Weekly Devotional for November 8, 2015

Scripture text: Luke 4:16-30 (text appointed for Wednesday, November 11)

I’ve long argued that there are basically two kinds of people in the world. The first kind are those who delight in, or at least accept, the vast diversity of our world and its people. They recognize that we are all different. We believe in different things, follow different religions (or none at all), hold loyalty to different causes, have different cultures, languages, and skin color, and so forth. People of this type accept these truths and are not threatened by them. They may not agree with those who are different from them, but they can accept them for who they are.

The second type are those who are frightened by the vast diversity of our world and its people. They resent the fact that we are all different. Their encounter with someone that is different or contradictory to themselves is an existential threat. They built elaborate systems to enforce their own sense of superiority. They demand conformity from others. “Be like me or else” is at the core of their being. Their thinking requires them to destroy, silence, or dismiss anyone with whom they disagree.

It is a sad fact of life that the latter group is certainly more vocal and perhaps more common. Human beings are often irrational creatures. For all our lauded advancements in civilization and civility, the raw emotions of our lizard brains still often guide our actions. We more often attack than embrace.

When Jesus comes home to Nazareth for his “first sermon” in the synagogue, these dynamics of human behavior are all on display. Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah about God’s liberating power, declares that he is the fulfillment of this prophecy, and the people love it. Problem is, they have failed to grasp the fact that Isaiah was speaking not merely of God liberating people like them, but of liberating everyone everywhere.

When Jesus points this out by quoting various other stories from the Old Testament, the crowd quickly turns on him. How dare God love people other than me! How dare he care for THOSE PEOPLE! Those sinners! Those foreigners! Those non-believers! The lizard brains kick in and they literally try to murder Jesus for telling the truth about the Scriptures.

Oh, those silly people in Nazareth. We’ve changed so much since then.

Well, not really. With Halloween out of the way, the tidal wave of Christmas has begun and we have already had the first volley in the infamous “War on Christmas” that our secular society is apparently determined to wage upon us. Starbucks has released a holiday themed red coffee cup that is insufficiently Christian enough for some people.

Image from Starbucks.com

What nonsense!

It is, of course, the second group that I spoke of above that are convinced this “war” is real. Because it is they who cannot accept that there are numerous holidays and celebrations around this time of year being celebrated by all sorts of different people: Jewish, Pagan, Secular, Muslim, and Christian alike. It is their sense of superiority and privilege that they see as being under attack, just as the Nazarenes saw Jesus’ reminder of God’s universal love as their privilege and superiority being under attack.

But, like it or not, God does love the whole world. And Christ came to save the whole world. The Scriptures testify to this fact numerous times, from the covenant to Abraham to the peaceable kingdom of Isaiah’s prophecy to Jesus’ own words to Nicodemus. Those expecting the life beyond to be filled only with people “like them” are going to be very disappointed.

As Christians, we are called to do as our Savior did. We are called to love all people. Now, we may not always agree with what they do or believe, but they are children of God like us, created in his image. If anything, it is more Christian to celebrate the vast diversity of this world than it is to condemn it. After all, God made it this way. God loves it this way. And we called to do likewise. Amen.