The Irresistible Revolution, Ch. 9

The Irresistible Revolution, Ch. 9 (p 243-266)
Jesus Is for Losers

(a) "The church is a place where we can stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful" (p 245).

A week ago three of us visited Mars Hill and met a young lady flying solo. Our new gang of four ended up sharing communion while briefly sharing our personal stories that need Jesus' last word. It was really powerful for me; the embodiment of this quote. The sermon will be online for a few weeks. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

(b) "Many of us want the same things. We want the world to be rid of evil. We want justice. We want to liberate the oppressed. The question is, How do we do that?" (p 247). This quote is given in the context of the parable Jesus told about letting the weeds and wheat grow up together (Matthew 13). Pulling up the weeds may kill the wheat at the same time.

So how do we do these grand things--liberate, bring justice, etc.?

And who are the weeds that need pulled? Is it the capitalists or the communists? Is it the Republicans or the Democrats? Is it the religious fundamentalists or the atheists? Is it the multinational corporation CEO or the single welfare mother?

Everyone has a different "weed" they want to pluck. If we each try to pull our favorite weed, won't we all be torn down by someone? So Jesus said, let it grow; don't call down fire from heaven on everyone you disagree with. Teach and live love as you understand it. The Holy Spirit is working on every heart, to bring it to the side of love. Use no violent means of weeding the garden. God will divide the two groups with His wisdom and love when the time is right. And we must remember that today's weed (Saul) may be tomorrow's wheat (Paul), so we can't give up on anyone. We shouldn't attack someone just because we label them a weed today.

So this partially answers the "how" question. With love. With forgiveness. With passion. With effort. With words. With reason and rationality. With self sacrifice. With kindness and goodness. With generosity. With the other cheek. With humility. With the Holy Spirit. With help. With a vision for a better world based on cooperation and community. With the understanding that God is the gardener, not me.

The subsequent pages describe this in positive detail (p 247 - 252).

(c) "We will hurt no one... We will love evildoers, even if it costs us our lives. And then we will see evildoers become extremists for grace. This is the story of our faith" (p 253-254).

How well am I playing my part in the "story of our faith"?

(d) "We know that we cannot do life alone, and the good news is that we don't have to. We are created for community" (p 254).

I am thankful for the people that are becoming our community in this new place. In addition to living it, I'd also like to read these books about community: Deep Economy, School(s) for Conversion, Organic Community, The Small Community, The Community of the Future, and Plan C (each considering community from a different perspective).

(e) "Dear God, liberate us from the logic of redemptive violence" (p 261).

The Shining Lady story sets up the Timothy McVeigh account well. Of all the stories in this book, I think I share this one about Timothy, Bud and Julie the most. Amazing.

(f) "There is something scandalous about grace. It's almost embarrassing that God loves losers so much" (p 262-263).

I start to squirm a bit when I feel moved to pray, "Jesus teach me to love like you do." Okay, more than a bit.

(g) "When we look through the eyes of Jesus, we see new things in people. In the murderers, we see our own hatred. In the addicts, we see our own addictions. In the saints, we catch glimpses of our own holiness. We can see our own brokenness, our own violence, our own ability to destroy, and we can see our own sacredness, our own capacity to love and forgive. When we realize that we are both wretched and beautiful, we are freed up to see others the same way" (p 264).

This just might be the most important paragraph in the book. May we spend some significant time meditating on this one paragraph alone. And then the next one. And...

(h) "When we have new eyes, we can look into the eyes of those we don't even like and see the One we love" (p 266).

Jesus, give me new eyes. Who do I need to look at again for the first time today?