Reading a Living Text in the Shadow of the Cross
File under "Clarifications on Christianity"
In the bible's Gospel of Luke, there is this passage explaining a moment in Jesus' public career:
There are a lot of ways Jesus' teachings have been characterized. Some say that he was basically a good religious teacher who wanted others to learn a little bit about a better spiritual life, and how to treat others. Others say he was radical and exploited the political and social conditions of the day to his advantage, pitting the religious and political elite against the "common folk". And so on.
But there's rough spots in Jesus' words, and this part in Luke about the cost of following Jesus is one of the most difficult, disturbing, and misunderstood statements. Who in their right mind would teach potential followers to hate their own families and friends in order to be a follower, who but the most crazed megalomaniac?
That reaction is understandable, because Jesus was deliberately using a form of hyperbole to address the immediate situation. If that hyperbole is taken as it stands without understanding the dynamics of the moment, we miss the point and would write it off as nonsensical misanthropy. Hold off on that conclusion for just a moment.
At that point in Jesus' public ministry, right before Jesus says the statement above, the author notes that "great multitudes were going along with him."
This is interesting because Jesus was not much of a crowd pleaser, nor a traveling showman doing and saying the right things to try and get large followings. So he looks out at the massive crowd and says the above statement point blank.
To catch the force of the moment, you need to reckon with the fact that what goes on here is typical throughout all the Gospels. Despite any protests on our part, we never simply read in the bible about Jesus, not the "we" right now in the 21st century readers nor the first century crowds. It's not us who are reading and studying Jesus, so much as it is Jesus reading us. It's a living text; when we sit down and open the bible to the four Gospels, we are not passive observers to the unfolding of this story, detached from any involvement through the vast distance of time and location. No, Jesus continually turns around and addresses us now today even as we read about his teachings and deeds, because when we read we are a part of that great multitude who were going along with Jesus for all sorts of reasons. He turns around and says the above. What are you looking for when you "go along with him"? What interests you about him? Are you, like many in that great multitude in Luke 14, simply curious about something new that came along? Are you fascinated by controversy? Are you just wanting to see a miracle? Did you hear about him healing a leper or feeding 5000, and hoping that he can come along and fix some certain problem in your life? Does he seem so far like just the right fix to a fundamentally chaotic life? Is he worth following along the path because you might hear some agreeable nuggets of wisdom that confirms our own opinions on life? Does he seem rather liberal in dishing out blessings to the common people and is his righteous anger and criticisms against the religious and conservative elite feel like sweet poetic justice? Does he seem like he's on my side in this crazy drama of life?
Okay, so why are all these implicit questions found in Jesus' teaching and deeds, why is he scanning all of us?
Because if we are reading these texts, or hearing them, we are taking the time to peer into his life, which is not a normal life. And we may tend to quickly forget that his story is the twists and turns of one long procession to a lackluster death on a tree outside the walls of Jerusalem, where he was taken out like the absolute lowest of criminals. So on the way to that morbid appointment, Jesus is going to keep turning and asking us, this great multitude of observers and readers and listeners, "Why are you going along with me? Do you wish to follow me? or is it something else?" He reads us, he exposes us for our own sakes. He murders our ambivalence, and weeds out ulterior motives. He wants us to know that he is not just one more lost cause trying to muster up a counter-movement for his generation to the powers that be. He is claiming a possession of both divine approval and divine participation in a way unique to himself, so that to follow him is to be in devoted allegiance to him. It is to trust him as we could never be expected to trust just any good, mortal man.
"If any man comes to me and hates not . . . "
This is a figure of speech. The point is incisive: "if you are going along with me and are not commited to my cause above any other cause in your life, the sooner you leave the better." Thus the hyperbolic language used, where any other relationship, in comparison to one's commitment to the cause of Christ and the way of the cross, is going to looke like hatred relatively speaking. Although yes, they actually are relationships of love, but by comparison they will look like hatred in that Christ is demanding a way of following him where his cause must be the central concern of any potential follower. All other loves and relationships are to flow out of that one. He speaks for nothing less than a death to self as we know it. Ambivalence and competing commitments will not fare well in the steps of his path to the cursed tree (which stands in the way of the tree of life).
Say what you will about who Jesus is or who you think he is, he was always conscious of the intentions and inner workings of those around him, those of us who read him, and those who look over his shoulder to see what was going on and to see what they can get out of it. When he turns to address the intentions of our hearts, he is meek but he is never mild. And that for our own good.
