Recently, as my wife and I pulled out of a local mall onto the main thoroughfare, a small group of people was on the sidewalk exercising their civil rights by expressing their displeasure with a noted politician through signs and chants. While I sympathized with the group’s point of view and am grateful for the freedom of assembly and free speech afforded to us in the United States, I was dismayed by their attitude and approach.
Though I couldn’t hear the chants well over the traffic noise, the signs the group held made their agenda and attitude crystal clear. Rather than slogans like “Make love, not war.” or “Down with this and up with that.”, their message was simply “F so and so.” While I believe there is a time for what today is commonly called “Real Talk,” I also think the manner of our talk and action matters. As we turned toward the freeway, I couldn’t help but think that rather than persuading people to their point of view, the group’s approach was more likely to harden the position of those who disagree with them, thus widening the gap between fellow citizens, rendering genuine dialogue and exchange of ideas all but obsolete. And highly partisan news outlets and our social media algorithms aggressively reinforce this division. As we focus on these venues, we become entrenched in our opinions (no matter how well or ill-considered they may be), convinced our position is right and that those with whom we disagree are not only wrong, but possibly or even likely evil.
This self-justifying, polarizing behavior is common across the political spectrum, across the array of social and economic issues and regardless of class, race, gender or other social categories. We are all guilty at some level of deifying our own convictions and demonizing those of our opponents. This is not to imply that all positions and actions are equal. Right and wrong, justice and injustice are vital realities for the life of any community and especially within the church. But again, how we go about addressing various issues and people and how we view ourselves and others in the conflict is crucial.
I’m convinced that fear is the primary driver of our divisions, fueling our anger and inflaming our attitudes and actions toward each other, leading to angry, self-righteous and vulgar posts and posters, ugly rhetoric and sometimes violent behavior. And to make matters worse, a disturbing amount of this regrettable behavior comes from people claiming to be followers of Jesus.
Unfortunately, vitriol and violence in the name of Jesus, or with the assumption that God is on our side, is nothing new throughout history. Fear of the other, fear of losing place or position, and an unexamined, often overinflated fear of divine retribution have driven people through the centuries to all manner of ridiculous and reprehensible behavior. The Crusades, the Inquisition and the Holocaust are just a few that come to mind just within the Christian tradition as extreme examples of fear-based and misplaced religious zeal used to demonize the other and to justify horrendous violence.
In stark contrast to our anxiety-ridden, fear-fueled and more often than not self-righteous approaches to our political and religious opponents, Jesus’ command to “love [our] enemies and pray for those who persecute [us]” seems fantastical and frustrating. Whether we place ourselves on the right, left, or somewhere in between, we consciously or subconsciously assume God is on our side, or at least that we hold the moral high ground; thus, our judgments are valid, and our harsh language and hurtful acts are warranted.
I’m obviously painting with a broad brush here and emphasizing the worst examples of political and religious destructive engagement. However, I believe it is important for each of us to examine our motivations and justifications for our attitudes and actions in the current cultural climate. As followers of Jesus, we need to take responsibility for underestimating our own faults and overinflating our neighbors' errors (real or imagined). Prayerful reflection on the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew would be instructive and healing.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:3–5, NIV).
And returning to my assertion that much of our negative energy and activity is fear-based, I find the words of the Apostle John helpful. It is worth quoting his words from 1 John chapter four at length.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister (1 John 4:16–21, NIV).
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” What a concept! When we come to believe in God’s gracious love for us in Christ and experience that love deeply by the presence of his Spirit within us, we are freed from fear and freed to love our neighbors near and far – whether by proximity or political position. While we still have the log of self-righteousness in our eyes, we fear being exposed as frauds and focus on the specks of sin in the eyes of others. When we acknowledge our own sin and joyfully receive God’s forgiveness, we can then view others with grace and learn to speak the truth in love when necessary.
This is not easy, and we will all fail at times and need to seek forgiveness from each other. But we will grow out of fear and up into love by pursuing Jesus and his way more purposefully, opening ourselves up to the power and presence of his Spirit. As we do this, and as we studied for several weeks on Sunday mornings, we will begin to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, which is contrary to the works of the flesh and the angry, fear-fraught ways of the worldi. And together we will learn to worship and work together more and more in the name and way of Jesus for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors near and far – even and especially the ones that we’d rather shout obscenities at.
—Pastor Scott
iGalatians 5:19-23