Christianity began as a movement born in fire, blood, and rebellion, but over the years it’s become more about sentimentality, religiosity, and conformity. Men used to give their lives for the Church; these days, most men are hard-pressed to sacrifice their Sunday mornings. Church is just one more passive thing for people to sit through. One more meeting. One more gold star for good behavior.
When I think about how this domesticated Christianity has left so many of us feeling unmoved and uninspired, a few questions come to mind.
What if Christians were never meant to be polite?
What if the Church was never meant to be passive?
What if faith should compel us to live beyond our sanctuaries and “safe spaces”?
What if the Church was never meant to be passive?
What if faith should compel us to live beyond our sanctuaries and “safe spaces”?
Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, a Christian scholar and author, once said, “Sentimentality, not atheism, is the deepest enemy of the Christian faith,” and he defined sentimentality as “excessive tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia.” Hauerwas’ point was that too many Christians get far too emotional about far too many of the wrong things, such as when the kids’ ministry gets too loud, or cherished traditions aren’t properly observed, or when a preacher says something biblical that offends me, and I get upset – not because I’m living out of step with Scripture, but because the preacher hurt my feelings. That’s a presenting symptom of sentimentalized Christianity.
That’s why very few churches teach about Hell anymore – because a sentimental God would never send anyone to Hell, or so the thinking goes. God loves us so much that He’s basically a giant teddy bear in the sky, waiting to cuddle with anyone and everyone. This kind of sentimentality is well-intentioned, but it lacks a biblical understanding of God’s wrath.
When we sentimentalize the Church, we tend to sentimentalize everything else that matters, too: God, Satan, the angels, even Jesus. But the heavenly realm is not the stuff of nursery rhymes. Jesus, for example, was not the syrupy type. The more I study his life, the more I’m convinced he was a savage. Grown men were afraid of him, as we can see in Mark 11 –
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; And…the chief priests and the scribes…were afraid of him… – Mark 11:15-18
There’s nothing sugary or overly sentimental about Jesus. He was wild, intimidating, and on a mission. But we’ve softened him over the years. Let’s look at how we’ve watered down his most famous message, The Sermon on the Mount.
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you. – Matthew 5:38-42
Christians read these words and hear sweet platitudes. Many have interpreted these teachings as a glorified doormat philosophy, as if Jesus was saying, “Take your beating. Be submissive. Be cowardly. And above all, be nice.” But that’s not even close to what Jesus meant when he said “Turn the other cheek,” “Give the shirt off your back,” and “Go the extra mile.”
It’s important to know Jesus’ audience. They were poor Jews, mostly men, living under Roman military occupation, who were constantly facing threats of violence and abuse, be it financial, physical, or sexual abuse. The Roman army wasn’t known for its gentle benevolence toward non-citizens.
When Jesus said “When they slap you on your right cheek,” he was being very specific in speaking into his people’s pain. Those were guys who’d been slapped around, and by saying, “When they slap you on the right cheek,” he referred to a certain kind of slap. In those days, a man typically hit another man with his right hand. So if someone hit you on the right cheek, it wasn’t a proper punch; it had to be a backhanded slap (you can try this in the mirror or face-to-face with a roommate [but don’t hit them, just pretend!]). This kind of slap wasn’t merely meant to hurt, but to humiliate. You don’t slap someone with the backside of your hand to damage a person; you do it to degrade them.
So when Jesus said, “…show them the left cheek,” he was anything but sentimental. To turn the other cheek was to say, “Hit me with your fist, like an equal, like a man.” Jesus was empowering men and women who’d been dehumanized to assert their humanity. More specifically, he inspired men to assert their God-given masculinity in the face of a system that emasculated them.
The second teaching is even better than the first. “Give them your coat, too” wasn’t Jesus’ advice on how to be a nicer neighbor; it was about poor people who were being carted off to debtors’ court by the Roman and Jewish elites. The deck was stacked against the poor back then, as poor families were essentially forced to go into debt to feed their families, and once they found themselves in debt, it was almost impossible to get out. It was a fairly common occurrence for peasants to end up in court, and they would either lose everything or wind up as debt slaves or in debtors’ prison.
There were only two garments a man wore in public. An outer garment that was like a robe, and an undergarment that was like long pajamas. When Jesus said, “If they sue you in court and take one of your garments, give them the other one, too,” he was telling the men to get naked in the Roman courthouse. This teaching was more about comedy than charity. The men in his audience must have been hysterical with laughter as they listened to Jesus telling them to strip down to their birthday suit at their next court date. It’s also important to note that, in ancient Jewish culture, to be naked in front of strangers was a way of shaming them. With this teaching, Jesus told his followers to humiliate the men who’d been humiliating them.
Finally we have the phrase, “When they force you to go one mile, go with them two,” which we have sentimentalized to mean, “Good Christians go the extra mile.” But when Jesus said this, he was referring to Roman soldiers who, by law, could require non-citizens (like the men in Jesus’ congregation) to carry their military supplies for about a mile, but no more. Military personnel who forced a civilian to carry their supplies for more than a mile could be punished by the Centurion.
So when Jesus said, “Go the second mile, too,” it wasn’t about being nice, but about fighting back. You have to imagine the scene: a Roman soldier and his civilian servant have walked the requisite mile. The soldier reaches for his supply pack, but the Jewish man says, “You know what? I’m good. Let’s keep going,” and he picks up the pace. Now the soldier, who typically had all the power, was on his heels, wondering what was going to happen and whether he’d get in trouble. Can you imagine the Roman soldier, dressed to the hilt in shiny armor, two steps behind the grinning Jewish peasant, begging for his stuff back? It’s an outrageous scene, and I promise you, it hit home with Jesus’ listeners.
All three of these teachings involve fighting back without violence. Jesus told men who’d been beaten down to stand up and not to cower, to refuse to be anyone’s victim, and to assert their humanity.
Jesus didn’t come to domesticate us; He came to liberate us. And to mobilize us toward a more meaningful existence. So how will you stand up and assert your humanity? Who will you protect? What systems of injustice will you subvert? What corruption will you shame? The Kingdom of God doesn’t need a Church where cookie-cutter Christians learn to be good little boys and girls; the Kingdom of God empowers men and women to stand firm in the face of evil.
