we need to take up our cross. Taking up our cross means suffering, persecution, and death. Of course we resist it. I resist it.

One way we tame God is by making Christianity about a set of doctrines to be assented to rather than a journey of love toward God and our fellow human beings. We make it about saying the right words. We make it about what happens after we die, instead of Jesus’ focus on the heaven that is, or could be, here and now. Becoming a Christian is a life-long process rather than a one-time event. We will be judged on our actions during that journey, not on our words, unless those words are used to harm ourselves or others.

Turning Christianity into a set of beliefs eases our consciences, keeps us comfortable in our own skin. Such Christianity doesn’t challenge us to love our neighbor or look inside at what might need transforming. It makes us certain about God, her attributes, her thoughts, her ideas. It helps us to imagine we have tamed the untameable, effed the ineffable. We will have no questions for Jesus, because we are certain we already know the answers.

Today, I’m going to look at where I’ve been too sure of my knowledge of God. Are my ideas about God loving and focused on the flourishing of human beings and creation? Do I believe something about God that makes me think of others as somehow less important than myself? Less worthy of God’s love? I will ask God to remove those thoughts, and to teach me a new way.