Quick Theology

I had a friend who we used to kid that he had a "bumper sticker theology." What we meant was that he liked quick sound-byte type statements to summarize theology. At times he was probably mocked for being too simplistic.

Well, I should probably make amends to him. I have discovered that much too often we make things much too difficult. Of course part of the problem as I have said here before is that theology is twice removed from the spiritual experience it is trying to explain and therefore is naturally wordy. But I have found that putting an idea on a bumper sticker forces you to get down to the bare basics.

But I'm not here to argue the pros and cons of quick, terse statements. All this is simply an introduction to one of those quick, terse statements that hits you over the head and makes you sit up and pay attention. Hence, the bumper sticker I saw the other day:

Faith is a journey
Not a guilt trip

(Stop. I don't want to hear any "yes, but..." anti-bumper sticker comments. Hang in there.)

With that stuck to our bumpers, then, let's read the beginning of the Gospel lesson for today:

Matthew 9: 9 - 13 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Let me propose that this statement of Jesus is about a journey of grace and mercy rather than leading someone into guilt. I would probably also make the guess that most of what Jesus says and teaches (not to mention what he does) is anything but guilt inducing under 95% of all circumstances. So I react with sadness that people think that we have been given a task of making people feel guilty, something Jesus himself didn't do.

And the answer is probably in our human weakness (even sinfulness) that wants to be better than someone else, that wants to believe that we have answers that no one else has, that wants to act in a way that shows what we are saying. Instead of a humility that recognizes that we are in this human race together and some of us get into trouble in different ways, we try to life ourselves higher as the arbiter of what is right and what is wrong.

Show mercy- and we will do what Jesus wants. With that we can't go wrong.