“Hi, I’m Paul, and you’re wrong.”
I don’t know of many conversations I’ve started with spouse, family, friends, strangers or fellow Christians that would continue with any substance if I began in this way. It doesn’t mean I can’t disagree with someone else. I just know if I start by identifying what’s wrong with someone else, things go nowhere fast. “Honey, I’m home, and how many times do I have to tell you, you’re wrong to leave the garbage can in the alley like that!” Yeah, that’ll move things along. Of course we’re not talking about things that don’t really matter. We’re talking about issues and ideas that are important, that we think have an impact on our future, sometimes on our eternal future: things that do matter, things we believe should matter. When they do, it often means we want to say something about it, that we’re compelled to say something about it. Any reader of the Bible can point to countless examples of this. God sent dozens, if not hundreds of prophets to warn Israel. The book of Acts in the New Testament recounts many times that “there was no small debate.” And yet when Jesus walked this earth, he surprised the Pharisees, the scribes, the leaders and authorities of his time, because he “ate with tax collectors and sinners.” There is more than one time that these authorities grumble because Jesus wasn’t telling people they were wrong. Instead, our Lord Jesus sent people out to proclaim Good News, also known as the Gospel. In the Book of Acts, we are told the Holy Spirit sent the disciples to the Samaritans. Samaritans were wrong, they were not worshiping God in the right way. They were people who many reasoned didn’t belong in Palestine, because their ancestors were from a different part of the world than the Israelites. “Share the Good News with them,” the Holy Spirit told the Church, not that they’re wrong. Same thing with the Ethiopian eunuch: Deuteronomy 23 is clear no eunuch should be allowed near the people of God. What the Holy Spirit tells the disciple Philip (Acts 8) is to proclaim the gospel to this very person riding in a chariot in the middle of the desert. He would never not be a eunuch. But God sent Philip anyway. Now there may be many who would say the gospel is a gospel of repentance, and that would be true. However, we need to be clear what repentance means: it means turning in another direction. Repentance is not the same as blame, or telling someone they are wrong. It is an invitation to another way, the way of Jesus Christ, the way of God’s love for the whole world. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If you and I are honest, every one of us is in need of repentance. We’re all wrong by this definition. And yet, that’s not where the Gospel ends. But now, is Paul’s, and more importantly, Jesus’ announcement to the world. But now, there is grace to make a way forward. That’s why there is a cross we look to, a Jesus we are thankful for, a God of love we rely on to help us change direction. These times we live in are uncertain. Many things are being brought into question. We are on edge, and it doesn’t matter what side of the political or ideological spectrum you are on. Something happens when we all get on edge. We want to circle the wagons. We search for those of like mindedness. We make camps where our kind can feel safe. We want to identify who is wrong. The world Jesus walked in was just such a time, as was the world of the New Testament. But something amazing happens: God chose what is foolish, what is weak, what is low and despised in this world — in other words what is wrong — to bring human wisdom and strength to naught (I Corinthians 1:27). And Jesus sent his followers out into this world, not to circle the wagons. One could even argue when they wanted to keep the early church circled, the Holy Spirit of God blew the church out into the world, so the gospel would be made known to everyone. There was plenty of disagreement expressed in the church. Many of the New Testament letters show how the church divided into camps. In the Revelation of John (2:1-7), the church of Ephesus was given a letter written by the Risen Christ which tells them, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers … [and] tested those who … have [been] found to be false.” They had become experts at identifying who was wrong. “But I have this against you,” Jesus declares, “that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” The risen Christ then says to the church at Ephesus that they need to repent, change direction, and to “do the works you had done at first.” They acted out of love at first — agape love, love that offers one’s self for the sake of another, like Jesus did, for the sake of the message Christ has given us to share. A friend of mine recently shared with me a story of his great-grandparents. In the 1950s and early 1960s, when you went into their kitchen, you found the strangest set of photos. There was a picture of Jesus, and a picture of Adolf Hitler, one right next to the other. The great-grandparents were Nazi sympathizers during World War II, and even into the 1950s the great-grandfather was a proponent of German nationalism, a firm believer that the world would be a better place if all German-speaking areas were all under one rule. And they were strong Lutheran Christians, believing in their Lord and Savior Jesus. What a story! My friend remembers as a child the “no small debates” of that family. None of their nine children subscribed to their parents’ political beliefs. But to this day, my friend, who attends a Jewish study group of the Torah, and is gay, remembers his great-grandparents with love; they were hard-working, they raised nine children with love and few resources, they passed along the faith that is so important to my friend’s life. Nothing wrong with that.
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AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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