Fitting in
05/29/2011
Too Messy
Quite honestly, life is too messy in Africa. Messy, messy, messy. There are too many problems, too many urgent issues, too many complicated relationships with subplots that take waaayyyy too much time to sort through. Life is too messy.
I got a phone call a couple of nights ago from a young friend in Masi. I like him alot. He called me because no one in Masi could help him. It was an emergency. His former girlfriend, now separated, and the mother of his 4 year-old son, arrived at his doorstep bleeding badly. She was drunk, and with her 2 sisters they had got in a fight with someone else in the small, primitive bar they call “shebeens.” In the fight a knife was pulled, the sisters got stabbed, she got sliced, The sisters, more injured, had enough money ($20 each) to go to the local knife wound facility (we would call it a clinic, though they call it a hospital). The girlfriend didn’t have the money, so she went to the closest house. Voila, my friend–who calls me.
Why call me? Simple: I have a car. So he gives me the urgent message over the phone, I leave the house thinking how much blood might get on the seats of our car, thinking that for some citizens of Masi, this violence is not that unusual. The rest of the evening was uneventful, though illuminating: waiting, waiting, filling out forms, etc. But I did take in every detail of the place and the people (the sign said: “your general health is our concern”–comforting, but there was vomit on the floor of the waiting room for over an hour). And that affirms my thought that life is messy.
My young friend from Masi gets dragged into this sordid world, into other dark worlds because of family and friends. He staggers back out to grasp Jesus, holding onto his faith, because Kingdom values and Kingdom world view always pull us out of the darkness.
That dynamic of light and darkness goes for those living in the Middle East, those in China, those in Africa, and those in the U.S. The kingdom of light pulls us away from the darkness of our cultural values, worldviews, and personal sin. Continually.
Getting involved with Jesus will have consequences…
I was struck by the blind man in John 9, and his culture clash. Blind from birth:
After saying this, he (Jesus) spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. Go, he told him, wash in the Pool of Siloam (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. John 9:6,7
Jesus picked him out. Singled out by Jesus. And Jesus was gone by the time mr. blindman washed his eyes out at the pool. When he went home, his neighbors were confused. Some said it was the same man born blind, others said, “no, it just looked like him.” Great neighbors, eh? So the story unfolds: The Jewish religious leadership is upset because this healing happened on the Sabbath. Shame. The leaders call his parents and question them about their son. Yikes. Bring in mom and dad. And then something disconcerting and revealing occurs: the parents distance themselves from their son (“thanks, mom and dad”), who is standing right next to them:
They (the pharisees) still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. Is this your son? they asked. Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see? We know he is our son, the parents answered, and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. John 9:18-22
That has got to make you feel good.
laundry hung out to dry
Your parents hanging you out to dry so they don’t get in trouble with the religious leaders of the day. So Jesus picks out the blind man, heals him, and the parents distance themselves from their son. It gets better, or should I say worse, depending on perspective.
The Jews know that this broadcasted healing is challenging their rule-keeping authority. It is negative press. So they persist in questioning the former blind man several times to find the positive spin. Then we actually see and hear the blind man process his thoughts out loud at what has happened:
The man answered, Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. (Hmm… where is he going with this?) We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. (ok…seems reasonable) Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. (ok…) If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. (I see where you get that conclusion, mr. blindman) To this they replied, You were steeped in sin at birth (How do you say “ouch” in Yiddish?) ; how dare you lecture us! (oh! He wasn’t processing–he was lecturing! Touchy, touchy, Mr. Teachers.) And they threw him out.
Get that last sentence? “Threw him out”. Bye bye. Out. For being healed. So what does this story say to you and me in the midst of life? How is it relevant to us? One thing I see is that by getting mixed up with Jesus, doing what Jesus said, things will become difficult, if not messy (like blood on our car seats), for you in your family, among your neighbors, and in your culture. Fitting in? You will no longer fit in.
believing and following Jesus can lead to rejection by family and friends…
Jesus’ Kingdom is radically different and He demands allegiance. His Kingdom is more substantial than anything we see or can experience in this realm. And boom, when we meet Jesus, we can become outcasts from our former culture. Life is messy.
And what does Jesus do after mr. blindman is thrown out?
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, Do you believe in the Son of Man?
Who is he, sir? the man asked. Tell me so that I may believe in him.
Jesus said, You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.
Then the man said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him. John 9:35-38
I like this part: Jesus looks around for him when He hears of mr. blindman’s rejection. He goes and finds mr. blindman. And then Jesus reveals Himself to the man. And mr. blindman, right then and there, leaves the culture of his parents, of their parents, of his tribe, and he “worships” Jesus right in the flesh. He could be stoned if he were seen. But our mr. blindman just left his culture and values and crossed over into Kingdom culture and Kingdom life.
We are the same everywhere…
So what happened then, happens now. In Africa, in the U.S., everywhere. It seems when we meet Jesus the whole concept of free will becomes heightened. We are more aware of moral choices than ever before. The Kingdom demands our attention, our whole-hearted commitment, our allegiance. We are not suppose to dabble with Jesus. Our conscience becomes sensitized and we must navigate with it. There are no shades of gray in the Kingdom of light. So our choices to follow Jesus will displease loved ones, make us a target for criticism and slander with former friends. Our choices to be true believers in Jesus will challenge the trending mores of the day in our culture.
So our friends in Masi with real names, and hearts that we love, faces of many family members, and personal, unique histories, with surprisingly bleak living circumstances have to make choices all the time, every day.
our friends at kalyn’s birthday party…
And a decision for the Kingdom goes against cultural trends, camaraderie fun, the carpe diem spirit. It is peculiar but darkness here seems so much more pronounced in the poor township filled with desperate lives. A significant degree of restraint is missing: assault, theft, burglary, knife fights, drunkenness, rampant promiscuity, vindictiveness, worship of ancestors with animal sacrifice, and witchcraft is pervasive. Come on, that stuff never happened on my block growing up.
Sure, in another culture, darkness might be pretty, even unnoticed, but not here in Africa. Evil may not be blatant in a civilized society, but does it still have the same overall result? Does darkness in all of its forms pull us away from our real destiny, our real life with Jesus? Jesus’ words are simple and profound, to be relevant in all cultures, in all living circumstances. He expects us to follow and leave the worthless things behind. It is easier to leave a shack than other things. But it is never easy to give up on all of the fibers of connection with family and friends when the Kingdom values impel you.
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:25,26
So…if I am to “serve” Jesus, I “must follow.” He is taking us with Him, “and where I am, my servant also will be.” OK. And then Jesus makes a huge, magnificent statement to convince us how incredibly important believing and following Him is: “My Father will honor the one who serves me.” It is the ache in the hearts of every man and woman to be noticed, to be accepted, to belong. But Jesus takes that universal ache to the highest level for comfort and affirmation. He says there is a much more significant highpoint in the destiny of every man and woman that we have not conceived of: to be honored by the Father. That is the prize worth living and dying for. That experience will last forever (if I were Rumpelstiltskin I would jump up and down when I say “forever”) and eternal life is much more real than the life we are now living.
