A Politically Incorrect Gospel: Jesus, the way
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. David McMaster
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Text: John 14:1-11
The Calgary Stampede recently celebrated a significant anniversary. For 100 years, people have been gathering in July for what is considered the biggest rodeo of them all. They come to see the bull riding, the barrel racing, steer wrestling, tie down roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding. It is quite a show and then there are the chuck-wagon races, the exhibition, the endless western themes and attractions.
This year again, however, animal rights activists have been up in arms about the unfortunate deaths of several horses at the chuck-wagon races. In response to a National Post article positing the demise of the Stampede, a B.C. man wrote, apparently with tongue in cheek, “Thanks to the forces of political correctness, surely even greater strides toward kinder, gentler rodeos are just around the corner. At the 2013 Calgary Stampede, I predict crowds will watch a procession of horseless rodeo cowboys matching their riding skills against a line-up of hi-tech mechanical bulls — with their inevitable spills rendered harmless by surrounding air cushions. At the 2015 Calgary Stampede, crash helmets and body padding will surely become mandatory for mechanical bull rodeo riders. After that, who knows what the forces of political correctness will bring to a once-proud rodeo.”
Agree or disagree, the chief news issues around this year's Stampede has been portrayed as issues of political correctness. Political correctness is a factor in other places too. The London Telegraph recently carried a report that British Airways had banned its employee, Nadia Eweida, from wearing a crucifix while working at Heathrow airport. The airline did not wish to offend travellers who may not be of the Christian persuasion. The matter hit the floor of the British parliament this week with former, shadow home secretary, David Davis, describing the airline's stance as a "disgraceful piece of political correctness."
Like it or not, political correctness is part of our lives. It affects many things, including our faith. We see it in the ban on crosses worn by employees of British Airways. We hear about it most years at Christmas with the grumbles about Christmas trees in public places. We've spoken about it already over the last couple of weeks of how Christianity's views of sin and judgment do not fit within the current culture of political correctness. But there is another aspect of Christianity that rankles our culture's standards. It is Christianity's exclusivity and the fact that it claims to be “the” way and “the” truth.
In our post-modern age, it is commonly assumed that there are many ways, many truths, and no ultimate truth. Those ideas have become so widespread that many, even in the church, accept them as, well, “gospel.” And yet exclusivity and truth-claims pop up all over the place in the scriptures that we hold sacred. It pops up early, in the Ten Commandments when God says “I am the Lord thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Ex.20:2a, 3).” It is a constant theme as Israel strives for its existence in the land of Canaan with warnings against other gods and inter-marriage with worshippers of other gods. We see it much later in the words of Jesus to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. He was speaking to them about going away to prepare a place for them when Thomas says, “But we don't know where are you going? Nor do we know how to get there?” Jesus replies with the oft repeated words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)
Whether we like it or not, if we attempt to be true to the scriptures, there is an exclusivity to Christianity, claims of truth that rankle the more “enlightened,” politically correct world and worldview.
It used to be so easy for us. For hundreds of years, Christianity was “the” religion of the western world. It was considered the pinnacle of religious truth. It was thought to have led to the highest cultures the earth had ever produced. Other cultures and religions were viewed as inferior, primitive, and false, but no longer. Western culture has progressed. Advances in knowledge, the post-modern worldview, the rise of secularism, and the presence of people from different parts of the world with alternate faith positions have all caused great change. Christianity has been knocked off its perch. The secular worldview is now widely deemed to be superior. Religion is secondary. Christianity has become one among many. No longer “the” way, Jesus is merely considered “a” way; one truth among many in a pluralistic setting.
Twenty-four-year old New Yorker, Blair, echoed the common thought when he said, “How could there be just one true faith? Isn't it arrogant to say your religion is superior and try to convert everyone else to it? Surely all the religions are equally good and valid for meeting the needs of their particular followers.”
Let's unpack a couple of the common assertions that are made these days to see if they hold up to scrutiny. It is common to hear, as Blair said, that all religions are equally valid and essentially teach the same things. Perhaps you, like I, have heard something similar in the past few days. “The assertion is, in fact, so common that one journalist at Time magazine recently wrote that anyone who believed that ”˜there are inferior religions' is a right wing extremist.”