File under "Clarifications on Christianity"
In the bible's Gospel of Luke, there is this passage explaining a moment in Jesus' public career:
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' "
(Luke 14:25-30)
(Luke 14:25-30)
There are a lot of ways Jesus' teachings have been characterized. Some say that he was basically a good religious teacher who wanted others to learn a little bit about a better spiritual life, and how to treat others. Others say he was radical and exploited the political and social conditions of the day to his advantage, pitting the religious and political elite against the "common folk". And so on.
But there's rough spots in Jesus' words, and this part in Luke about the cost of following Jesus is one of the most difficult, disturbing, and misunderstood statements. Who in their right mind would teach potential followers to hate their own families and friends in order to be a follower, who but the most crazed megalomaniac?
That reaction is understandable, because Jesus was deliberately using a form of hyperbole to address the immediate situation. If that hyperbole is taken as it stands without understanding the dynamics of the moment, we miss the point and would write it off as nonsensical misanthropy. Hold off on that conclusion for just a moment.
At that point in Jesus' public ministry, right before Jesus says the statement above, the author notes that "great multitudes were going along with him."
This is interesting because Jesus was not much of a crowd pleaser, nor a traveling showman doing and saying the right things to try and get large followings. So he looks out at the massive crowd and says the above statement point blank.
To catch the force of the moment, you need to reckon with the fact that what goes on here is typical throughout all the Gospels. Despite any protests on our part, we never simply read in the bible about Jesus, not the "we" right now in the 21st century readers nor the first century crowds. It's not us who are reading and studying Jesus, so much as it is Jesus reading us. It's a living text; when we sit down and open the bible to the four Gospels, we are not passive observers to the unfolding of this story, detached from any involvement through the vast distance of time and location. No, Jesus continually turns around and addresses us now today even as we read about his teachings and deeds, because when we read we are a part of that great multitude who were going along with Jesus for all sorts of reasons. He turns around and says the above. What are you looking for when you "go along with him"? What interests you about him? Are you, like many in that great multitude in Luke 14, simply curious about something new that came along? Are you fascinated by controversy? Are you just wanting to see a miracle? Did you hear about him healing a leper or feeding 5000, and hoping that he can come along and fix some certain problem in your life? Does he seem so far like just the right fix to a fundamentally chaotic life? Is he worth following along the path because you might hear some agreeable nuggets of wisdom that confirms our own opinions on life? Does he seem rather liberal in dishing out blessings to the common people and is his righteous anger and criticisms against the religious and conservative elite feel like sweet poetic justice? Does he seem like he's on my side in this crazy drama of life?
Okay, so why are all these implicit questions found in Jesus' teaching and deeds, why is he scanning all of us?
Because if we are reading these texts, or hearing them, we are taking the time to peer into his life, which is not a normal life. And we may tend to quickly forget that his story is the twists and turns of one long procession to a lackluster death on a tree outside the walls of Jerusalem, where he was taken out like the absolute lowest of criminals. So on the way to that morbid appointment, Jesus is going to keep turning and asking us, this great multitude of observers and readers and listeners, "Why are you going along with me? Do you wish to follow me? or is it something else?" He reads us, he exposes us for our own sakes. He murders our ambivalence, and weeds out ulterior motives. He wants us to know that he is not just one more lost cause trying to muster up a counter-movement for his generation to the powers that be. He is claiming a possession of both divine approval and divine participation in a way unique to himself, so that to follow him is to be in devoted allegiance to him. It is to trust him as we could never be expected to trust just any good, mortal man.
"If any man comes to me and hates not . . . "
This is a figure of speech. The point is incisive: "if you are going along with me and are not commited to my cause above any other cause in your life, the sooner you leave the better." Thus the hyperbolic language used, where any other relationship, in comparison to one's commitment to the cause of Christ and the way of the cross, is going to looke like hatred relatively speaking. Although yes, they actually are relationships of love, but by comparison they will look like hatred in that Christ is demanding a way of following him where his cause must be the central concern of any potential follower. All other loves and relationships are to flow out of that one. He speaks for nothing less than a death to self as we know it. Ambivalence and competing commitments will not fare well in the steps of his path to the cursed tree (which stands in the way of the tree of life).
Say what you will about who Jesus is or who you think he is, he was always conscious of the intentions and inner workings of those around him, those of us who read him, and those who look over his shoulder to see what was going on and to see what they can get out of it. When he turns to address the intentions of our hearts, he is meek but he is never mild. And that for our own good.
posted by Joe Branca | 4:38 PM
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