Sounding like an old person, I have to say that what is important lasts a long time, and what is just convenient, trendy, popular, etc, often just fades away into nothingness.
Back to Greek mythology and the story of Odysseus*, in The Odessey (yes, the voyaging concept is now named after him): a young man heads out to adventure and at great risk to himself and his ship full of men (probably all males!), and determinedly wants to hear the famed Sirens singing as he sails past. Yet, this 'siren song' is known to have been the cause of many shipwreck, and so he has a plan --- he will allow himself to be tied to the ship's mast in order to have restraint yet able to listen to the song, while the rest of the crew have their ears stopped with beeswax and can continue their focus and not be distracted from the task of sailing past the treacherous rocks.
Now, every metaphor or analogy has its limits, yet let's look at a few things like commitment, determination, and clear purpose:
Some time ago, I took the risk and flung myself on a hope --- that the promises of God through Jesus Christ the Son of God and only Saviour of the world --- are REAL, TRUE and POSSIBLE.
Which promises, I hear you ask, for there are many who say that Jesus promises us "health and wealth"?
I am thinking of the promises of God being with me through both sweet times and dark times (Psalm 23), and Jesus' promise to never leave us. For God in human flesh - Jesus - returned to heaven, and God the Holy Spirit came to earth.
I certainly reject both the extremes of caricatured Christianity --- it is not "pie in the sky when you die", nor is it "steak on a plate while you wait"!
I'm referring to the power and presence of Jesus in my life who works in, with and through me to take away my guilt (I'm a sinner!), to ease the pain of consequences of the troubles of life which I have both suffered as an innocent and been responsible for in other things (He is merciful and gracious), and to actually GIVE ME joy and peace and love as He helps transform me.
What did I have to "do" to get there? What's the secret?
No secret, no sales pitch, no quick-fix solution: this is an ongoing process of being honest, admitting sin and selfishness, and of continually surrendering to Jesus in big and small ways.
I let myself be tethered to the mast who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike Jason, that was not so I would hear an unknown song, but it is so that I stand firm as the beckoning crowd and the cultural song of my culture continues to deride and decry the Gospel as it views my strange choice.
For if talking about Greek myths and their application to 21st century people is not weird enough, I have repented of my sins and I am living out what it says in the Bible, specifically 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and 1 Peter, chapter 4. I was there, and I did that. And I don't any more.
Now, I am holding on to Jesus, and I am being held - I chose to let myself be tied to him.
I am bound to and sold out for Jesus... like a slave.
Paul - and the writer of 1 Peter - used this most offensive and shocking language: "slave of Christ Jesus", to show the absolute counter-cultural and extreme way of life that it was to become a Christian and to remain committed to Jesus.
Many may ask, how dare we privileged white people - such as I am - use such a laden vision in this post-colonial era? To speak of slaves is to speak of horror and of screams of children ripped from the arms and bellies of their parents, and to speak of black bodies ploughed with whips, as they - human beings - were treated less than human, and were used to plough fields for profit.
I don't know an answer to this awful truth. Slavery is wrong: it is a sin. And we are responsible for sin --- our own and the sins of others, and the effects as we see in systemic oppression and racism.
The slavery of the time of Jesus, and of Paul, was horrific. What is true is that it is offensive then, for Christianity was scoffed at for being a "religion of women, and of slaves".
Interestingly, Jesus said that he came to bring release to prisoners - to slaves - in Luke 4.
Is this literal? Spiritual? Delusional?
What I do know as I commit myself EVERY DAY to following Jesus is that I have been a slave to many blatant sins. I am probably one to things that I don't even recognise.
But I pray that this changes. And I work with Jesus to get that going as the Bible teaches me and guides me and shows me how to live.
So that I am becoming more and more like Jesus, who did not think it a terrible thing to come down to humanity's level and serve people just like a slave in Roman times used to do.
*edited 19 March 2022, after reading more about Odysseus (and his Odyssey) in Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood.
No comments:
Post a Comment