playing the fool

I’ve been thinking some about the practicality of Jesus’ teaching lately. You know, pondering it’s relevance for day-to-day living. I’ve arrived at two conclusions, and, to be honest, they leave me more unsettled than anything else.

On the one hand there is a degree to which living as Jesus prescribes yields obvious rewards, not just beyond death but right here and now. If you’re nice to people, they’re typically nice right back to you. You forgive, you get forgiven. You love, you get loved. In fact, it is this very balance that gets preached most here in America—kind of a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours theology. We assume that this is what Paul means when he writes that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,” (Romans 8:28). Living selflessly may be hard for a time, but the real truth is that you get back what you give. So your selfless living is really more like a deposit in the Karma bank. You’re gonna get it back.

The problem is that doesn’t mesh very well with what Jesus actually taught. Consider, for example, the Sermon on the Mount found in Mathew 5-7. Many believe this to be Jesus’ greatest sermon. Okay, I can understand that given the scope and depth of what He says, but most of us hold this particular teaching at arms length, refusing to really dive into it and examine ourselves in the light of it.

Jesus begins with what we call the beatitudes. We like to teach these in Sunday school. To small children. We talk about this like they’re poetic and “nice”. Nice? Here’s what I mean: some of the beatitudes make sense to me—blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, are pure in heart and are peacemakers. I can understand these as noble character traits. But blessed are the poor in spirit? Those who mourn? The meek? Those who are persecuted? That’s blessing? This is Jesus’ practical teaching on how to live? “Be sad, be spiritually bankrupt, suppress your strengths and rejoice when people pick on you—then you are truly blessed.” Does anyone else have a hard time swallowing this?

This is the sense in which Jesus’ teachings are anything but relevant, particularly in a culture like ours. We love power and independence and being happy. We would never want anything but those things, let alone pursue their opposites.

And really when you consider Jesus’ teachings regarding being nice and forgiving and loving, even those are more than you bargain for. Jesus says to love our enemies. Our enemies. Not just the bully who picked on you in the fifth grade or that guy at the office who you can’t stand—our enemies. People like terrorists and rapists, killers and child molesters. Yeah, love them. And not love from a distance. Oh, no. Not this “Well, I love them with the love of the Lord” stuff. No, real love. Love that can be seen in action. Love like the kind of love you have for yourself or your family. Love that visits them in jail, for example.

Try that on for size. It’s hard. Really hard.

So this is what I’ve been thinking about and I’ve been hitting my head up against the reality that our culture isn’t very well situated for this kind of a life. I mean, folks here in America, “Christian” though we may be, wouldn’t be too crazy about someone who took all of Jesus’ teachings seriously and actually tried to live like that. People would think you were nuts. You kind of would be. When I read Paul and he says we should be “fools for Christ” it sounds poetic to me and kind of cool. This just sounds crazy.

But that’s what Jesus calls for. Given the course of His life, we shouldn’t be surprised. The “suffering servant” has, in fact, called us to follow Him. We act like it’s exciting and fun. It can be, but more often than not, when you get past the warm-fuzzy part, it’s as scary as it is anything else. This playing the fool stuff. This following Jesus. This social revolution.

And I’m trying to figure out how you do that. Any thoughts?