The Scandal

Growing up in a conservative church, I had no idea why Jesus said things like, "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account," or "If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." I claimed to be a Christian, and the world didn't hate me or speak evil against me. Why would it? I was a pretty good guy. So was Jesus, for that matter. So why did the world despise him, and me by extension?

As I experience more of the world's unwillingness to love and forgive, and as I come to better understand the unconditional, inexhaustable love of God, whose patience for the errors of men is without limit and forgiveness is without end, I think I am starting to get it. Unconditional love, as strange as it sounds, is offensive. It is a stumbling block. It is a scandal.

The scandalous nature of unconditional love has manifested itself in several ways to me recently. First, when friends of mine helped relocate the residents of Tent City to Antioch as a last resort following the great flood, some of the residents of Antioch lashed out at my friends in hateful, judgmental, vicious ways. My friends were seeking to love the least of these, as commanded by Jesus, and for that, they were spoken evil of. One of the most vocal of my friends' opponents was Rodney Beard, who serves as pastor for the Living Word Community Church in Antioch. Mr. Beard proclaimed to my friends that the gates of charity in Antioch are closed. Even now, weeks later, it is difficult to know what to say in response to such a statement by a man who claims not only to be a follower of Jesus, but a leader of God's people. Jesus seemed to know just what to say: "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them." My friends' love for their homeless brothers and sisters was more than Beard and some of the other residents of Antioch could tolerate, so they verbally attacked them.

I see the same kind of hate directed toward Muslims who seek to build a mosque in Murfreesboro. Christians, little Christs, are making ignorant accusations against their Muslim neighbors, not loving them as Jesus commanded. Although we have been commanded to pronounce blessings upon even our enemies, so much of what I hear is cursing directed toward people who want only the privilege others hold so dear, to practice their faith in peace.

Most recently, I read an article about a friend of mine who, when she was sixteen years old, took a man's life. She was sentenced to life in prison. In the comments to the article were some of the most hate-filled words I have ever read, uttered no doubt by people who have never met my friend. Little regard was given for the remorse my friend has shown or for the drastic change that has occurred in her life over the past 6 years. The commentors were content to define my friend by the worst thing she has ever done, disregard the context of abuse in which she found herself at the time, and pronounce her unworthy of love or forgiveness for the rest of her life.

But this is not how Jesus treats people. Jesus does not see us as homeless, Muslims, murderers. Neither does he view us as land owners, pastors, Christians, or law-abiding citizens. Jesus cares not for titles and labels like lawyer, CEO, drunk, doctor, prostitute, rich, poor, illegal immigrant, Republican, Democrat, American. These are human categories that are beneath the notice of the Maker of the Universe. He sees us as we are - glorious, beautiful, bearers of God's image, packed with potential to create and do good, but, at the same time, broken, fallen, weak, and in need of a love that does not depend upon our condition. And it is this kind of love that he scandalously offers us, as he did to the sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee. He forgives even our worst deeds, and his forgiveness is without limit. And when Simon inwardly objected that this woman was not worthy of Jesus' love, and when we object that the homeless, the Muslims, the prisoners, the illegal immigrants, the homosexuals, the racists, th drug dealers and users are not worthy of Jesus' love, Jesus reminds us that the person who is forgiven much loves much.

And we, as followers and apprentices to Jesus, must offer the same radical, scandalous, beautiful love and forgiveness to all. In so doing, we will stand in solidarity with people the world does not think deserve such love. The world says that the homeless, the Muslims, the murderers, and the illegal immigrants should be feared and condemned. But perfect love casts out all fear, and Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it with his inexhaustible love and forgiveness. When we love and stand with our brothers and sisters that the world hates, the world will hate us too, and speak all kinds of evil against us. I am beginning to see that this is one of the truths of the gospel that I was not told about when I was growing up in church. When this comes to pass, we need Jesus to remind us that we are truly blessed, for the world treated him in the same way.