OH NO!!! IT'S SNEAKY JESUS AT THE SUPERBOWL!!! HOW DARE HE!!!
The avalanche of negative Christian reaction videos to the "He Gets Us" commercials, and how incredibly bad so many of those reactions were, makes me just want to go off and be a Zen Buddhist or a secular humanist. I actually liked the commercials, though at first I didn't get them! But as I watched, I figured out that the "washing the feet" symbolism was actually quite brilliant. It was portraying the Jesus we really need deep down in our souls, not the confessional, systematic, containerized, religious, pie-in-the-sky Jesus that is often portrayed by our American religious systems. But then I'm an unapologetic fan of the "seeker sensitive" megachurch way of doing things.
As for all the Christian reactionaries out there, here's a passage for you all:
"And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. [Matthew 9 ESV]
And yes, Jesus is absolutely a model for us to follow. That was well understood up until Modernism came along, and then the liberals all decided that Jesus just wasn't relevant enough for SCIENCE!!! Then they made Jesus into a convenient trojan horse for whatever liberal political agenda was the center of their attention. We are seeing this right now with churches getting split down the middle having to deal with liberals trying to shove the Rainbow Flag agenda down everyone's throat. "Love is LOVE!!!" Well, maybe not. Here in America, Jesus has always been an excuse for all sorts of political movements, and some of them even made sense at the time. But we have long passed the point of diminishing returns using that strategy.
On the other hand, I know full well of the stupidity of my fundamentalist brothers in Christ, preaching and teaching that Christmas is just another pagan holiday and should not be celebrated, and Santa Claus is actually Satan, and The King James Bible is the only version you should be reading, as all the modern translations are corrupt. Both liberalism and the legalistic rigidity of conservatism are wrong. It's not about trying to find a happy middle way, it's about finding humility, holiness and love in Jesus.
Certainly in this life, and especially here in the USA, there are things, many things in fact, that Christians must take a stand *against.* There's no if's, and's or but's about it. One does not need to be angry or hateful about it, but one does need to firm in their convictions. On the other hand, there are things we need to take a stand for. And chief amongst those things, according to Jesus himself, is the call to repentance and transformation. We are to put off our old lives, take up our cross, and follow Him. And yes, that might mean a great increase in the pain and suffering that you will be dealing with, and no, people don't want to hear it. People want a Jesus who just affirms whatever choices they make, not one who tells them they are making bad choices. Just ask someone in AA.
People out there in the TLC know that Christians all over the world, but especially in Africa, are routinely persecuted unto death for their faith in Jesus, am I right? And some of the very worst of the persecution is in the country of Nigeria, and I won't even bother mentioning who are the main instigators of the persecution, you can go look that up for yourselves. People die for their faith in Jesus on a daily basis over there, no exageration.
From the Catholic News Agency:
As Christians in the country face a campaign of escalating violence, one Nigerian priest spoke to CNA about the suffering of the Church, and why he has hope of a final victory."I want other Catholics around the world to know of the suffering of our people," Fr. Joseph Bature of the Diocese of Maidiguri, told CNA Monday in Washington, D.C.
"Fr. Bature related the experience of trying to console a widow who had lost her children in violent anti-Christian attacks. "She had asked 'where are our other brothers and sisters? Do they know what we go through?'" he recounted.
"Our people feel isolated, because this situation sometimes is poorly reported," he said. "It's the loneliness, the sense of isolation, and the frustration."
Some IDF guy throws a hand grenade in Gaza, and the next thing you know, all the news outlets are reporting on the 527 woman and children killed by the hand grenade. But over in Nigeria, there has been a systematic, intentional effort to kill off the Christians in that country through whatever means necessary that's been going on for years, and you will NEVER hear about it in the news, NEVER. Why is that? You need to ask yourself these kind of questions. You need to pay attention.
And yet here's the prayer of a Nigerian man named Barnabas Nwoye, in the face of the reality in which he lives:
"Agonizing Jesus, I offer You my heart to be united with Your Agonizing Heart as a co-bearer of Your agony. Jesus, I want to be in agony with You so as to hasten Your Glorious Reign of Peace. Amen."
