The Jesus That We Meet Today Is Not the Jesus That You Want to Meet in a Dark Alley

The Jesus that we meet today is not the Jesus that you want to meet in a dark alley. It’s not Jesus the good shepherd holding the lamb gently in his arms. It isn’t Jesus the mother hen protected her brood with her wings.

This is the Jesus of fire, stress and division.

Not exactly the Jesus you’d invite to a party for your friends to meet. This isn’t the Jesus who reaches out his hands to make things whole, to heal the broken and bind up the wounded.

This Jesus tears a part and divides. We are more likely to turn around and run away than listen to what this Jesus has to say. And yet here he is right in front of us.

So what do we do with this Jesus?

Well one thing we can do is ignore this whole outburst. I mean stress makes people do and say the strangest things. Jesus is after all on the way up to Jerusalem to be killed in the most brutal of ways. We can forgive him for lashing out as he contemplates being crucified. Anyone of us might do the same thing.

But if we do decide to take this seriously there are some statistics that should be considered. Division is only mentioned 6 times in all the New Testament while peace is mentioned 94. Any statistician would confer that all this talk about bringing division should be taken with a grain of salt.

1 Either way we are fully able to explain away his extreme behaviour or logically deduce its irrelevance to us. After all who really wants to be around the Jesus of fire, stress and division. It’s uncomfortable plain and simple. And we don’t do uncomfortable today.

Whether it’s a cushion to soften the hardness of the pew or an early exit from a family dinner, we’d rather be comfortable. This stressed out, fire breathing, rable rouser Jesus is not good for our delicate sensibilities. We come here to be placated, to be filled with peace. I mean for goodness sakes we say “Peace be with you,” not “Division be with you,” for a reason. The world is full of division and stress, we don’t need to hear about that in this of all places.

And so without all this talk of division we’re left with gentle Jesus holding us like little lambs. With our mother hen protecting us. But if that’s the Jesus we worship then we don’t worship God. We worship some dummed down version of God, a Jesus that doesn’t need to go through the suffering of life and death and be raised from the dead. A Jesus that simply floats up to heaven without the scars of humanity on his hands and side, the results of a divided and broken world. And we’re left to wonder whether this God is even interested in us at all or has any clue about the harsh realities of this life we lead day in and day out.

The Jesus of fire, stress and division is true human. He’s the God of fire that purifies the metal by making it red-hot. He’s the God that isn’t afraid to name a spade a spade.

2 And he’s definitely not afraid to tear apart and divide even if we would rather do anything else.

Maybe the question isn’t what do we do with this Jesus but instead what does this Jesus do with us? Of course that’s a much scarier question because it means that we’re no longer in control. If it’s no longer us deciding what Jesus we prefer and instead Christ Jesus acting in ways that are uncomfortable, at times divisive and downright offensive, then things are no longer ours to do what we will.

We don’t have to look far to see the division that comes from Christ. Some might cite the recent vote in our national and local ELCIC churches regarding the blessing of same sex marriages and ordaining gay clergy as a moment in time when the divisive nature of Jesus rose to the surface. Congregations left, people left, church families were divided. People took sides. That’s how division happens.

Division necessitates decision. Division is decision. In other words in order for division to happen you must decide to take a side.

You must decide which is the right side.

Which side of the debate surrounding homosexuality and the churches stance on it, or any other ethical issue, is the side that Jesus is on? In the end that’s the side that we’re trying to be a part of right? We don’t want to find ourselves on the team that’s playing against God.

3 During WW II the church in Germany found itself in a precarious position that necessitated decision. As in any war, the necessity of taking sides was paramount. If you align yourself with the wrong side you risk being punished for being on that wrong side. As Hitler’s Final Solution i.e. the eradication of the Jewish race became obvious to the Christians in Germany, a choice had to be made. They could continue to stand with a regime that stood for the destruction of an entire race or they could stand in opposition to it. A decision had to be made and the end could only mean division. 7000 Lutheran pastors decided to stand against the Nazi’s and formed the Confessing Church. But 20,000 Lutheran pastors remained with the state church.

Who chose the right side? Which side was Jesus on?

It’s hard to imagine Jesus being on the side of the Nazi’s as they put millions of people into gas chambers and then burned their bodies. And yet for whatever reasons 75% of all the Lutheran pastors in Germany decided to stay with the state church.

Christianity always grapples with division. Whether it’s as evil as the eradication of a race, the struggle to identify God’s intention for our sexual lives or thousands of other ethical issues that come in front of us. Sadly churches have divided over things as minor as what colour the carpet should be. We are left to discern what level of division each decision necessitates.

4 You see Jesus brings division because Jesus asks us to make decisions about what it means to live as a follower, as a disciple of Christ in this world. No matter how well we think it out before hand there are times when we will end up on the right side, the wrong side or somewhere in between. This is where I always hold onto Luther’s saying, “Sin boldly but trust in Christ more boldly.” We must decide and this can cause us to divide in small and big ways. Jesus does bring division as we’re challenged to decide where God is calling us to stand. However we must realize that our decisions, while hopefully made by prayerful consideration, are not always within the will of God. In fact they’re more often than not tainted by our own self-interest.

And so we find that in the end it isn’t our decisions that ultimately matter but God’s decision to send Jesus. Because no matter what decisions we must make, the one thing that we cannot do without is God’s promise of justification by grace through faith. It’s God’s decision to forgive that frees us so we can make decisions knowing that “nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created,” as Paul writes in Romans.

Division is part and parcel of this life in Christ but whatever side we end up on Jesus will find us there. Amen.