{"id":5953,"date":"2020-06-12T06:03:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T10:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecityemc.org\/resources\/?p=5953"},"modified":"2020-06-11T13:13:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T17:13:08","slug":"jesus-the-liberator-we-dont-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecityemc.org\/resources\/blog\/06\/12\/jesus-the-liberator-we-dont-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus, the Liberator We Don’t Want"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we read the Scriptures, we face temptation to make Jesus fit our intentions. For some, we like to read Jesus as a neo-Marxist liberator, who frees sinners from the punishment of oppressive structures. He challenges the authorities upholding standards\u2014Pharisees, Sadducees, religious and political leaders receive his sharpest rebuke while the oppressed (Samaritans, sinners, tax collectors) find themselves welcomed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For others, we see Jesus as the one calling for absolute righteousness and holiness before God. He welcomes the sinner but points to greater righteousness rather than less. He tells the adulterous woman to \u201cgo and sin no more\u201d (Jn. 8:11).<\/span> He calls people to \u201cbe perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Mt. 5:48). Rather than free people from traditional forms of righteousness, he deepens their call (e.g. \u201cYou have heard it said, \u2018You shall not commit adultery.\u2019 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery\u2026\u201d Mt. 5:27-28).<\/span><\/p>\n

First century\u00a0<\/span>world knew Jews for their righteousness. Many coming from a pagan background found the pursuit of righteous living at odds with their Greco-Roman culture attractive.<\/p>\n

As the Jews culturally pursued righteousness, they socially enforced these ideas. The unrighteous and the sinners were cast out from society. Tax collectors, prostitutes, and many other sinners were welcomed by Jesus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to suggest that Jesus cared little about righteousness. To the contrary, he demanded a greater righteousness than the Pharisees of the day (Mt 5:20) to enter the kingdom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shame Culture<\/b><\/h4>\n

Abdu Murray recently wrote for the Gospel Coalition how we\u2019re seeing an Eastern understanding of honor\/shame culture moving into the West<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A more communal understanding is arising, where sins are culturally enforced. Old Tweets or bad behavior are resurrected to \u201ccancel\u201d somebody. Meaning, if your sins (at least particular sins) are found out, a mob of people may harass your employers until you\u2019re fired and cast out of polite society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What employer will risk the wrath of the mob to hire someone so tainted by these sins? The internet never forgets, so the scarlet letter perpetually hangs on the neck of every sinner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we see the enforcement of such shame culture?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Over the past couple years, or really weeks for that matter we\u2019ve seen a dramatic escalation of canceling behavior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A church loses its lease because the pastor liked some facebook posts that disagreed with the board\u2019s politics.<\/span><\/a> Despite the pastor apologizing and the church doing a lot to help the disenfranchised, including giving free COVID testing and operating a health clinic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who proclaim the loudest for a wife\u2019s autonomy from their husbands, <\/span>fired a lady\u2019s husband because of her post.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

An announcer was fired for tweeting \u201c<\/span>ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE<\/span><\/a>\u201d in response to being asked on his take on BLM.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drew Brees, the quarterback for the Saints, who sees the American flag as the symbol for the ideal which America is pursuing rather than the symbol of all her historic flaws was dragged through the mud until he (<\/span>and his wife<\/span><\/i><\/a>) offered their mea culpa. The public ritual of being dragged before the public before you bow to the authoritarian mob to say, \u201cYou are right. I am the problem.\u201d Some are forgiven, others are not. Largely it depends if they find you useful enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students who said bad things during their time as children in high school and had apologized for them, <\/span>lost their spots at Ivy League institutions<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books and noted far left liberal, has the mob trying to cancel her from departing from <\/span>transgender orthodoxy<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whom does Jesus Liberate?<\/b><\/h4>\n

We\u2019re living in a unique age where the traditional values and authorities are\u00a0not<\/i> what enforces canceling but the avant-garde morality mob.\u00a0 have divorced the power structures from the social structures. The neo-Marxists view the former as the oppressive forces from which to liberate people. Yet at the same time, they are the ones able to cancel people who diverge from their orthodoxy or orthopraxy. While not fully in control of the structures, they wield society. Meaning, they cannot jail you but they can ban you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 day, the cultural powers enforced a more traditional morality, so when we see Jesus offering mercy to sinners, from whom does he liberate them?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Neo-marxist reads Christ as offering grace to the oppressed\u2014those who have been put under the boot of the hierarchical structures. Jesus turns the structures on their head, reminding us, \u201cthe last will be first\u201d (Mt. 20:16). Jesus, reduced to a neo-Marxist liberator, we believe nods along with approval at the canceling of those dubbed oppressors.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, these same events can be seen as Jesus offering grace to the \u201ccancelled.\u201d Not just against the power structures but those feeling the effects of power. The cast-out sinners find grace. Those cancelled by society, Jesus invites in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like it or not, the mob enforcing their morality are as much a part of the power structure as those they are looking to overturn. Replacing the rules by which we cancel one another does nothing to replace the oppressive or authoritarian nature of the canceling mob.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus as Liberator<\/h4>\n

Jesus is the liberator who takes not only our guilt but our shame. Yes, the power structures pronounced him guilty but the mob pronounced him shameful. For our shame as well as our guilt, he died.<\/p>\n

Jesus does indeed liberate the oppressed. He offers grace to sinners, whether it\u2019s those violating traditional morality or our cultural norms. Jesus offers liberty to the captives, whether it\u2019s Rome, abusive cops, or the thought police. He offers community to repentant sinners, whether the prostitute or the racist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For this radical grace, we despise him. We want our enemies to be his enemies. We demand his wrath on them, but we find Christ more gracious than we desire. His grace is utterly impractical, so we find ourselves among the mob shouting, “Crucify him. Crucify Him.”<\/p>\n

The physician calls the sick not as approval for sins but the healing of sinners. Jesus\u2019 restorative grace to humanity distinguishes his kingdom from the never-ending evolution of oppressing agents.<\/p>\n

And so, we take Jesus seriously when he says, \u201cMy kingdom, is not of this world\u2026\u201d (Jn.18:36).<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks be to God that it\u2019s altogether different!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt Continue reading →<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-5953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.ecityemc.org\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/logo-itunes.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.ecityemc.org\/resources\/feed\/podcast\/elizabeth-city-emc-podcast","embedCode":"

Jesus, the Liberator We Don’t Want<\/a><\/blockquote>