No Idle Tale

The four Gospels all dedicate a great deal of their attention to the Passion narrative – the story of what happens to Jesus once he enters Jerusalem - the betrayal of Judas, the arrest in Gethsemane, the mock trials, the denial by Peter, Jesus’ crucifixion, death and burial.

All four Gospels also agree on the early disciples’ witness to the resurrection of Jesus. The tomb was empty on Sunday morning.
There is disagreement on the details. I am not surprised. When out of the ordinary events take place everyone has their own perspective on what they witnessed. I would be more suspicious of the story if all the Gospels marched in lockstep agreement on all the details – a sure sign of editorial tampering. But for those early followers of Jesus, something happened that rocked their world, and has continued to rock our world in the 21st Century.

I love the line in Luke’s Gospel when the women come to tell the apostles about the appearance of angels at the empty tomb, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them (Luke 24:11).” There is a ring of truth to this description. Imagine the lack of respect implied by that summary statement. I imagine the men, so absorbed in their own thoughts, and so generally dismissive of women, that they ignore the first proclamation of the Gospel, “He is risen!” Only later, when the men witness the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes, do they attach any credence to the women’s testimony that is thus preserved in Luke’s Gospel.

These kinds of details in the story are what give the resurrection accounts a sense of authenticity. Among the early Christians, there was significant doubt about what they were witnessing, and that doubt is preserved in the text. Only undeniable experiences of Jesus are able to overcome the initial skepticism of the disciples.

To the world today much of what the church professes on Easter morning seems like an “idle tale.” We who believe should not be surprised at those who doubt our witness. After all, we are not eyewitnesses but solely dependent on the testimony of those who have gone before us.

Still, I have seen the miracle of new life in the people I know. I have seen hopeless alcoholics and helpless drug addicts become sober, productive people. I have seen self-absorbed adolescents become self-giving teenagers. I have not seen the dead rise, but I have seen Christ alive in others.

Chuck used to talk about the roughness of his past. He shared no details, but I know he had trouble with drinking too much, with getting in trouble with the law, and generally self-destructive behavior. But the Chuck I knew was at peace with himself, happy in his marriage, generous to a fault, and deeply committed to the ideals of his faith. He was living a whole new life. He would say, “It’s because Jesus is now living in me.”

This is no idle tale. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

Working the Angles

I heard a story about a man who moved into town, started a business and thought, “I should join a church. That would be a good way to network and make some contacts for my business.”

So, he went to church and on that first Sunday, heard an announcement about a Monday night meeting of the Fishermen’s Club. “Well,” he thought, “I like to fish.” He decided that attending that meeting might give him an inside track on his networking plans.

He was surprised to discover that rather than sitting around talking about the one that got away, this club met to canvas the neighborhood, inviting people to church and looking for opportunities to witness to the saving grace of Jesus. In good Biblical fashion, this was a “fishers of men” club.

As a newcomer, this man was paired with the leader of the group, and as they went from house to house, and he saw the devotion and integrity of this leader, and heard his unembarrassed testimony to Jesus, he was drawn to him and his compassion and humility. A voice in his conscience said, “I want to be like him.”

He continued to worship on Sundays and to visit from house to house on Mondays and in time he became a deeply devoted Christian and church leader with an integrity of his own. This man who had come to church in order to work the angles for his own purposes ended up getting used by God for God’s purposes.

I think his story is not that unusual. I believe most of us go to church for utilitarian reasons. Like good capitalists we're looking for the pay-off. We’re looking for some advice, or some well-worn wisdom we can use to make our lives a little better. In today’s phrasing, we’re looking for a “take-away,” that we can apply to our lives – to help us in our marriage, to help us cope with some relationships at work, to help us raise our children, etc. We want this religious stuff to work for us!

However, if we hear the gospel rightly, we don’t necessarily get what we want, as Mick Jagger used to sing; but we get what we need. Instead of a little practical advice for daily living, we hear we must be buried and raised with Christ. Instead of a simple take-away, we are told we must be born from above. Instead of making some contacts that’ll be good for business, we get recruited into the Body of Christ to work for God’s kingdom. We come to church looking for some way to use this “God-thing,” to our advantage, and instead we hear the voice of God saying, “How can I use you?”

So, here is fair warning: If you think church is another way you can work the angles in order to get the life you have in mind, don’t be surprised when God ends up working on you to give you the life God created you to have. And if my experience is worth anything, it will be both a more challenging, as well as more blessed, life than the one you had in mind.

What the Hell?

If you pay attention to religious news you will have seen some serious controversy over hell. Is it real? Is it literal? Who is going there? Is anyone?

Rob Bell is the pastor of one of those new mega churches and he has written a book that implies that maybe . . . just maybe . . . God is not going to send everyone to eternal punishment. Maybe . . . just maybe . . . God’s love is bigger than we ever imagined.

“What a grievous error!” Shout out some sincere defenders of the faith. The issue is, if we don’t take hell seriously, then we grow slack in our efforts to evangelize the world, and thus the world, as they say, goes to hell (assuming hell is an actual place/existential reality). Point well-taken. We wouldn’t want anyone going to hell because of our theological fuzziness or the complacency of our witness.

A Methodist colleague and student pastor in the eastern part of North Carolina recently was removed from his appointment at the church’s request because, among other things, he agreed with Rob Bell. Obviously, it doesn’t pay to not take hell seriously.

I think Rob Bell has gotten so much attention because of his popularity. He is not saying anything that hasn’t been said before (Phillip Gulley and Robert Mulholland, If God is Love, and If Grace Is True). For that matter, in the early centuries of the church’s history a man named Origen also explored the possibility of universal salvation, and was proclaimed a heretic for his trouble.

Most of us have a vision of hell that is shaped more by Dante’s Inferno, written in the 14th Century, than the hell of scripture. Medieval art gives us vivid images of souls enduring eternal punishment.

Modern sensibility denies such literalism. Jesus did tell parables of judgment, but the argument goes that the images he used were for the purposes of instruction. He used metaphor and hyperbole to make a point. Gehenna, often translated as “hell” was a reference to the Hinnom Valley outside of Jerusalem where everyone took their trash to be burned. You can imagine the smoke always rising from Gehenna, a graphic way to envision an unrepentant life – selfish, sinful, good for nothing but smoke. But did Jesus mean that people were going to literally burn forever in a lake of fire? I find that hard to believe from the same Jesus who in John’s Gospel (3:17) came, “not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.”

Here’s the heart of the matter for me. It is not for me to decide the nature of hell. I have had experiences that felt like hell, and I know people who seem to be going through hell, so I know that much about the reality of it. I also am not in the position to decide who goes to hell and who doesn’t. The whole point of John 14:6 seems to be that it is Jesus who decides (no one comes to the Father but through me). Will Jesus save everyone? I doubt it. Some people are so stubborn they will bite off their own nose to spite their face.
Evil is real. C.S. Lewis said not to take the devil too seriously, but he also reminds us not to take him too lightly, either.

I believe Jesus doesn’t force himself on anyone. There is no vestige of hyper-Calvinism in me. We are always free to reject or accept – to obey or not. That was true in the Garden of Eden, and I assume it is true eternally. No one is brought into the kingdom against their will. Does that mean they are going to hell? I don’t know. Maybe it means they are already in it. Does that mean they will eventually be saved. I don’t know. Jesus is the one who decides. Meanwhile, I keep sharing the good news about a man who is like no man history has ever known – someone who came not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. There is fullness of life in him. I do know that much.

“Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us (Romans 8:34).” Perhaps as long as Jesus is interceding for us there is hope for all of us, come hell or high water.