Jason's Blog

Do you remember the story of the Essenes?  They were a Jewish group in Jesus day that decided to withdraw from Jerusalem and the life of Judaism.  Their decision was driven by quest for purity in religious practice.  They felt that everyone in society was living less than what God desired, and so they formed the community of Qumran.  They had a restrictive set of entrance requirements, and if anyone failed to live up to the standards, they were asked to leave.

Reconstruction of the Qumran settlement UCLA Virtual Qumran Visualization Project

Since their Jewish neighbors had made so many compromises to the Romans, they felt the need to withdraw from society in protest.  Only by living apart from the world could they stand for truth.  They fully expected that God would honor them for being faithful  They would  care about truth even if the entire world adopted Greek and Roman lifestyle

No Jewish group in Jesus day had a greater fortress mentality than the Essenes, but they were a people of paradox.  Note this observation by Luke Timothy Johnson:

The most paradoxical example of Hellenistic influence in Palestinian Judaism is perhaps the Qumran community.  No Jewish group was more deeply dedicated to the Hebrew text of scripture and to the use of classical Hebrew in its modes of scriptural interpretation and in its composition of new sectarian literature.

To confirm this fact, simply look at the cave findings that we have for Qumran.  Their documents and Scriptures (also known as the Dead Sea Scrolls) show us a people who loved the Book, loved their Hebrew, and invented creative ways of marking themselves from the world around them.  Johnson continues:

Nor was any Jewish group more emphatic in its rejection not only of the despised Gentiles, but also of any Jews who associated in the slightest manner with Gentiles.  No Jewish sect could, on the surface, appear more straightforwardly anti-Hellenistic.  Yet, Qumran’s system of probation and excommunication, and its way of life organized around an absolute community of possessions, appear to owe more to Greek utopian models than to any precedent found in Torah.

– Among the Gentiles: Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity (Yale University Press, 2009): 30.

Let that sink in.  The Essenes were an anti-Hellenistic movement.  They hated the compromise of everyone around them.  They wanted to stand out, but their entire fortress mentality was under-girded by the culture they were bent on rejecting.  They unwittingly used the very culture that they hated as the basis for their fortress mentality.

Here’s the point — Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.

We can live our lives complaining against the vices of American society, and yet drink deeply from American society.  It easy to point a finger at THEM– whoever THEM happens to represent.  We protest:  “See how they dress, see how they talk, see how they choose to live!  How worldly they are!”

We see others so clearly, yet see ourselves so poorly.  A better question might be:  How do I really look?  How have I embraced the American dream?  Does God have something to say about my life?

We might need a healthy dose of humility.  None of us can stand apart from the culture in which we live.   It is the air that we breathe.

This happens to me all the time.  I’ll be behind the wheel, and one of my kids will say, “Did you see that?”

“See what?”  I call back.

“That cloud it looks like an elephant.”

It is easy to miss the picture when you’re a growup– with no sense of imagination and eyes trained on the traffic.

Do you see them?  They are are the overlooked:

• Behind a cash register
• Under an overpass
• In a restaurant
• At a gas station
• Holding a leaf blower in the street

All the people that you might never see if you are in a hurry and a prisoner to your schedule.

Even worse, you can be so driven that you don’t even see your own family.  Your child is trying to tell you something, and you are glued to a book, or the internet, or a television show.

Thomas Merton once wrote, “it might be a good thing to open our eyes and see.”

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air . . . ” (Matthew 6:26).

Carefully take your eyes off the traffic and worries.

Slow down.

Give yourself permission to see the world around you.

See all of it– even those who are overlooked.

Consider the details of life.

Realize again that God is present.

How can He use you in this moment?

What comes to mind when you think of social activists?

I think of a group staging a sit-in protest. Bound together arm in arm, they refuse to leave their spot even as authorities close in to arrest them. Or I think of a picketer carrying a homemade sign and wearing a look of concern. With those images in mind, consider the Apostle Paul. Was he an activist?

Many might think that activist would be the best way to talk about Paul. He was a debater that constantly got in trouble with authorities. He was ridiculed and jeered. Trouble seemed to always find Paul.

The stereotype was Paul is that of a hardened, controversial (or even combative) person.

However, I think it’s better to think of Paul as a disciple rather than an activist. Here’s why:

1. In my mind, an activist tries to use whatever means necessary to change something. From what I can tell, Paul was concerned more with people than with an issue or project. He was compelled by Christ’s love (2 Corinthians 5:14), and he did not look at people from a worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16).
2. Paul never took handouts and sought to help those who were less fortunate (Acts 20:34-35).
3. Just as Jesus built unbelievable friendships, Paul built unbelievable friendships. We see this in his coworkers and the congregations that he founded in Thessalonica and Phillipi. They supported him throughout his life.
4. Paul organized these new communities around the idea of caring for one another in Jesus’ name. He compared the Corinthian church to a body made up of many members. Every part needed the others, and every member suffered when there was injury to one part.

I think we can learn a lot from Paul. Each of us can be deeply commited to others.

• We can strive to be sincere in our love (Romans 12:9).
• We can look to put others interests ahead of our own (Philippians 2:4)
• We can seek to live without complaining and arguing (Philippians 2:14)
• We can look for opportunities to share the good news—even with those normally overlooked by others.

I like this quote by Shaine Claiborne:

“Just as believers are a dime a dozen in the church, so are ‘activists’ in social justice circles nowadays. But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of- lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the issues they are concerned about.” Shaine Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution (Zondervan, 2006): 295-296.

Be a person who sees others faces.  I think this is something that Paul learned from Jesus.

Yesterday, I took a tour with some friends of the new Twin City Mission on Randolf Street in Bryan.  On our way over there Doug,  the director,  asked our group to think about our perspective on homelessness.

“All right, raise your hand if you know someone that is homeless?”  Doug’s question hung in the air, and it was one of those moments when everyone’s eyes shift to the ground.  I raised my hand, half-halfheartedly, because of our work with Family Promise and the Lincoln House of Hope.  But all the while I muttered to myself, “Do I really know these homeless people?”

It was at that point that Doug reminded us that homelessness is a matter of perspective.  All of you know someone that is homeless because all of you know Jesus.

What a helpful reminder!  Jesus was born as one of the down and out.  Surely he learned carpentry as an apprentice to his father Joseph, but we know that he left home at a young age.  He lived without a home, without privilege and distinction.  He called His disciples to follow him, and they did.

• Since we listen to Jesus, the king of kings, the homeless one, we can listen to any homeless person and see what they have to say about life.

• Since we talk to Jesus all the time,  we can talk with anyone who is homeless.  Who would ever “talk down” to Jesus? Why would we do that with anyone?

• Remember Jesus the next time you see a person that you might fit into a homeless profile.

Criticism is easy — See that Starbucks cup in his hand?  He shouldn’t have bought that!  How disgraceful!  And off we go.  All we see are the issues.  We have lost the sense that this person is a real person.

The homeless are not a problem to be solved, but people.  Remember that Jesus was homeless.  He lived by gifts and generosity of those around him.  His priorities shocked everyone.  Most people were not attracted by Jesus.

Isaiah 53:2-5

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.  He was despised and rejected– a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised, and we did not care.  Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins!   But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!

And yet our salvation rests in the hands of the homeless one– who has been exalted into heaven to the highest place.  The homeless Jesus, now in heaven, loves us and longs for us to care for others as He does.