Now that's a prayer. Can't imagine any Protestant in the USA praying something like that.
Maybe some of you know enough history to know of the relentless persecution of of Armenians unto death at the hands of the Turks and their fellow travelers. But did any of you know that this is *still going on to this day?* It's not history, it's present day reality:
"Almost all ethnic Armenians have left Nagorno-Karabakh since Azerbaijan attacked and ordered the breakaway region’s militants to disarm, the Armenian government said on Saturday."Nazeli Baghdasaryan, the press secretary to Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said 100,417 people had arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, which had a population of about 120,000 before Azerbaijan reclaimed the region in a offensive last week."
"A total of 21,043 vehicles had crossed the Hakari bridge, which links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, since last week, Baghdasaryan said. Some lined up for days because the winding mountain road that is the only route to Armenia became jammed."
"The departure of more than 80% of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population raises questions about Azerbaijan’s plans for the enclave that was internationally recognised as part of its territory. The region’s separatist ethnic Armenian government said on Thursday that it would dissolve itself by the end of the year after a three-decade bid for independence."
This was all happening while that whole "Gaza" thing has been happening, but did you hear anything about this in the news? Ethnic Armenians had their own "enclave" in a majority Muslim dominated country, and they are all fleeing to the actual country of Armenia, otherwise they will all be killed. At least they were all able to flee to safety. Just like the people of Gaza were all able to flee to the neighboring country of Egypt...oops, the Egyptians won't allow that to happen now, will they? I guess the Egyptians aren't very good Christians.
Unlike Protestants, Catholics don't get all hung up in the "rapture" and all that nonsense. They know and expect that there will be some really bad things happening, and that the antichrist will come, but instead of looking at all the judgments and disasters that proceed the coming of Jesus, they instead like to focus on His bodily return to earth to set up a true utopia as promised throughout all the prophetic books in the Bible. Yes, things will get dark before the dawn, but there will be a dawn. For those Christians living in Nigeria, their own "end-times" is happening as we speak. To them, things couldn't possibly get much worse, why worry about a single antichrist when you are surrounded by them?
But then there are those living in the West. We certainly have our own crosses to bear, like the Italian mystic Luisa Piccarreta. On April 29, 1902, Jesus stopped by to visit Luisa, and they had the following conversation:
"This morning my adorable Jesus came for a little, telling me: "My daughter, one who wants everything from God must give all of himself to God." And He stopped, without telling me anything else for the time being. Seeing Him close to me, I said to Him: 'Lord, have compassion on me; don't You see how everything is dried and withered? It seems to me that I have become so dry, as if I had never received a drop of rain." And He: "So much the better. Don't you know that the drier the wood, the more easily the fire devours it and converts it into fire? One spark alone is enough to ignite it. But if it full of humors and not well dried, it takes a big fire to ignite it, and much time to convert it to fire. The same in the soul: when everything is dry, one spark alone is enough to convert her completely into fire of divine love."
This is why everyone needs to pay attention to the Christian mystics. You ain't gonna get that sort of thing reading Keller or Carson.
Oh, by the way: Happy Valentine's Day TLC! Why do we celebrate that day anyway? Because of this guy:
"The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death."
Someone should have told Claudius II that "love is love..." Oh well.
Oh, and by the way, Valentine's Day is a pagan holiday. Really. Just don't tell the New Atheists...
Here's some Valentine's Day presents for you all:
First, go out and buy the book "The Moment of Christian Witness" by the great theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar. It's a small volume, just 150 pages, but it might be one of the best things he ever wrote. It will certainly be one of the best things you have ever read. You're welcome.
Secondly, go and find this music video and watch it: "Josh Turner - Long Black Train (Official Music Video)". You will be very glad you did.
And third, go and find this music video and watch it to the end: "A Simple Song" by Melinda Coombes. Her little talk at the end of this self-made music video is solid gold, as Melinda works at a retirement home.
My Valentine's Day present was hearing Dave singing "People Get Ready" in this video. I wish I could have been there for that, he did a great job.
- Pseudo Boethius
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