Jesus and the Implications of Seeing
Safe for the Whole Family
When I travel on Interstate 85, I notice billboards touting a radio station — 104.7 The Fish — that is “safe for the whole family.” Taking an image off of their website, the billboard’s generally resemble the above picture.
The notion of taking on “Christianity;” the need to journey spiritually and to be transformed to the extent that your perceptions of “reality” alter significantly not only your view of the world but the actions you take regarding the planet and its inhabitants. That is, all that God has created, is creating, and will create in the foreseeable future. As discussed in other posts, the actions require pacifism, a spiritual valuing rendering much of everyday social fixtures such as occupational status, consumerism, accumulation of possessions, valuations of exclusivity, etc., as meaningless. That is, using these contrived social values as fixture points for establishing meaningful dialogue, relationships, and institutions is doomed to failure. At best, the fixtures marginalize population segments, animal and plant species and at worst, create senseless warring among populations and catastrophic environmental concerns such as the melting of the polar ice caps.
Therefore is Christianity “safe?” Being a Christian — at its most minimalistic expression — requires individuals to follow the spiritual path of Jesus Christ. It is both an expression of faith in God and the pursuit of God’s “truth” expressed in the teachings of God Incarnate — Jesus Christ. This faithful pursuit requires transcending the “rules” inherent within the current reality. These rules — laid out in cycles in Ecclesiastes 3 — prevent “seeing” in the current reality, the final roadblock being death. In spite of the meaninglessness of the current reality, however, there is a pull toward it. This is, for example, one of the key issues often ignored in The Matrix. Cypher knows that the “meat” he is eating results from a rule generated by the matrix yet longs for the delusion. The delusions presented by the matrix comfort people offering sensual predictability.
As such, following Jesus is NOT safe because the pursuit involves “seeing” and adopting a different reality. Consider the following passage.
Matthew 10:32-36
32“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn ” ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
Jesus does not affirm the status quo. Jesus turns the status quo upside down. Because the status quo requires change and social change typically entails conflict (see Conflict Theory), the metaphor used by Jesus is apt.
The lack of safety in pursuing Jesus’ reality becomes more evident when juxtaposed on current political events. In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid’s main character — Changez realizes his assimilation into American culture impacted his view of Lahore, his hometown in Pakistan as communicated to his unidentified American guest.
I recall the Americanness of my own gaze when I returned to Lahore that winter when war was in the offing. I was struck at first by how shabby our house appeared, with cracks running through its ceilings and dry bubbles of paint flaking off where dampness had entered its walls. The electricity had gone that afternoon, giving the place a gloomy air, but even in the dim light of the hissing gas heaters our furniture appeared dated and in urgent need of reupholstery and repair. I was saddened to find it in such a state — no, more than saddened, I was shamed. This was where I came from, this was my provenance, and it smacked of lowliness.
But as I reacclimatized and my surroundings once again became familiar, it occurred to me that the house had not changed in my absence. I had changed; I was looking about me with the eyes of a foreigner, and not just any foreigner, but that particular type of entitled and unsympathetic American who annoyed me when I encountered him in the classrooms and and workplaces of your country’s elite. The realization angered me; staring at my reflection in the sparkled glass of my bathroom mirror I resolved to exorcise the unwelcome sensibility by which I had become possessed. (p. 124)
The need for spiritual formation — to effectively “see” the reality of Jesus Christ — is requisite for not only interpersonal but regional, national and global relational health. The ability to “see” a different reality in terms of animal, vegetative and planet health also applies.
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