A doctor has made a thorough examination of an elderly man, and he sends him out to the waiting room so he can talk with the wife. He explains to her, “Your husband’s condition is very serious and delicate. You will have to wait on him every day. Carefully prepared healthy meals, served in bed when necessary. Help him to the bathroom, bathe him, whatever he needs. Reduce stress, no nagging. No housework. Set him up a comfortable spot on the couch. Make sure he always has a drink and a snack at hand. Otherwise, well, he might not make it.” She returns to her husband and leads him out to the car. The husband is anxious. “Well, what did the doctor say?!” “He says you’re gonna die.”
Some of you may feel that way when you read the Bible. “I’m supposed to do all that?!”
Jesus is generally thought of as a great moral teacher, but I have heard that questioned on occasion. For example, Jesus said, “Do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also” (Matthew 5:39). Really?! Does Jesus want us to be target practice for bullies? Won’t that just enable and embolden them? And on a society scale, if America is attacked are we not supposed to defend ourselves? Otherwise evil will win. A real sore point for some people is that Jesus never condemned slavery, which was a common institution in his day (e.g., Matthew 10:24, 24:46, etc.). Apologists sometimes rationalize this by explaining that slavery was not that bad in the Roman Empire; it was more like indentured servitude. Yet a truly wise prophet would have anticipated the horrors of slavery in centuries to come and spoken out against it, instead of allowing his own words to be used in defense of slavery. Right? And a real sticking point here in affluent America is that Jesus said “none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33). Now what sense does that make?! Won’t that just make all disciples poor and in need? How then are they supposed to help others?
The British author D. H. Lawrence’s final book was about the Book of Revelation and he makes an interesting contention.[1] In Revelation the Christian martyrs are calling for God’s vengeance on their enemies (Revelation 6:10), which seems contrary to the teaching of Jesus to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (I don’t think he meant pray for their punishment!) (Matthew 5:44). Why this change in tone from the time of Jesus to the late 1st Century? Lawrence contended that it was a result of the Christians’ frustration with the impractical teachings of Jesus. The saints had faithfully gone the route of non-violence, passivity and asceticism, and all it got them was hardship, persecution and death. Lawrence thought the problem was that Jesus’ teachings might work on an individual level, but not on a societal level. The Christian society built on the teachings of Jesus simply did not work. No wonder the saints were so disheartened and even vengeful.
I would instead like to suggest that Jesus’ teachings were based on sound moral principles, but his time frame was wrong. His teachings are appropriate when the end of the world is at hand, but are problematic if not.
Jesus tells us the context of his teaching right from the outset of his ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel [good news]” (Mark 1:15). Jesus, following the lead of John the Baptizer, preached that the end of the age was at hand and the kingdom of God was imminent. The focus of his teaching therefore was to prepare people for the kingdom of God, not to overthrow or reform the Roman Empire or human society in general. In the kingdom of God all will be set right. True justice will reign. The wealthy and powerful will no longer prey on the poor and the weak. The mighty will be brought down and the meek raised up. Hunger, sickness, poverty – even death will be done away with. That is why one could accept a slap in the face, or if forced to carry a load one mile, carry it two. These are temporary injustices, but those who live for God’s kingdom will soon experience an eternal righteous existence. Slavery is a non-issue because it will not exist in God’s kingdom. Possessions do not matter because in God’s kingdom He will provide all you need. And the end of the age is coming soon – you will live to see it! (e.g., Mark 13:30, 14:62) There is no long-term society or distant future to worry about; trust yourselves to God’s providence, just around the corner.
The problem, of course, is that the end did not come. Jesus and his generation passed. The next generation passed. Still no kingdom of God. Devout Christians who seriously implemented Jesus’ teachings in their lives were suffering. You see a suggestion of this in 2nd Peter 3:4 as some complained, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” The martyrs in Revelation cry out, ““How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” The problem was not the scope of Jesus’ teachings, individual vs. societal, as Lawrence thought, but rather the temporal aspect: they work when the kingdom of God is at hand, but break down when applied over the long term.
Does that render Jesus’ teaching useless? I don’t think so. Albert Einstein may have been wrong about the Cosmological Constant and Charles Darwin did not get all the details of evolution correct but that does not render all of their excellent work irrelevant. I think the principles on which Jesus’ teachings were based are still sound, but they can’t be applied mindlessly, because the odds are that the end is not coming in your lifetime. Every generation since Jesus thought they were the last, and every generation has been wrong! The base principles are good, but they don’t work in the extreme unless the end is truly at hand.
