Call Me A Leper

"It all has to do with love of others, which is the purest expression of our love of God. If Jesus has a theology, it is a "theology of humanism' - we love God through love of the humanity made in his image."
-Addison Hodges Hart

For the past few weeks on the show, we have been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. It's the centerpiece of Jesus' teachings and lays the groundwork for the ethics that embody the kingdom of Heaven. At its core, this teaching is a call to self-examination in order to see if our personal ethics are congruent with God's kingdom.

As we recap the Sermon this week, we'll also lay it next to modern-day Christendom to see how they are antithetical to one another.

The ways of Jesus change our posture in how we engage with the world. We are called to be driven by love, compassion, and grace. We are called to love those cast out by religion and those that exist in the shadows of empire.

With modern-day Christianity looking more and more like a country club, the historical Jesus sends us to the margins to live, love, and have community. In his time, Christ aligned himself with those that were cast out: the lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners. Many of them made up his community.

Today, the church shames those in the shadows and margins. It's taught Christians to think being an asshole is also is akin to being holy. Christianity has lost the plot while running off on various culture-wars fueled by misogyny, racism, and bigotry. At its core, the faithful have become selfish, comfortable, and self-righteous. These are the very traits and aims that Christ calls out in the Sermon on the Mount.

I'd rather follow in the ways of Jesus and find myself in the company of the forgotten, the kicked-out, the shamed, the unloved, and the unwanted. It's here in these places that the seeds for the Kingdom of Heaven grow.

So call me a sinner. Call me a heretic. Call me a pagan. Call me a leper.

Those are the people that Jesus called friends.

We'll talk about all that and more snark!