“Am I afraid to take Jesus at his word?”
This has been rattling through my head lately as I’ve read the Bible.
- Love your neighbor as yourself. Yeah well, I guess that depends on how you define the word neighbor. Right Jesus? And what if my neighbor is annoying? I’m off the hook, right?
- They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:45) Yeah well, this couldn’t possibly apply to me. Live in community with people? Yeah, well I mean I have the right to chose where I live blah blah blah. And I don’t live near anyone in my church. So I’m off the hook, right?
- Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. (Luke 20:25) Yeah well, clearly in Jesus’ day they didn’t have tax attorneys or loopholes to help me not pay my fair share. Clearly, Jesus didn’t have Tax Cut. There’s other people doing it,too. I’m off the hook, right?
- Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother. (Mark 3:34-35) Yeah well, we know that family comes first, right? It’s not like Jesus had kids. I’m off the hook, right?
- I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35) Yeah well, I get to define what Jesus means by this, right? He couldn’t possibly mean the people on my block… I invited them to church and they didn’t come. So I guess I need to wait a while longer, it’s on them. I’m off the hook, right?
In all of those instances… and a whole lot more like it… I have a tendency to see a silent simile. I want an out clause. I need an out clause. I need some grey area to wiggle out of what Jesus is saying. And a simile would sure be useful.
The problem is that in almost all cases there is no simile. If I’m going to take Jesus at his word than I’m going to have to reorient my life around his words and not the other way around.
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