Dan J. Brennan

Risk, Love, and Jesus

After a penetrating analysis of the story of the Good Samaritan, Bruxy Cavey writes:

"The way of Jesus is the way of risky love.  Religion is the way of safety, security, and shelter within the structure of rules, regulations, rituals, and routines.  Jesus and his earliest followers were relentless in pressing people to see two things.  First, loving people is the primary way we love God (see Matthew 25:31-46; John 14:15, 231, 23,; James 2:8-18; 1 John 4:20-21; 5:3; 2 John 6).  Second, this love of humankind must always take precedence over religious rutual or ethical obstacles (see Matthew 5:23-24; John 10:16; Galatians 3:28). 

Think for a moment on the scandalous implications of this story for our own day and way of living.  Even among Christ-followers I regularly find people that squirm, both intellectually and emotionally, to try to wiggle out of the clear closing injunction of Christ: 'Go and do the same.' 'But you have to be wise,' is a favorite comeback.  Well, wisdom, is good, but love is even better.  And Christ-followers are called to be, according to the standards of the world, 'foolish' (1 Corinthians 1:20-31; 4:10).  Real love is, from a purely human, self-serving perspective, irrational. 

God's disruptive hospitality and friendship

A couple of provoking thoughts from The Good Life: Genuine Christianity for the Middle Class

"Go to a church," writes David Matzko McCarthy, "as it prays and look around.  You will see it, the subversive friendship of God's hospitality.  You will see Pharisees congratulating themselves for their own righteousness.  You will see tax collectors and those who cheat on their income taxes.  You will see sinners.  You will see many saints, but you will also see adulterers, thieves, liars, petty embezzlers, and colossal hypocrites.  You will see elderly folk and kids who misbehave.  You will see the kind of people whom God has befriended.  This is no photo-op with the president.  It is not lunch with the CEO.  The church is not the kind of gathering that bodes well for running an efficient corporation or effective government.  It is not the kind of gathering that many think is most valuable for church growth or for the proper political or social mission of the church in the world.  However, it is precisely the kind of gathering that represents God's people.  This is Christ's body and the sign of God's offer of friendship to the world."