Tension

I find myself thinking more these days. Thinking about COVID-19 and if it will ever end? Thinking about racial reconciliation and my role to play? Thinking about the upcoming election and the future implications? Thinking about the state of the Church and the microcosm of the church I serve? Thinking about my kids and what values I’m instilling? Thinking about that first face to face conversation with God when the mist of life is through? It would be nice to see a correlation between thinking and simplicity but that’s rarely the case. Often the result is complexity.

The bible illuminates my path (Psalm 119) and consistently offers solutions. You might not be there, and I respect that. Just don’t make judgements before giving it a chance. Lately, I’ve tried to drown out the noise by rediscovering Jesus and the theology of Paul who happened to live in challenging times too.

The deeper I go the more tension I feel.

Presuppositions are hard to adjust and it’s even harder to admit error or when my perspectives are incomplete. When it comes to my faith, the most difficult nonnegotiable is humility. I see my own struggle and understand why humility is so out of vogue these days.

The lack of humility leads us on a dangerous path of generalizing and radicalizing. We speak loud about the fallacies in others to deflect the gaps in our arguments. We draw dangerously clear lines to relieve the tension but there’s a cost to pay. Some things aren’t that simple. If there’s anything to take away from the life of Jesus and the theology of Paul, it’s this: embrace the tension.

The gospel is always disruptive and inherently tension filled. In defining the gospel, we’d do well to let Jesus enter the conversation. He says this about the gospel:

The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Luke 4:18-19

We can say it’s allusion, but Jesus’ ministry refutes that notion. He lived out this gospel definition and it created tension then as it does now. Jesus’ definition of the gospel is always moving him towards people. Should it not cause alarm when our prevailing gospel leads us away.

We have an underlying false premise that the gospel relieves tension. The gospel creates tension. How could something that simultaneously costs us nothing and everything not produce tension?

There are no political, philosophical, or cultural systems the gospel conforms to cart blanche. It doesn’t mean we throw out human systems. It does mean we humbly acknowledge our systems always come up short. That’s why as Christ-followers our fellowship is contingent solely in Christ. Everything else is up for disruption.

It’s hard to imagine just how shocking Paul’s words would have hit 1st Century ears:

There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

I think I might can give us some idea though:

There is no Republican or Democrat, educated or uneducated, white or black; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.