I saw something the other day that made me stop and think. “Jesus, Revolutionary!” It’s not the first time I’ve had the thought, and I believe I’ve written about it in the past. But what made this different was my understanding, or lack thereof, about just how radical Jesus was. What prompted the pause this time had to do with what we consider today revolutionary and what revolutionary might mean in terms of Christ today. More importantly, this made me think of revolution in terms of me and my faith walk. I mean a core teaching principle about life and death and the life of Jesus Chris is that He focused on substance, not style. We have come to know through Jesus that the outward act of prayer has little to do with the internal purpose of prayer. The literal and technical interpretation of God’s laws has little value if not filtered through the intent of God’s will.
Jesus was executed because He challenged the rigid practice of the intellectual/literal enforcement of rules and regulations. He was crucified because He asked of those in charge, “Where’s the love and compassion in what you do?” To Jesus, the church hierarchy had little to do with the church’s purpose, and He challenged the hierarchy to forego practice for the purpose. As a follower of Christ, then, is it for a purpose? It is not our duty to be just as vigilant against law and o r d e r in today’s church. Shouldn’t we be concerned and active in the church that Jesus left behind? Are we about doctrine or duty? See, this is where that revolutionary stuff comes up. Duty based on faith and belief in the Almighty demands a particular action. Doctrine demands little more than an external demonstration of understanding the rules. Does that make it revolutionary to question the intent and effectiveness of, say, a church’s Outreach Ministry instead of the choir’s budget? Does Jesus’ message demand that we reorder our thinking to go beyond church walls and deal with those we would otherwise think we’re better than, because we go to church every Sunday at the same time, in the same place, in the same seat?
A Sunday seat doesn’t necessarily mean a Sunday heart. Does this sound revolutionary to you? When you break it all down, the revolutionary part gets exposed when you look at who Jesus helped. When you look at the targets for the miracles, they were at times the lame and the lost, the poor and the blind, the wretched and the vile. Jesus Himself didn’t even fit the mold of who the church wanted to call King. He wasn’t kingly enough by the church’s interpretation of the rules and regulations, the definition of the king that it wanted. Jesus hung out with the wrong crowd, doing some terrible stuff, preaching some of the wall doctrine. Yeah, when He talked about forgiveness, that meant you being the forgiver, not the forgiven. The love He spoke about was that which you give, not that which you receive. The same held for mercy and charity. I guess this was enough to get Him killed. The strange truth is that nothing will happen to you if you preach these principles today. If you practice these truths, you might fall prey to jealousy, envy, gossip, and death. You know you’re a revolutionary if anybody notices you challenging the status quo to do God’s will. Is anybody paying any attention to you these days? Let’s hope so, at least that Satan is. Let’s hope he’s heard of you doing things in the name of the Lord.
May God bless you and give you the strength to be His revolutionary today, in your chosen church.