pride...

I have been in Jeremiah for a while now...inching slowly through some of it and flipping more quickly through other parts. I ran across this verse today in Jeremiah 13 - "But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD's flock will be taken captive." This pretty much describes what I'm feeling about the church in general right now.

I am not someone who is here to point out other's flaws. I am the first to admit that I'm a heathen, and probably a more accurate description is that I'm a "whore," though not in the "Adam knew his wife" sense. I recently went to a Derek Webb concert, and he sang a song off his CD "Mockingbird." In one of his songs he says this:

"There are two great lies that I've heard:
'The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die,'
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican,
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him."

We all have this tendency to view Jesus through a cloud of smoke. The pharisees had this picture of what a "messiah" would look like based on their interpretations of the scriptures, and somehow Jesus just didn't fit that mold. He wasn't the kind of King they expected to see. I tend to view God through the screen door of my earthly father, which is probably not fair to either of them. There have been a few occasions where my dad hasn't been able to provide for me when I needed him to, so I sometimes think that God will not be able to (or won't want to) provide for me. I am not sure, but I think a lot of people believe the lie that Jesus was a white, middle-class republican, and maybe that's why they can't believe that He died on a cross for them.

The thing is, even though I'm convicted by Derek's lyrics, I'm not sure half of the church today would be. Probably 80% wouldn't understand what Derek means when he says that one of the lies that he has heard is that Jesus is a white, middle-class republican. Or they would get mad, label him anti-American, and bulldoze his CDs with the Dixie Chicks'. And what is sad is that I don't think he's saying that you have to be a democrat, either. The point is that Jesus is constantly asking us "Who do YOU say that I am?" And I think that our response to that question should be the same as Peter's..."You are the Christ." When you see Jesus as who He really is, stripped of the lies and personal preconceptions and politics...when you see Him naked and nailed to a cross...then you will see that He loves white...middle-class...republican...Americans...and everyone else, too.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
I Corinthians 13:12