An Interesting Thought Experiment

I was sitting in church last week, well, maybe it was the week before, but I was sitting in church, listening to the priest deliver her sermon.  It was a reasonably good piece that had a great thought experiment buried in it that was nearly lost due to a ridiculous "texting in church" exercise.  The priest prattled on somewhat about why people don't come back to church and asked that we text her our thoughts and questions.  I'm far too pedantic to answer that question in a responsible way and I sent her the following text: "why r u asking people in church y people aren't here.  idk y u dont come bak go ask them!"  I really should have just left it alone.  I was in church for crying out loud.  I should have been more charitable.  In any event, I'm as close to losing the thread as she was on Sunday.

After announcing the text experiment she asked this "What do you think Jesus would say if he walked in that door right now"?  I like to fancy myself a thoughtful person and that question provoked a response somewhere down in me brains.  Something along the lines of "shit!  (whoops!)  that would be something else"  What would he say?  What would I say?  Then she asked "What would Jesus think of all of this?  What would he think about the condition of his church"?  What indeed.  I've been noodling on this ever since.

I'll never be accused of being a biblical scholar but I have read the bible and quite a number of books that study, at a reasonable level of detail, certain sections of the bible.  I've tried to understand it all.  There are two things that have always struck me about the bible.  The first is the (in my view) stark difference between God in the OT and God in the NT.  OT God seems more judgmental and willing to lay a smack-down on you.  NT God is heavily modified by Jesus' humanity and seems far more interested in forgiveness and your fellow man.  So, I wonder where God currently is on all of this.  The second is how human he was and where he was in the scheme of things when his ministry began in earnest.  Definitely an outside – in reformer.  You don't just show up at the temple and start knocking over tables unless you're making some sort of point….and a public one at that.  I've wondered what a modern Jesus would look like.  There's some folks down in Texas who think they know and it is, in some folks eyes, provocative.  I think it's strong.

I think the Jesus that walked through the door would be from the fringes of society.  Not a crazy or wild-eyed pistol waver but from the fringe.  He would be thoughtful and intelligent.  He might have some ink!  I know that he's omniscient and all but I think he would express some discomfort at how heavily the church is fractured.  He might have some rough things to say about the condition of the church.  The church does way more right than wrong these days but you are talking about the guy that started the business 2,000 years ago with 2 women and 12 guys fleeing prosecution.  The church *is* the establishment now.  That'll take some getting used to.  

The social questions that Jesus might speak to are both the most interesting and difficult to figure out in advance.  Humans have knotted themselves tightly over the past 2,000 years over these questions.  The OT God appears to have had some problems with homosexuality.  The NT God really doesn't seem to address it at all.  I think that the ink-stained, denim-jacket clad Jesus that walks into my church really isn't all that interested in crafting elaborate civil structures to avoid the question.  It's one of those "settle it in a sentence moments" like a "render unto Caesar" scenario.  I think it sounds like this…me: "Hey, Jesus, what about homosexuality"?  Jesus: "Are they your Brothers and Sisters"?  Or, I could be horribly wrong and he kills me with a lightning bolt.   Dunno and ain't likely to find out the easy way.

I can't draw this to a witty conclusion or answer any questions for you but I will say this:  I keep an eye on the door, just in case.