Offensive

In Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapters 5-7, which is known as the sermon on the mount (I wonder if we should start calling our sermons "the sermon on the stage"), there is one place where he says it is a good thing if people insult you and even persecute you because of him. He says that people did this to the prophets in the Old Testament, and so he calls us to be their sisters and brothers by living as they did.

This is a tough teaching, because no one really longs for others to insult them or push them away, but because we want to follow what Jesus taught we think it is a good thing to try and be insulted for him. But there's a problem with this. We read this teaching of Jesus and think that the insult is the point. The point is talking about Jesus in ways that will make others dislike us because then we are really living for Jesus. Talk about missing the point!

You see, the prophets didn't set out to be persecuted. They didn't set out to see how offensive they could be so that people would hate them. What they did was be obedient within their relationship with the living God no matter what that looked like. The prophets were called to bring some pretty harsh messages. No one wants to hear that their home and city are going to be destroyed, so there is no doubt that the prophets' message did bring persecution. And I know that the news of the need for salvation from the way of life that leads to death can be offensive to people who believe they can do it on their own. People who believe that they are just fine as they are.

But the news that Jesus saves us from sin and death is good news, and it makes me sad when we present it in ways that will get us persecuted or insulted. It should be the message, if anything, that brings insults, not the way we present it or the way we live our lives. Like the prophets we need to be obedient to the call of God and follow him to whatever radical places that takes us, and like the prophets, our message should always be motivated by love. It is when a message of love communicated in love brings insults that we are brothers and sisters of the prophets. It is not the insult, but radical obedience to a loving God that is the point.