Irresistible Revolution #2: Freaky Jesus

I had an epiphany:
I am a Jesus freak because Jesus was a freak. Ha!

But that's because the revolution is irresistible.
You must be wondering: What revolution? And why is it irresistible?

The revolution is the one that Jesus started when he stood on the mount and delivered a sermon with radical, "freaky" directives.  And it's irresistible because it's so freaky that it's funny... or more succinctly put, it's fun. It's a movement that laughs.

Check out this directive from Matthew 5:38-42
38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'[g] 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Thanks to Jordan's sermon last night, and my cool footnoted Bible, I realize now that the whole "eye for an eye" rule was a rudimentary measure that God gave his people to limit the extent of their retaliation. But people came to use this measure to justify seeking revenge for the injustices they faced.  When Jesus came along, he corrected this misunderstanding by invoking the principle of love.

I'll admit, when I first read this passage, I thought Jesus was saying that we should let ourselves be used and abused. So naturally, I didn't particularly care for this part of his sermon!  But when Jesus tells us not to resist an evil person, he is NOT saying that we should let people trample all over us.  We were not created to be doormats for others to wipe their dirty shoes on!

Instead, Jesus introduced a new way to deal with injustice. The old way was to confront wrongdoers by teaching justice rather than love. (Well, depends how we define justice... I think "the world" sees them as separate concepts)

This is Shane Claiborne's (author of The Irresistible Revolution) interpretation of Matthew 5:38-42:

"When hit on the cheek, turn and look the person in the eye. Do not cower and do not punch them back. Make sure they look into your eyes and see your sacred humanity and it will become increasingly harder for them to hurt you. When someone tries to sue you for the coat on your back and drags you before the court, go ahead and take all of your clothes off and hand them over, exposing the sickness of their greed. When a soldier asks you to walk a mile with them and carry their pack, don't throw your fist in the air like the Zealots, just walk with them two miles instead of one, talk with them and woo them into your movement by your love."

Jesus opposed both passivity and violence.  Instead, he advocated love. As Walter Wink said, "evil can be opposed without being mirrored."

In times of injustice, the most unexpected element we think we'll find is love.  Love comes as a surprise. 

Criminologists teach that one of the quickest ways to diffuse violence is with surprise, according to Claiborne:
"When victims do something that surprises [criminals], it throws the whole plan out of whack. Jesus is always doing weird things in the midst of conflict, like when the men are about to kill the adulteress, he bends down and draws in the dirt until eventually they all drop their stones. There's that time the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, and Peter pulls out a sword and cuts off a guy's ear. Jesus rebukes him and then grabs the dude's ear and puts it back on. That must have been a little awkward for everyone, especially the soldiers. How do you arrest a guy who just put your buddy's ear back on? Jesus' theological stunts and prophetic imagination surprise and disarm. They make people laugh and catch folks off guard, even folks who wish they could hate him. And of course, there's the dazzle of the resurrection. That's got to be the best one ever. Colossians says that in his death and resurrection, Jesus "disarmed the powers and authorities" and "made a public spectacle out of them." (Col.2:15)"

Claiborne also says that "When someone keeps us laughing, we don't even think to become defensive. We are disarmed by a gentle revolution."


All this has left me wondering: What if we made our enemies laugh!
Imagine explosive smiles instead of explosive anger!  Imagine if we brought them simple, carefree joy!  Then they wouldn't be our enemies any longer.  Duh!

So how do we get someone to laugh with us?
My first guess is that we could start by not taking ourselves too seriously. We could avoid being all snooty & religious. We could be way-makers rather than gatekeepers.

And we would have to exude love.   Love would have to infect us like a contagious disease.

We could hop on Jesus' revolutionary bandwagon by joining the "movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible. It is a contagious revolution that dances, laughs, and loves."

Like being a Christian, it won't be easy, but it will be SO worth it.

"The only thing harder than hatred is love. The only thing harder than war is peace. The only thing that takes more work, tears, and sweat than division is reconciliation. But what more beautiful thing could we devote our lives to? Until the courage that we have for peace surpasses the courage we that we have for war, violence will continue to triumph, and imperial execution rather than divine resurrection will have the final word."
- Shane Claiborne