Pot luck dinners are a common tradition among church people. Such dinners provide a wide variety of foods from which to choose. A typical pot luck will include several meat dishes, different kinds of salad and veges, and a wide variety of desserts. Some people attempt to take a little bit of everything, but most pick and choose from among the many choices, choosing what they like.
Pot luck dinners, it seems to me, are a good metaphor for how many of us who call ourselves Christian treat the teachings of Jesus. We view Jesus' teachings as a pot luck, picking and choosing those teachings we like (i.e., support what we already think/believe) and skipping those teachings that challenge our beliefs and/or lifestyle.
We need not look far to find examples of this pot luck approach to Jesus' teachings. Evidence of this approach can be seen in our nation as well as in our churches and individual lives. Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-34) but we, like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, choose to skip this teaching by excluding and ignoring those not like us (see Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37). Jesus taught us to beware of the seductive power of material wealth (Luke 12:13-22), to not be overly anxious about material things (Luke 12:22-31), and to be generous in sharing our material wealth and resources (Luke 12:32-34; 16:19-31). Such teachings are hard to hear, much less embrace, in an affluent, capitalistic culture. It is easier to just skip over them. Another teaching we commonly skip is about the marginalized, those Jesus called "the least of these" - the poor, the alien, the sick, the imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-46). And how about his teaching to love your enemies (Luke 6:27, 32-36), to not judge (Luke 6:37-38; Matthew 7:1-5), to forgive without keeping score (Matthew 18:21-35)?
Just like going down the table at a pot luck, we are aware that we are skipping certain things that Jesus taught. But rather than acknowledging that we don't like those particular teachings or they are too disruptive to our lifestyle, we find fault with his teachings. We say they are unrealistic, impossible, too hard, impractical, too idealistic, too costly.
The reason we find Jesus' teachings so challenging is because they reflect a different way of life. Jesus taught a way of life called the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom, rooted in the nature of God, is the expression of the ways of God on earth. The ways of the Kingdom are diametrically opposed to the ways inherent to our fear-driven, self-focused human nature. In the Kingdom, each individual is of infinite worth and value. People are more important than material things. Power is used to serve others. Material wealth, as a form of power, is shared freely and willingly. The spirit of the Kingdom is one of generosity rooted in abundance - generosity in welcoming all (hospitality), with forgiveness, in sharing of material things.
To be a follower of Jesus - a disciple - is to embrace this different way of living. It is to embrace the ways of God that Jesus taught, the ways of the Kingdom.
Our struggle to live the ways of the Kingdom are an inherent part of being a disciple. (The gospels and the book of Acts reflect the struggles of the early disciples.) We cannot live the ways of the Kingdom in our own strength. Transformation - a Spirit-directed change in how we think and in how we relate to others - is needed. Thus, our struggle with a particular teaching of Jesus points to an area in which the Spirit is calling us to grow spiritually. The struggle is evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives.
The struggle calls for a choice - an act of the will. The struggle calls us to once again choose to live as a follower of Jesus, embracing the ways of the Kingdom as our own. To skip over the teaching as though we were choosing from a pot luck spread is to deny our discipleship and to cling to our old ways of living.
Choosing once again to follow the teachings of Jesus involves a pattern that spiritual pilgrims have used throughout history.
The first step of the pattern is turning to God with the struggle (what has traditionally been called repentance.) Repentance has been described as an about face or turning around. (The Hebrew word translated repent means to turn.) It is more than turning from something or expressing regret for something. It is turning to God. It is opening oneself again to God and God's work. This turning opens our struggle with Jesus' teaching to God's transforming work. Choosing to disregard or skip the teaching excludes God, blocking God's work in this area and leaving us unchanged.
Turning to God leads to acknowledging the struggle (confession). We acknowledge our inability to do what Jesus taught. This acknowledgement does three things. (1) It expresses our desire to live God's ways. Confession says, "I want to do what Jesus taught." Or, perhaps more accurately, "I want to want to do what Jesus taught." (2) It gives God permission to work (or continue to work) in this area of our lives. (3) It puts us in a position to learn from our struggle. Confession does not automatically resolve the struggle. It does, however, allow the Spirit to give us insight into what lies beneath the struggle. Recognizing the deeper issue allows us to learn and grow from the struggle. It often moves us beyond the struggle.
The Spirit's work leads us to a posture of glad dependency. Acknowledging that we cannot, in our own strength, do what Jesus taught, we turn to the Spirit for the power to do what we cannot do on our own. Trusting the Spirit to provide (faith), we choose to be faithful to Jesus and what he taught. We choose to do what we said we cannot do (act). Our initial efforts may we weak or inadequate or partial. They may even result in failure. The continuing struggle becomes the opportunity to choose again to be faithful, to continue to learn and grow, to continue to rely upon the Spirit for the power to do what we cannot do in our own strength.
Jesus' teachings are not a pot lunch dinner from which we pick and choose. They are the ways of God that lead to life. To disregard (skip) any one is to deprive ourselves of the spiritual transformation that leads us to life.
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