It is amazing how my view of myself has changed so drastically in the past six years or so. It began when I started working on our diaconate, it progressed as I saw my political idolatry and consequentialism, and now it is broken wide open as I see my lack of humility with brothers and sisters of color. I always identified with God in his anger at Israel's rebellion, I identified with the prophet Hosea rather than with his adulterous wife, and I identified with Jesus and the disciples who I imagined were shaking their heads at the rich young ruler (although that's not what the text says they did, but it's what I always did). But I have begun to see that I and my community are most often intended to identify with the wayward Israel in need of mercy, with the unfaithful prostitute, and with the rich young ruler in need of humility and transformation. The following, then, is a reimagining of the rich young ruler story as told in Luke 18, with me and my community standing in for the man who proved his unbelief through his inability to act in love.
Luke 18:18-27
And a comfortable, white Evangelical said to Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'”
The Evangelical thought to himself, "I have not committed adultery. In fact my sexual purity is proven by my fight to make homosexuality illegal. I have not murdered, I have only supported killing my enemies, and even then, only through the state. I have not stolen, for I have no need. I have two coats and am in need of none, unlike my poor, wicked neighbor, who is likely to steal out of his need. I have not spoken false witness nor disseminated fake news. I only get my information from Breitbart and repeat that which sounds right to me. And I have honored my father and mother by blindly accepting the narrative they taught me and by advancing the world they've handed me without question or deviance."
After thinking these things, the white Evangelical responded to Jesus, "Yes, all these things I have fulfilled, as I have voted Republican in every election since my youth."
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Hear the voice of the oppressed, humble yourself in repentance, and sacrificially give and love those most in need. By serving the least in your society, you are directly serving God. Do this and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when the Evangelical heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely comfortable with his current life. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who live in comfort and ease to enter the kingdom of God and avoid judgment! As the prophet Ezekiel says, 'Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an Evangelical to enter the kingdom of God."
Those who heard it said, "If even a pious Evangelical has difficulty being saved, who then can be saved?" But Jesus said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
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Thank God for his mercy and grace which he extends to even those who need it most - those like me, an arrogant, self-seeking, unloving Evangelical. If there is hope for me, there is hope for all.
And a comfortable, white Evangelical said to Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'”
The Evangelical thought to himself, "I have not committed adultery. In fact my sexual purity is proven by my fight to make homosexuality illegal. I have not murdered, I have only supported killing my enemies, and even then, only through the state. I have not stolen, for I have no need. I have two coats and am in need of none, unlike my poor, wicked neighbor, who is likely to steal out of his need. I have not spoken false witness nor disseminated fake news. I only get my information from Breitbart and repeat that which sounds right to me. And I have honored my father and mother by blindly accepting the narrative they taught me and by advancing the world they've handed me without question or deviance."
After thinking these things, the white Evangelical responded to Jesus, "Yes, all these things I have fulfilled, as I have voted Republican in every election since my youth."
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Hear the voice of the oppressed, humble yourself in repentance, and sacrificially give and love those most in need. By serving the least in your society, you are directly serving God. Do this and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
But when the Evangelical heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely comfortable with his current life. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who live in comfort and ease to enter the kingdom of God and avoid judgment! As the prophet Ezekiel says, 'Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.' It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an Evangelical to enter the kingdom of God."
Those who heard it said, "If even a pious Evangelical has difficulty being saved, who then can be saved?" But Jesus said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
------------
Thank God for his mercy and grace which he extends to even those who need it most - those like me, an arrogant, self-seeking, unloving Evangelical. If there is hope for me, there is hope for all.
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