By Jeff Campbell
Jesus is the light of the world, and His promise is our only hope. But so often, it ends up a dark parody of what it is meant to be. Sometimes, there is this dead thing we have ended up with. We call it Christianity. It is a corpse on a dissection table.
People wiser than I have observed the disconnect between what it was meant to be and what we have turned it into. As a church, well be reading the thoughts on of one of these folks through Vince Antonucci’s book I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt. The central premise of the book is just that–following Christ should have been so much more than something to do on Sundays and a list of thou-shalt-nots. (Its also incredibly funny and authentic.)
As Ive been working my way through the Beatitudes, Ive been reminded of this. Scripture puts it this way:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Look at the picture of the blessed person thats painted here: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peace-making, and persecuted.
And observe that which is promised to this person: the kingdom of heaven (twice), inheriting the earth, being filled, receiving mercy, seeing God, being called a son of God…
Persecuted yet called a son of God; mourning yet filled; poor in spirit yet an inhabitant of the Kingdom of God, and somehow also an inheritor of the Earth; receiving mercy yet persecuted. How could all this work together? How could it all be true at the same time?
It seems like the whole point is this: Jesus promised us up’s and down’s in this life. He promised that it will be ultimately worth it, but it seems like the litmus test is that every day will not be the same. The barometer will be this: some days are better than others.
The way we act, the way that I fear others might reconstruct Jesus’ words based on the fruits that they see in our lives I fear that they might assume Jesus said something like this:
Blessed are those self-satisfied in their theologies
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who walk around with a big fake smile on their face
for we all know God must be with us if we can fake a smile;
Blessed are the arrogant;
they will simply replay all the stuff they got now in the next life.
Blessed are those who are satisfied with systems which benefit only them;
God only uses bounty and surplus to grow us
Blessed are the legalistic
for they get it that God is a traffic cop and theyve found out all the laws.
Blessed are those who focus on appearing to be pure at heart
for what people see is so much more important than what people are
Blessed are the winners
for they will be called winners by virtue of Gods decision
Blessed are those who persecute others in the name of righteousness
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
We make an idol out of ease, the status quo, and fortunate circumstances.
Am I pointing fingers outward? Well, yes. But Im also pointing them back at me. Am I trying to being provocative? Maybe a bit. But Im hoping to provoke myself as much as you.
Did it work?
Jeff Campbell is attempting to follow Jesus’ revolutionary call on his life as a father of three, a husband, Special Education Teacher, and Director of Small Groups at Fellowship Church in Holden, Massachusetts. He frequently tells his kids–much to their great annoyance– that he’d like to be a fireman when he grows up.