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Every society expects certain behaviors.  In the West, “being nice” ranks near the top, where a premium is placed on avoiding conflict and anything that might be regarded as offensive.  Unpopular commentary, even when true, is often conflated with “aggression” and “hate.” 

How would Jesus be received in contemporary Western society?  Probably not very well, although you would never know it judging from the lip service people give him: “He was a great moral teacher, a loving and wise religious teacher!”  Think about how the following actions might be received today.    

 

– When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied.  “My hour has not yet come.”

John 2:3-4, NIV

(C’mon, Jesus!  You should be nice to your mother!) 

 

– From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  “Never, Lord!” he said.  “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Matthew 16:21-23

(He’s so rude—even to his own disciples!) 

 

– At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else.  Herod wants to kill you.”

He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’  In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

Luke 13:31-33

(You should show respect to those in authority!)

 

– “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness….”  

Matthew 23:27-28

(Don’t be so judgmental!)

 

– So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

John 2:15-16

(Call the police!)

 

Nowadays, the term “Christ-like” is virtually synonymous with a mellow, almost wimpy attitude.  This begs the question: At the Final Judgement, will Jesus act in a “Christ-like” way?

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‘Tis the season for things haunted.  So, here is an anecdote with a haunting angle to it, one that I incorporated into my book on relationships.  It concerns my grandfather, an immigrant from Sweden, who returned to his homeland 50 years after emigrating to the United States.  He traveled with his wife, who was also of Swedish descent and spoke the language.  While travelling in Sweden he ran into a former girlfriend of his.  You might think she would be happy to see him and want to catch up on the events of the intervening years.  But no, the story goes, she confronted him: “How could you just run off to America and leave me behind like that?” 

The ghosts of our past never really go away, something that was driven home to me recently while helping to plan a high school reunion.  I took it upon myself to track down classmates, some of whom I had never really known or who did not remember me.  It turns out that had little to do with how a typical conversation progressed.  Folks would usually tell me something about their current family situation, who they had married, for example.  So far, so good.  At some point the conversation would shift to who they had dated in high school and then to who they had had a crush on but were never able to make a go of it.  Not infrequently, I would hear stories of what they had done wrong in life, often tales of sexual immorality—even if they did not remember me.  It’s as if they viewed our telephonic conversation as a confessional. 

Mistakes from our past can haunt us for a lifetime, especially those involving broken relationships and sins of the flesh.  This is something to keep in mind as we navigate life.  Our words and actions—whether good or bad—might never be forgotten.  That “one night stand” where she was used and then discarded?  She won’t forget it.  Being stood up on a date?  He’ll remember that too.     

We would do well in life to choose our words and actions carefully.

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Holy Week is a study in contrasts:  triumph and defeat (the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the apparent defeat on the cross, the triumphal rise from the grave), life and death (death on a cross bringing new life to the many who would believe), and love and hate (the love shown by Jesus to those who treated him with contempt).  Such contrasts stretch our thinking and promote understanding:  how much more meaningful is forgiveness when the price paid for it is high. 

If we believe God is omnipotent, we must acknowledge that He could have chosen any means He wanted to bring about our redemption, for example, a savior who did not die, a 10-step religious program, a long list of to-dos.  By having the God-incarnate die in our place, however, He chose the costliest means possible, thereby demonstrating love for His creation and giving us even more reason to believe that He will never leave us. 

Thus, we see in Holy Week echoes of Christmas, where God took on human flesh—Emmanuel, God is with us. And so now He stays with us, as Jesus dies for us and we rise with him.   

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

It is almost a truism in Christian circles that “God never changes.” One oft-cited verse is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi: “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6, NIV) A reading of the entire chapter makes clear that the context here is God’s moral judgement of wrongdoing. God is a moral being, and His morals and judgements do not change. 

But is there any sense in which God might change? It is worth reflecting on what we celebrate at Christmas—the Incarnation, God becoming one of us: “The incarnation of Christ (or Incarnation) is the central Christian doctrine that God became flesh, assumed of human nature, and became a man in the form of Jesus, the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity.” (Wikipedia, extracted December 24, 2024) That is to say, the second person of the Trinity (Jesus) was not human before the Incarnation, but he was human after. That indeed is a remarkable change! 

