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When I look at the ministry of Jesus, I see a lot of things that make me take notice. For instance, it’s always struck me how many of the institutional denominations wearing his name today don’t seem to really ‘get’ how he lived, who he reached out to and what he had to say to the religious of his day.
To say he lived a simple life would be an understatement. He was the one who said that foxes have holes and birds have nests, but not even the son of man had a place to lay his head. Comparatively speaking, if that statement didn’t put Jesus on the margins I’m not sure what would. He not only identified with the homeless, he was homeless.
I don’t think Jesus meant to say ‘If you want to follow me you should be homeless too.’ But I do think he is, in the long tradition of Israel’s prophets, showing us a thing or two about our priorities. In this one area of his life we are moved to see both the value and worth of the homeless as well as setting priorities for a life of humility. His message seems to be that whether we have a place to lay our head or not, we still have everything we need for fellowship with the one he called ‘Abba.’
By looking at the ‘norm’ for most religious buildings today, I’m not sure this message has gotten through.
As far as who he reached out to I think few would deny that they were pretty much viewed as the outcasts of his time. He gave sight to the blind, healed and hugged the sick and set the oppressed free with words of a life found on a much higher plane, but one that could nonetheless be experienced in the ‘here and now.’
Regarding his message(s) to the organized religion of his day, Jesus was pretty stern. He thought the leaders often neglected those on the margins of society while they themselves were content to live the high life. It was to the religious of his day that he reeled off the list of woes in Matthew 23. He said they didn’t practice what they preached, often requiring stringent degrees of obedience from their followers that not even they could live up to.
He didn’t seem too enamored that they took upon themselves titles such as ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Father.’ He was pretty put off that they were careful to tithe “mint, dill and cummin” while neglecting “justice, mercy and faithfulness,” things Jesus considered the weightier and more substantial principles of Mosaic Law. This, in his mind, qualified them to be white-washed tombs filled with dead men’s bones. Outwardly they had an appearance of goodness while inwardly he believed them to be filthy.
By standing at a distance and looking at Jesus’ life and ministry, his love and self-sacrificial death, it begins to become apparent that Jesus saw those considered to be on the margins of society to actually be at the center, and those who appeared to be at the center to be on the margins.
I wonder if this could and should be speaking a word to our day. In Jesus’ name we have built lavish and ornate buildings. We have titles like Lord, Rabbi, Reverend, Father, etc. We have lessons on tithing but not so many on what constitutes “justice, mercy and faithfulness.” If anything, we couch the idea of faithfulness in terms of church attendance and financial contributions – and of course, warnings about drinking, smoking and dancing.
Look at the larger picture of Christianity today and ask: In the eyes of Jesus, the one whose name they (we) carry, are they (we) at the center, or the margins?
6 comments to “Is the Margin the Center?”
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Tim, great post. One mankind has been debating thousands of years… “who holds the power”?
Ultimately, all power resides in the One, in the name of “Christ” and we fool ourselves with any other thought (I think someone once said that WE could do works as great as Jesus, if not greater… but how dare we think he meant us!).
Build as lavish a roof and ministry as necessary to do his work, but do his work for ALL, even as he embraced all. I would like to see more institutions proclaiming to follow Christ working in the ‘field’; embracing the homeless, hugging the sick, feeding the poor. So many churches do just this, but not enough.
What would Jesus do? He’d stand before us again and let us crucify him, again. I would go so far as to say he DOES stand in our midst now, and we crucify him daily by passing him by because we do not recognize his face.
What can I do? I can be the change I seek. I’m learning to do this, be this change. My father once told me, “do your job and don’t complain that someone else isn’t doing theirs.” I hold to this. Pray I can be more effective in my job, and I will pray for you, in kind.
Peace brother!
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The thing I love about Jesus was that He was “classless”. Those who had were no better than those who didn’t have anything. He was just there to heal….it didn’t matter what margins they were in…
Alicia
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Great post Tim, You most certainly hit the nail on the head with this post. I think I read somewhere that the “Christian” Church is losing thousands of it’s membership yearly! I have no doubt in my mind that what you write here is the reason for much of the loss. I think folks are beginning to see that the church that they have been so faithful to has been, and is much what it was at the time Jesus walked 2000 years ago, in my view not much has changed.
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I heard this the other day: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.”
Just sayin’.
Read “Matthew and the Margins”. Author: Warren Carter.