But think about the assertion. Are we to agree that all religions are equally valid, that all religions teach essentially the same things? What about the Branch Davidians (remember Waco, Texas)? Are they as equally valid as Judaism or Islam? What of the Rastafarians whouse ganja weed for a “spiritual” high or religions requiring child sacrifice? Are these equally valid to other faiths? Most, I'm sure would think not. And what of the larger, main religious faiths? Do they all teach basically the same thing? Noted Presbyterian author and clergyman, Timothy Keller, says that while there may be a general consensus about what constitutes ethical behaviour between several of the main religions, once we get beyond that there are great differences. Buddhism, for instance, does not believe in a personal God. Hinduism believes in many gods. Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in one God. When it comes to the person of Jesus, Christians say that he is God. Jews and Muslims say he is not God. And when it comes to the end-game of each religion, what some term “salvation,” there are great contrasts between the world's religions. So while it may sound magnanimous and tolerant to speak in terms of all religions being equally valid and teaching the same basic thing, it is just not true. They differ in many ways and markedly so.
It is also quite common to hear that each religion sees a part of spiritual truth, but none sees the whole truth. A couple of years ago we had Professor John Bowen with us for an evening seminar on “The Bible & Outreach” and he illustrated the idea that each religion has a part of the truth by asking us to picture an elephant standing before a group of blind men. He said, imagine the blind men walk towards the elephant and run into it. One runs into it's trunk and says, “Hmmm, this thing is long and flexible like a snake.” Another runs into its leg and says, “No, it's not, it is thick and round like a tree.” A third, ran into it's side and underside and reached out and said, “No, no, it's large and flat-ish, nothing like a snake or a tree.” Each man was touching just a part of the elephant and described it in those terms because they could not see, none could envision the whole elephant.
In the parable, said Professor Bowen, the elephant is the truth and the blind men are the various religions of the world. Each religion sees a bit of the greater spiritual reality that is out there. One sees the “trunk” of truth, another, the “leg” of truth, yet another, the “belly” of truth. They think that they have the truth but none has a vision of the whole. That parable fits well with post-modern ideas of many truths and society's desire to support everyone. It sounds good, it sounds plausible, but then if you scrutinize it, the story is told from the vantage point of someone who is not blind, someone who can see. That person starts from the premise that no one and no one religion sees the whole truth, yet he himself is able to see. He is actually guilty of claiming the very thing he does not allow others or other major religions to see. One might even wonder if one starts from a premise that no one has “the” truth, whether we should believe anyone or anything. It leads us right into the heart of some of the problems with pluralism and relativism. They do not entirely stand the test of logic. I go back again to a student who came into my office at McMaster University. We were arguing some fine point related to the pros and cons and morality of abortion. She made a statement and while I appreciated it, I asked her, “Well, do you think that's true?” She quickly retorted with the common assertion, “There is no truth!” To which I asked, “Is that true?” In a post-modern world, people are quick to deny the possibility of absolute truth, yet their very act of denial is an absolute in and of itself. These things fall to logic and have not done away with the possibility of absolute truths and someone, some school of thought, or some religion having truth.
Where do we go from here? Life, thought, accepted wisdom and real wisdom can be confusing. It's wise, of course, to admit that we are all finite creatures, with finite minds. We may not grasp all that there is to grasp in this life, but that should not stop us from humbly seeking to understand as much reality as we can. When it comes to ultimate truths and things related to God, sometimes even clergy struggle, we do not understand all things. But one of the things that I keep coming back to when it comes to ultimate truth, I've searched here and there, but I keep coming back to the question of Jesus; “Who is Jesus?”