God became human and in so doing declared oneness with humanity. By taking on flesh and blood—which are part of the created order—God likewise tied himself to the Creation.  As one theologian poignantly observed, the baby Jesus looked out from the manger towards the heavens to see the stars that he had created. 

That is something to celebrate. Merry Christmas! 

Image by Helga from Pixabay

With another federal election approaching, we may again be asked to consider whether the Church should have anything to say about politics or whether it should avoid that subject entirely. The notion that Christian teaching and practice should be relegated to a personal or private sphere, while excluded from the public square, does not hold up to scrutiny. This is clear, for example, when considering the lives and teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus.    

“And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.”  (Luke 3:18-20, NIV)

As these verses make clear, John the Baptist did not stop at offering words to the masses. He publicly rebuked the leading political figure for doing “evil,” words that eventually cost him his life. Jesus was likewise critical of Herod, calling him a “fox” (Luke 13:32), and he had especially harsh words for the Pharisees, religious leaders who also wielded a measure of political control.  Their reaction to his words and lifestyle was to want to kill him, which they ultimately did. 

When church leaders decline to address something because it is “political,” I believe they are motivated by a desire to avoid controversy. And when people say the Church should stay out of politics, what they really want is for the Church to avoid taking a stand they find offensive. Truth always offends those who disregard it.   

In retrospect, would it have been better had Christians in Germany been more active in politics as the Nazi party was gaining influence? To ask this question is to answer it. And here is a related question: What evils do we face in our society and in the world today?

Photo by Ivča from Pixabay

In our idealistic moments, we may find ourselves thinking about how to “save the world” from all its ills or drawing up a list of its problems along with ways to fix them, one by one. Some of the problems facing us are more technological in nature (we need energy), while others are sociologically oriented (crime rates are rising). Regarding the latter, what if some of those problems have a common root cause? In that case, addressing one or more root causes would be more productive than attacking the problems individually. 

Sociologists have long decried the breakup of the family as a root cause of much of what is wrong with our society. When a family breaks up, the children are at greater risk of poverty, neglect, criminal activity, educational challenges, unwanted pregnancies, and so on. Significantly, those children are in turn at greater risk of going through a divorce themselves (https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/research-suggests-children-of-divorce-more-likely-to-end-their-own-marriages/). One can imagine a sort of generational domino effect, in which each subsequent generation finds itself in a more difficult situation than the previous one. If it were possible to wave a magic wand and eliminate family break-ups, many of society’s problems would be mitigated as a result. 

What can be done to turn the tide? A fair bit of energy is being expended to keep families together, at least within religious communities. There is marital counseling, and before that, pre-marital counseling designed to give would-be couples a sense of what they will face when married. In my experience, however, by the time people are engaged, it is difficult to persuade them to step back from making an unwise choice. Their strong inclination is to plow ahead and get married regardless, even if they have doubts. 

Wouldn’t it be good for people to think seriously about serious relationships before they get serious, rather than after? Our time would be well spent educating people, especially young people, about the perils and pitfalls of relationships—and how to think rationally about them—before they find themselves caught up in one. When people think soberly and rationally about romance, sex, and relationships, we see better choices in a life partner, fewer divorces, fewer unwanted pregnancies, and better results all around.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

It seems that the lives of so many are careening out of control, and broken relationships often play a part. 

Some of my thoughts on this are found in the attached video presentation. A rosy future is more likely when not wearing rose-colored glasses. Let’s (re)think this. 

Rethinking Dating and Relationships (mp4)

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

After the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the extent of the atrocities there became clear. Many millions of people had been executed, including several million Jews. The genocide of the Jews became known as the “Holocaust,” and many resolved that it should never happen again.

This was and is a noble sentiment, but the fact is that the mass extermination of people, including genocide, has happened many times since 1945. One thinks of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s, the mass killing of Cambodians by Pol Pot in the 1970s, and the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s, among others.

