Is Jesus Controversial? (a message for June 21, 2020)

In my message today I ask, “Is Jesus Controversial?”

And the answer—according to both Jesus and history—is, “Yes!”

But, first, I just have to say that these are not the texts I would have chosen for Father’s Day!

“For I have come,” Jesus says to us, “to set a man against his father …” And, then,“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me …”

Happy Father’s Day! But at least we have Matthew’s—not Luke’s—version of this saying! In Luke, Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”

To which I say, “Thanks a lot, Jesus! As if being separated from our families and friends for the last three months weren’t bad enough, these words of yours today really throw cold water on whatever Father’s Day celebrations we can still muster!” …

All this is to say, then, we have really challenging readings today! But, rather than simply look at the passages already read just now, I want to pull back and look at all of the teachings and commands that Jesus is giving us today. Because, as I’ve already said, when read as a while, they raise the question of whether Jesus—and Jesus’ message about God—is intentionally and deliberately controversial?

In other words, does Jesus expect that what he says about God and humanity—even today—to be offensive? Does he expect and, perhaps, even welcome, that some—even today—reject him and recoil against what he says about God?

Because, you see, for much of my life, I didn’t think this could possibly be true! After all, I thought, what’s so controversial about someone whose message is, God loves everyone! And that God loves everyone so much that Jesus—God’s Son—is willing to give up his life to make that both true and possible? What’s controversial about loving and accepting absolutely everyone?

Looking back at it now, however—especially with readings like today’s—I suspect that what was reallygoing on with me was a deep need and desire for Jesus and Jesus’ message not to be controversial!

I’ll explain. I grew up in the 1960’s, during a time—during another time—of discord, protest, and unrest.

But that isn’t where my life started! My earliest years started in the seemingly-bucolic world painted by such TV shows as Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, and the Ozzie and Harriet show. And that’s what I thought real life is and should be! Everybody lived in the suburbs, which were almost exclusively white. And everybody had intact families with a working father and a stay-at-home mother.

Everyone, in other words, lived like I did, with the same opportunities and advantages that my family and friends had! Or so I thought!

The unrest in the 60’s, then—the protest for civil rights; the end to legal segregation and the Vietnam War; and then the counter-protests to put a stop to civil unrest at all costs—these things shocked and, literally, disturbed me and my bucolic world.

I couldn’t understand, for instance, why the church in which I grew up—the church that taught me that “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”—insisted on advocating—from the pulpit!—for equal rights and equal treatment for all people.

The church, in other words, didn’t simply want peace and an end to unrest like so many in my community. The church wanted peace with justice for all people! For African Americans and Latinos! For the Vietnamese and even the Viet Cong! And the church insisted on claiming that this message came from Jesus and was a direct result of Jesus’ understanding of God.

The point I’m making is that in my community—and especially in my church—that claim and that message was controversial. In fact, many couldn’t abide it. (In that sense, if you’ve watched Pastor Harkness’ Familiar Face post on our FaceBook page, her upbringing and mine are similar!)

So, that’s what I mean when I ask, “Is Jesus—and Jesus’ message about God— intentionally and deliberately controversial? Does Jesus expect that what he says about God and humanity to be offensive? Does Jesus not only expect, but even welcome, that some reject and recoil against what he says about God?

Today’s readings say, “Yes!” And the history of the Christian movement bears that out!

The first paragraph today is, basically, Jesus saying to us, “Expect that the way they treat me is the way that the world will treat you.” That message is then reinforced where Jesus repeats over and over and over “Do not be afraid!” And then Jesus says this. “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” 

What does this mean?

Last week, in the passage that immediately precedes this, we talked about how Jesus expects us to be able to enact the Kingdom of Heaven in the same way that he does: by healing, helping, cleansing, and eradicating the demonic powers that cripple people’s lives. More specifically, we said that Jesus is asking us to stand against any and all forces that rob the children of God—especially those who have not been given our advantages—of the abundant life God desires for them.

This week, then, Jesus says, “And don’t expect that doing that will be easy. It won’t! 

"They’ll treat you the same way they treat me! So, don’t be afraid!

I am among those serving on our congregation’s communication team. When we think about our FaceBook, social media, and website presence, we often use the language “inward facing” and “outward facing.” Some messages, materials, and media are meant for the congregation as it is; that’s what’s meant by “inward facing.” It’s for us!

But some things that we make available, or ways that we show ourselves is for those outside or not yet part of the congregation. They’re outward facing.

Today when Jesus says, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops,” he’s saying that his message about God and God’s ways is not only for us. It’s not simply “inward facing,” meant as words of peace, comfort, and justice just for those already allied with him.

No! Jesus says that the message about God and God’s ways that he embodies is “outward facing.” And as such, Jesus knows—and accepts—that both he and it are controversial. “Do not think that I have come,” he says today, “to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

In conclusion, you’ll notice that today’s texts don’t so much give us the content of what Jesus has come on earth to do. That was like week. This week he tells us that he both expects and accepts the consequences of that controversial message both to him and to us.

Which is this! We are to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven by enacting healing, helping, cleansing, and eradicating the demonic powers that cripple people’s lives. We are to stand against any and all forces that rob the children of God—especially those who have not been given our advantages—of the abundant life God desires for them. And in doing so we are both to accept and expect that doing so—even today—is controversial!

In Jesus' name. Amen.