Lighten Up
When I was in high school (yes, it was a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away), I remember driving out to “the farm.” The Farm is what we called a church located on lots of land in a valley just outside of Nashville (there is another community somewhere near Nashville with this as their official name; this is not that one). While I was driving, I was listening to Focus on the Family’s presentation of Tony Campolo addressing a youth rally. The more I heard, the more rivited I became. As I was taking the bend onto I-65, I tried to write down the address to order a copy of the tape (yes, I said tape, and yes, that is how we did things back then). He presented the Gospel in a way I had never heard before.
What was different? He was a professor of Sociology. This alone was different because he integrated the findings of social science with the biblical description of the human condition. Education and science could complement the Gospel. He was funny and energetic. He broke out in song (not a Christian song either) and told stories. He was also deeply moved and passionate about the hurting and the marginalized. He could make you laugh and just as easily make you cry. I have tried teaching high-schoolers. I am not good at it. Tony was and still is. This is an exciting age group though. They are the world-changers. They are not so locked into the world that they cannot envision a bolder purpose. They are more idealistic. I love the high-school group I associate with at church. They are such great kids. I wish I could be Tony Campolo for them. But I am just me. In the meantime, I hope to share the same enthusiasm for Jesus with them that I learned from him.
This video excerpt is much later in his career, but the passion is still there. He raises a good question about those the church excludes. Teaching the class of juniors, the text from Acts 9 talked about Saul and Annanias. Saul was a religious zealot. He was a Pharisee, of the tribe of Benjamin, and taught by Gamaliel. He had the full support of the chief priests to chase down Christians to arrest or even kill them. They are blasphemous after all. He knew scripture. Just like Satan knew scripture when he argued with Jesus. Annanias knew scripture too. But Annanias knew Jesus. What people do with scripture, where it points them, says a lot about the voice speaking. Satan encouraged Jesus to glorify himself and elevate himself. Jesus chose to honor and glorify the Father. Saul sought to violently preserve his tradition and religion. Annanias listened to the voice of Jesus telling him to welcome an enemy who had just killed one of their own. The voice of Jesus is a voice that gathers and welcomes. He restores and gives radical love.
This radical love is seen in the story of the two sons and a father in Luke 15. It is called the “prodigal son,” but, as Timothy Keller points out in his book The Prodigal God, the story should be “the prodigal father.” Prodigal means wasteful or extravagant. The son was wasteful with the father’s resources. By wanting his inheritance up front, he essentially wished his father dead. It was profoundly disrespectful. The father eagerly sought the boy and was extravagant in not only receiving the boy, but throwing a huge party for him. The father seemed to have no concern over his resources, only the relationship. The other son, he was closed off. He too was disrespectful to the father. The father called to him, but he refused to go to the father. This too was profoundly disrespectful. It was shaming. Instead, the father went to him, which is a humiliating act in a strongly patriarchal society. This scene contrasts the generous nature of the father to the scarcity mindset of the son. Such a beautiful story. The father knew how to party and he loved his sons. Throwing a party is an act of generosity. There is something for which to gather and celebrate; it says “I have plenty, come and enjoy !”
“Generosity: What Are We Missing?” is a recent blogpost by Erin Vroom with Steve Atkinson and is found on the The Bible Project website. This is a portion of their entry:
Since the beginning of the story, humanity has been confronted with a lie: what God has given you isn’t enough, so take for yourself (Genesis 3:1-7). Today, we are constantly bombarded with the same message, resulting in selfishness and covetousness. How can we overcome this scarcity mindset?
Author Randy Alcorn shares an intriguing insight related to this question. In a personal discussion surrounding generosity, he shared the following:
“God’s grace is the lightning and our giving is the thunder. Just like thunder follows lightning, giving follows grace. It is possible to give without a deep understanding of God’s grace. It is impossible to have a deep understanding of grace and not give.”
If we look again at the giving statistics in America through this insight, we arrive at a startling truth: rather than a generosity problem, we have an understanding of grace problem.
The truth is that only one of the kids loved the father and fully comprehended his mercy and grace. The other recited a list of duties and things he never did (his merits) and yet he despised the father by refusing to come to him when he called. This father has such love, so ready to celebrate, so extravagant, so wasteful with himself. This is self-sacrificing love. At some point, both of his kids despised him; he gave and he loved anyway. He was the very image of a generous father. They humiliated him; he accepted them, he sought both of them, and he threw a party. This is the Father we have!