I have heard people criticize this teaching:
“I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into Gehenna.”
Matthew 5:28-30
Gouge out your eye? Cut off your hand? Is this guy nuts or psycho? I think this is actually a brilliant teaching that is needed today. Some conservative religious sects, both Christian and Muslim, practice victim blaming in matters like rape, sometimes killing the female victim rather than the male perpetrator. “It’s the woman’s fault for dressing that way, or going without an escort. She enticed him!” Jesus says otherwise. “If it is what you see with your eye that is causing you to sin, then pluck it out. Go ahead, I dare you. If someone left her purse sitting there and you couldn’t resist taking it, then cut off your hand. Go ahead – I’ll wait.” I think faced with this prospect people will admit the problem is not what we see or what we can take, it is our selfish and corrupt way of thinking that is the real problem. Whether it be murder, hate, lust or stealing he puts the responsibility on the individual for one’s thoughts, words and actions. You can’t blame the other person for inciting you. I think that’s a good and needed teaching.
Related to that, I have heard people then criticize Jesus for enforcing “thought crimes.” Jesus does not tell society to ferret out people who might be lusting or hating or coveting. He is calling on each individual to look inside and examine one’s desires and motives. Sexual attraction is a necessary part of biology, but lust can turn it into selfish desire that uses another person for taking pleasure rather than giving pleasure. Anger has a place in our lives, but if it turns to hate and then hurtful actions we all suffer: the hater and the hated. Ambition has a place in life, but when it causes us to take advantage of, cheat, steal or otherwise accumulate at the expense of others, that’s a problem. It is not about thought crimes, but thoughts can lead to wrong actions, and I think Jesus was right for calling us to look within to examine and evaluate our thoughts.
What about turning the other cheek? Just give in to bullies? No, but look to the core principle, that reconciliation is better than retaliation. How much less violent and distressed the world would be if people and nations would abide by this principle. We may always need police and the military to maintain order, but how much better might the world be if we could move beyond hatred of enemies to actually care about them as fellow humans in a world we share together? (See Matthew 5:44)
What about giving away all of your possessions? Yes, this seems unrealistic if the world is not about to end, but the root principle is sound. A common teaching in religion and philosophy is that material possessions do not provide true happiness (they just make misery more comfortable!). America is the most affluent nation but if you go to the most affluent areas in America you will still find psychiatrists with full schedules. Today’s news and social media keep us well informed of those rich and famous people who are miserable, even to the point of suicide. Jesus was right about the hollowness and dangers of self-centered materialism; it’s just that his timing was wrong and it led him to an unsustainable conclusion.
Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan. Am I supposed to stop and help every person in distress, even spending my hard-earned money on them? You may not be in position to help in every situation but surely you can help in some. Won’t the world be a better place if we at least make the effort? It saddens me to think of people who spend hours in church each week, plopping their money into the collection plates and then claim they don’t have the time and money to help others. What would Jesus have us do?
Life is full of challenging questions. How much should I give to help others? How many times should I turn the other cheek? How often should I forgive this person who has repeatedly done wrong? Where is the balance between not worrying about the future and responsible preparations for it? There are no pat answers, but we benefit from pondering the questions and proceeding accordingly.
If you take Jesus’ teachings out of his context (the end is coming!) and mindlessly try to implement them I do not doubt that you may find yourself frustrated and disheartened – and poor and beat up! Life is too complex to break it down into simple laws for living. One disadvantage to us is that we have some of the recorded teachings of Jesus, but we do not get to hear all the side discussions Jesus had with people about these things. “Jesus, do you really want us to pluck out our eyes?” “Master, are we really to let people abuse us repeatedly?” So, it is up to us to take the time to read, think, discuss and even argue (with yourself or others). I think Jesus’ teachings have much value for those who ponder them. And even if we find a teaching of Jesus that is hard to swallow I suspect the process of reasoning through it will still have a positive impact on our understanding of how best to live, as individuals and as a society.
(Please comments and questions below!)
Thinking exercises:
1. Is there any particular teaching of Jesus that you believe is either wrong, or that you would simply prefer to ignore? Is there a kernel of truth in that teaching that you should consider?
2. Political philosopher Karl Marx claimed that “religion is the opium of the people,” because religion can cause people to dream of a better after-life rather than working for a better life now. Do you think the teachings of Jesus make one more likely or less likely to work for positive changes in society? Support your answer with an example.
3. Why do you think Jesus did not address slavery or many other societal problems? Does this affect your perception of Jesus in any way?
[1] Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelation was first published posthumously in 1931.