When one thinks about Jesus, the sheer amount of material written about him is amazing. If you compare the ancient material and the manuscripts that tell us about Jesus with, say, those that tell us of the history and philosophy of ancient Greece, the Greek material pales in comparison. The manuscripts available about the Trojan War are outstripped thousands and thousands of times by manuscripts about Jesus. He is referred to in documents that are now a part of our Bible, by a few Jewish and Roman writers in the first century, and by a host of writers in the second century. Most of them tell us something about his life and teaching and his wisdom is widely acknowledged as some of the greatest moral teaching of all time. Even people who do not follow him agree that teachings such as those within the Sermon on the Mount are great teachings.
American theologian, Bernard Ramm said of Jesus' teachings,
They are read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken… Their greatness lies in the pure lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast … No other man's words have the appeal of Jesus' words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them. They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give.
When we think about how Jesus lived and his wonderful deeds, Jesus must have been an extraordinary person to be around. Sometimes people say that Christianity is boring, but Jesus was never boring. He was a great man to have at a gathering. He took one man's picnic and multiplied it to feed thousands (Mk.6:30ff.). He was a great man to have along while sailing. When a storm tossed a boat filled with his companions on the Sea of Galilee, they found that even the winds and the waves obeyed him (Mk.4:35ff.). He was a great man to have at a party. When the wine runs out, he provides the Chateau Montelena ”˜73 (Jn.2:1-11). He was a great man to have around when someone was ill or afflicted. On a number of occasions, the blind received sight, the deaf heard, and those with no voice were able to speak. Yet it was not just these things that made Jesus great. His love went out to all. It didn't matter what the political correctness of the Pharisees was like, Jesus touched the leper, protected the prostitute, loved the tax-collectors and sinners, and when others tortured him, he said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” This Jesus never came out and said, “I am God,” but a lot of what he did, cried out for people to ponder, who is this? Who is this?
Then there was the cross, if we take it at a very base level, Jesus went to the cross to protect his friends. He didn't run away like the rest, he let himself be taken to protect the others. And we hear the words, “Greater love has no man than this than that he lay his life down for his friends.” (Jn.15:14)
Several years ago, I went to see Mel Gibson's hyped up film, The Passion of the Christ. I don't know what I was thinking when I went to see it but on my way in I picked up some popcorn and found a seat in the packed theatre. As the pre-film ads ran, I munched away on my popcorn but when the film started, almost from the word “go,” I just sat there, riveted to my seat. The popcorn slid out of my hands onto the floor. I sat there engrossed in this film. And even if I thought the violence was a bit over the top, the words that kept coming to me as I watched the crucifixion scene were, “Greater love has no man than this than that he lay his life down for his friends.”
The event itself and the words of Jesus' followers beckon us to see the cross in an even greater way, as Jesus taking upon himself the sins of the world, and again the words, come, “Greater love has no man than this than that he lay his life down for his friends.”
And then there is the resurrection. I've spoken of the credibility of the resurrection accounts a number of times in the past and am hesitant to do so again but, however unlikely a resurrection is, however disagreeable it is to the modern mind, which begins with the premise that things like this don't happen, I am always drawn back to it through the credibility of the people who reported it, the way their lives changed, and the very fact that something incredible had to happen to birth something as widespread as the church has become. The resurrection may not be something that can be proven scientifically, no historical event can be, but when one looks at the evidence, it is incredibly plausible.
And so, with all these things in mind, the facts of Jesus in history, the teaching of Jesus, the deeds of Jesus, the love of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, I find that I am drawn to Jesus as to no other. It may not be politically correct thing to say in this age, but if ever there was a way, a truth, and a life, He seems to be it.
That is where you have to go with Christianity. It is not whether or not Christianity meets or doesn't meet the wisdom of today's politically correct culture, it is individuals quietly coming to grips with this man Jesus - encountering him and asking, “Who is he?” That is what I would like to challenge all of us to do. Perhaps it could be in taking the Gospel of John, reading it and pondering, who is he? It only takes an hour to get through the Gospel, not long. It's worth a read if you're searching for ultimate truths. I remember one of my Bishops in my former denomination, a wonderful man, quite old now, sharing how as a young man he had read the Gospel of John and found a wisdom and assurance that he had never had before. He got to the end and decided Jesus really was the Son of God, and it changed the rest of his life.
May God direct us all in truth and light.