The light burden is that you can get off your high horse, put down your weapon, open up your doors…Jesus is throwing a party and all are invited. We have all despised His goodness at some point. Yet, there is plenty of grace, plenty of joy, plenty of forgiveness, plenty of acceptance, plenty of resources showered upon us for us to give all this away in a radical manner. The world should take notice. We sing freely. We laugh and cry fully. We give what we have and celebrate unabashadely. We are unconcerned about the shame cast upon us because this love is able to endure for the hope of relationship. But if those invited are too offensive to you, then the burden of all the stuff you require of someone for them to be loved and accepted is heavy indeed.
This proposes some questions about the Bible:
What was the point of the law if we would need Jesus anyway?
What was the point of Jesus doing all that if we go back to the law?
How are we to use the bible if Satan and Jesus both used it in the desert?
How do we carry a cross and still have Jesus say “My burden is light”?
At no point in the Hebrew scripture do we get the notion that the laws are going to work to make a people capable of living shema. From moment one (Moses isn’t even off the mountain) they are breaking the commands already. And the more laws that are introduced (613 in the Torah), the more Israel violates them. Don’t get uppity! We are no different. Paul writes in Romans about not doing the good he wants, but doing the bad because sin is at work in him. What? But Paul is responsible for his individual choices and all of this spiritual stuff is a cop out on personal responsibility. Right? No, at least it is not right enough. Sin is at work. Sin is an entity. Hostility is an entity. Sorry Ms Jackson, this is for real.
What was the point of the law? For one, it created a sanctifying way of life for God’s people. Love God and love each other in this way, a way distinctly different than the cultures given to violence, power, and self-interest. These cultures worship the powers, the heavenly created beings. Again, don’t get uppity! We do the same. The prophets come along to call out the leaders of the community. You neglect mercy and justice. Look it up. Each prophet ultimately addresses this as sin at work in God’s people. The laws are there and if that is your idol, then you become as rigid and cold as the tablets on which they are written. When our hearts are made new, then we can fulfill the purpose of the law: love God and love each other. Paul writes in Romans and Galatians that this the work of the Spirit in us.
Jesus comes along and we see the character of God in the world. Jesus knows the laws, but He is not bound by them as such. He counters the use of scripture by religious leaders and Satan with His Authority. Is the law authority? No. What about scripture? No. Jesus is the Authority. He reveals the character of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. The scripture is beautiful and good and full of wisdom. It points us to the Messiah, but it does not overshadow the Messiah. What the law unmasks, His death carries to the cross. His resurrection brings the Kingdom of a Holy Spirit ruled life to work in this world. The book of Romans is Paul’s magnum opus on this subject. Our hearts are remade and the Spirit life enables shema.
Why is His burden light? Under the 613 laws, someone was always judging you and the weight of having to earn approval shatters any hope of deep abiding love and intimacy. It erects barriers of hostility against those who do not conform to the accepted interpretation of law. It is the law to which you relate and not the Father and not each other. The law removed and isolated those who were unclean. But now, the very Presence of the Authority Himself is at work within us. He encounters the unclean and He makes them clean. He abides with us and speaks to us and enables us to love as He loved and show mercy as He showed mercy. Just as Jesus loved all the wrong people, now we can love all the wrong people. Just as the father was extravagant with the sons, The Father has been extravagant with us.
This is a much different way of approaching God. It is lighter. It is a cross though, make no mistake. But now, I love those who hunger and thirst for the love of God. People are asking for this love, though few will use words. In their demonstration of their need for this love, Jesus calls us to drop the stones and the tablets and offer the generous grace He offers us all. The laws as interpreted by the evangelical community are a burden. They require a performance for acceptance. They reinforce barriers put in place by the powers to keep people apart and from loving one another as equal before God. Look at the fruit and you will know the tree.
I know of parents, especially those with adopted children, who have shown this love. Children with an undergirding of hurt often act out. Children with behavioral issues or cognitive issues also lash out in their own way. Whatever the reason, it is what the child needs that these parents address. This is a cross of enduring an embarrassing moment before strangers in order to love the one in need. This too is the prodigal father’s love. I have watched these eruptions confronted with patient, loving assurance. I love you. I am still here. They will redirect in a gentle but firm manner, but the message is always the same: you are loved.
So, there is good news! We can lighten up. The cross is self-sacrificial love. It is giving away acceptance and mercy and love and money. Whatever is needed, God’s generous love can flow through us to others. This is what faith looks like. We can laugh and cry like never before before because God’s love makes us more alive as we go to the cross and trust in His power and His provision. We can open our hand and let stuff slip through our fingers; it will never be empty. Our spirit is awakened to those around us and we are able to share life with them in a way that is unguarded and unburdened. It is an exciting and uncertain life. It as life that is a light to the world. The Kingdom of God is a party.
