Sacred Cynicism

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to become a Christian. To be more specific, I have been thinking about how the wider culture hears our appeal. Often, those in the church can become so isolated that we lose the ability to even grasp how those from outside our number hear our message. When people do not respond to our message we tend to say, “what is wrong with them?” Perhaps the main issue is not those people, but the manner in which we present the gospel, and the way we live.

I think it is fair to say that the following is a common way that some have presented the gospel through the years. “Jesus died for you. You must have your sins forgiven. And if you do not have your sins forgiven, you will be sent to hell for eternity! Oh, and God is love.” To avoid this horrific result, someone needs to pray a certain prayer, or say a simple phrase. It is all so transactional. Too often, the offer of Christianity was reduced to saying certain words at a particular moment in time. The result was someone was “safe” from the bad eternal destination, or became somehow different, although too often it was hard to see any difference.

In comparison, I thought I would look at how Jesus presented the good news in John. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17) “Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:25-26) And listen to these words from Matthew 11:30, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

These promises from Jesus have two distinct dimensions to them, The first is the promise of eternal life, and the second is a promise that our load in this life will be made lighter and more bearable. No threats or heavy-handedness. Just a simple plea of a life made better. Yet as I look around my little corner of the world, I see job loss, insecurity, cancer, and the ever present specter of death. What on Earth did Jesus mean when he said, “my yoke is easy?” If this promise is true, then it seems to me that everyone would enthusiastically respond to the gospel. Truth be told, we have made it seem hard, stern, and at times, angry. How do we get back to this simple offer that Jesus made to those who first listened to Him?

First, the offer is still what it was 2000 years ago. A simple response to God’s grace. We simply say “Yes” to the offer of following Christ. That “Yes” can happen in church, kneeling beside your bed, or walking down the street. That response can be full of emotion, or a frustrated plea after nothing else has seemed to work. However we make that response, we serve a Christ who is always with us, and will never leave us. Wherever that response happens, it requires a life that follows Christ. We now learn to love our enemies, pray for those who oppose us, love our neighbor as ourselves, give without expectation of return, and turning our cheek to those who do not treat us right. We understand the offer of eternal life, but I think we often neglect living in a way that makes our burdens light. We neglect how important our fellow believers are in making our burdens light.

We forget that when we love and accept others, when we walk alongside others, we make their burdens lighter. In doing so we lighten our own, and are in relationships where our burdens will be lightened in our times of need. When we leave revenge to God, and forgive our enemies, we free ourselves from the tension and stress of being the judge of the world. When we follow after Christ, and not the fads and perceived successes of the world, we decrease the pressure to climb to a certain level, and perhaps realize that what makes life worth living is not the degree on the wall, or the amount of money in a bank, but the depth and quality of our relationships.

I also think that sometimes we expect the benefits of following Christ to be an immediate result, and certainly can be. Yet some of the greatest benefits that make our burdens light happen over a longer term. In a few weeks one of my children will receive his college degree and go onto graduate school. A time like this gives a parent reason to reflect on the preceding 22 years that went by all too fast. I can say with a grateful heart that our parenting burden was lightened by the gospel. There were so many others who shared our values that reinforced our son. There were decisions not made, complications not experienced, and troubles that did not come because of the gospel.

My prayer for my neighbors, friends and community is that they will hear the gospel, and see it in a neighbor, or even me. My prayer is that their life will be made easier and their burdens lighter. My hope is that they experience a certain freedom, and feel a love that make a difference in their lives. Isn’t that what Jesus promised?