Recent events demonstrate that the genocidal spirit is still “alive and well.” Ukrainian civilians have been intentionally targeted by Vladimir Putin, and the terrorist organization Hamas recently carried out racially motivated attacks against Israelis. A world in which mass killings will never again happen has not materialized, and indeed recent history demonstrates that the killing goes on again and again. Human nature has not changed since the Fall.    

We should pray for and desire institutions, leaders, and political arrangements that provide a check on people’s worst instincts, knowing that a perfect world will always elude us. Only God can change the human heart. 

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

The subject line has been used in various contexts to grab people’s attention. What is knowable—and what is not—has been the subject of philosophical discussion seemingly forever. I am reminded of Woody Allen’s quip: “Is knowledge knowable? If not, how do we know?”

At a more mundane level, people are inclined to plead ignorance of certain truths when it suits their purpose, maybe even demanding “proof” of something without specifying what kind of proof would be sufficient. But I believe that people know much more than they let on or are willing to live up to. Consider the following examples and their implications:

-Everyone is going to die—and we all know that—but this is not something we want to acknowledge. This becomes a serious problem when we live on a day-to-day basis as if we will never die or think that death is so far off as to be somehow irrelevant. 

-We know deep down that human life is special, in a way that other life forms are not. We might feel bad about stepping on a bug or running over a squirrel on the road, but we know that those things are qualitatively different than squashing a human being. But do our attitudes, actions, and laws necessarily reflect the value of human life?

-Everyone recognizes that no one is perfect. We even have a phrase for this: human nature, which is typically used in reference to shortcomings inherent in all of humanity rather than any “goodness” it possesses. So much finger pointing and posturing, whether in the public square or the private realm, is simply hypocrisy. 

-We all want to be treated in accordance with the Golden Rule and know that it is morally preferable to selfishness. Indeed, we object when we are treated badly. The Golden Rule is almost universally acknowledged but is not universally practiced, for reasons of convenience. 

The disconnect between what we know to be true and how we live is the cause of much unhappiness and injustice. 

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A poll by the Wall Street Journal/NORC (U. of Chicago) has quantified what many have sensed for some time now: religion, patriotism, and having children are much less important to Americans than they used to be (https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253962/religion-patriotism-and-having-children-diminish-in-importance-for-americans-wsj-poll).

Only 39% of Americans say that religion is very important to them (down from 62% in 1998). Similar results were found for the questions of having children and patriotism. Although being religious, wanting children, and being patriotic are not one and the same, it is easy to imagine how someone disconnected from God’s love would find it harder to love one’s country or want to make the effort to raise children. Secularism is the soil in which all sorts of selfish impulses thrive. 

What these latest findings portend for the country is not pleasant to think about. America’s second president, John Adams, though himself not a trinitarian Christian, famously observed that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” What would our nation and its government look like without a “moral and religious people”? We may soon find out, and indeed warning signs are already here. 

Over the centuries, America has been a melting pot of nationalities, cultures, and even ideas. Recently, the secularist mindset in America has become increasingly intolerant of anything and anyone espousing contrary opinions. Agreeing to disagree is no longer viewed by many as a reasonable response to disagreement, with some form of punishment being preferred, such as loss of employment, physical violence, or social ostracization (“cancelling”). This is an unwelcome development for the body politic, and increasing strife seems likely. 

It is tempting to believe that we can turn things around by doing the right things, saying the right things, or praying the right prayer. But there is no guarantee of success in this undertaking, if success is understood to mean a massive cultural and spiritual reversal in the near term. Consider the example of Jesus of Nazareth during Holy Week—the perfect witness to God’s Kingdom, who did, said, and prayed all the right things but was still rejected by the crowd.

As we stand opposed to the Western World’s decline and offer Christianity as the countercultural antidote, perhaps we would do well to not discourage ourselves by fixating on the decline but rather to focus on reaching one person at a time, viewing that as success in its own right. As the saying goes, think globally, but act locally.