Click Map for Details


Flag Counter

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Anger and Fear (and Me?)


If Jesus came today, who would "crucify" him? What would be the charge against him? Where would you be? (Serendipity Bible 10th anniversary edition, page 1386).


The people that would crucify Jesus today are the same people who crucified him 2000 years ago. They are people chronically characterized by anger and fear. These are the two lethal ingredients for any great injustice. We certainly see in our media today commentators full of anger and fear. They whip it up daily. Certainly they would crucify him figuratively if not in fact. They no doubt would leave it to some of their listeners to do the deed. As for the charges that would be leveled against Jesus, who knows what they would be? We know that those who were besides themselves with anger and fear 2000 years ago exercised hated against Jesus because he healed the sick, ministered to the poor, and (worst of all) pointed out that the downtrodden were worthy people – in some ways even more worthy than those self-righteously ensconced in the safe haven of the status quo.

Now where would I be? That question gives serious pause for I'm safely ensconced in the status quo—in many ways fat, happy, and broadly content with my self-assigned worthiness. I habitually have a very good opinion of myself. What if Jesus should criticize me either directly or by nailing me in one or two of his parables. Would I find myself in the crowd crying crucify him? My comfort meter is very fragile and highly vulnerable to criticism—especially criticism in areas where I feel quite self-sufficient.





Print Page