Scripture: John 12:42-43 – “Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.” (NRVS)
Last week, I was looking at the work of a philosopher named René Girard, who looked at the way in which people do not always act based on their own reason or self-interest, but on their imitation of others. One consequence of this was what he called the “scapegoat” mechanism, whereby social cohesion is established by choosing a weak person or outsider and excluding them (or worse) from the group. We can see all of these at play in schools, where kids generally want things that “look cool”, that is that others have, and will expel people from cliques for these cliques to survive.
However, peer pressure is not just for children and teenagers. There is a lot of peer pressure on adults, the proverbial “keeping up with the Joneses.” And one of the groups that is often ostracized is Christians. At least in our neck of the woods, Christians are no longer the prominent social force. They are dismissed as superstitious, weird, and absolutely no fun. We are almost the definition of “not cool.” As a result, even when people agree that there is a greater power than themselves, even when they notice the emptiness in their souls, they cannot turn to the church because we are not cool.
This is nothing new. A recurring theme in the Gospel according to John is the idea that people reject Jesus because he is against the social norms. The Gospel says, “many… believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.” Jesus was the ultimately rejected outsider, and for many years, so were his followers.
It is our job to keep the faith. We need to find our “cool” again. Ultimately this will not happen with flashy, concert style music or a message that says that God approves of our greedy, self-indulgent, and divisive behavior. It is through being true to ourselves. After all the least cool thing is someone trying to be cool. When we are true to our faith in God and in each other, we can demonstrate God’s love in small ways, avoiding the hypocrisy of which others accuse us. Others may stumble in darkness, but we can be light, for them and for the world.
Prayer – God, help me to keep faith in your promises and let my little light shine. Amen.
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