Cancelling Jesus

During Lent, I am leaning into the good news that, according to the Gospels, the only folks who Jesus comes close to canceling are those who use their power to cancel others. He calls King Herod a fox. He turns over the tables of the Temple bankers. He demands that the rich young ruler give away all his possessions. The text says that Jesus loved the rich man—so much so that he put up a boundary to his destructive behavior. Jesus wouldn’t allow him to join the movement until he stopped making his money off excluding and exploiting and evicting those Jesus called blessed: the meek, mourning, poor, persecuted and pure in heart. The very ones that many American churches are hell-bent on canceling. 

In candid conversations with his disciples, Jesus accurately predicted that a coalition of religious and political elites would use their power to cancel him on a cross. He also predicted that the powermongers would not have the final word, that his cancellation would only last three days, that he would rise up in the bodies of the unhoused, uninsured, unfed, unclothed, immigrant and imprisoned people of the world—and that whoever uses their power to cancel these precious people are actually canceling him. Hallelujah! Here’s to extending grace and mercy to the marginalized and to those in a process of healing. And here’s to keeping the real cancelers accountable. Apologies are good. Making amends is even better.

The Real Danger

As a follower of Jesus, I believe in “the Christmas spirit” of kindness, compassion, gentleness and generosity. I am also learning the limits of these virtues. I am not compelled by those who make the baby in the manger about practicing random acts of kindness or blanketing the world with a bland niceness. Jesus knew full well that just being nice, or just giving out charity, will not change the social, political and economic conditions that are killing people. In fact, if Jesus was just kind and compassionate—just nice to everyone no matter what—he would have lived a long life.

Instead, Jesus was kind and compassionate—and he took up the cross. He connected the dots and told the truth and suffered the consequences. Powerful elites conspired to kill Jesus because he spoke out against the policies and practices that powerful elites used to control the rest of the population. 2000 years after the manger, the real danger still arises from the agendas of powerful elites. They fund both political parties, major media outlets, most of our faith communities and more. If Jesus is the reason for the season, then I believe our best Christmas gift to the world is to unite against those who actively lie and deceive to create a world that only works for a few.