If it's not all about men and male church leaders and what they think, feel, want and how they want to teach and direct the church, then who is it about?
Well, I'm pretty sure that if we look at the words of Jesus, we can get an inkling. There are tons of amazing examples. But I'll pull out this one because it gets straight to the heart of the matter.
Luke 10:30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
This story is not about religious leaders, except to expose their failures to represent God. As many church leaders today fail to take care of the vulnerable, broken, and wounded, so have these religious leaders failed to show God's heart toward the beaten and half-dead man on the road to Jericho.
Rather, this story is about a man who takes care of the broken, beaten, wounded and vulnerable. This is the story of what is important to God. Because it is all about the broken, wounded, and vulnerable and those who take care of them.
These are the kinds of things Jesus taught us. This is what is important. Years of men wringing their hands over what women and teen girls wear is a gross departure from what is important to God. It is a distraction away from what is near and dear to Him.
It's all about healing the broken hearted and binding up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). This is what God loves to do. And God loves those who join Him in this ministry.
2 comments:
Great post.
This reminds me a bit of growing up in a home where one parent sometimes drank too much. In the alcoholic family model one person(not the alcoholic)can become the scapegoat. Instead of focusing on the drinking and all the problems it causes--the scapegoat is blamed for all the disharmony in the family.
I feel like the excessive focus on modesty by some churches and preachers becomes a scapegoat for not addressing much bigger issues going on in our world today
Yes.
There is a lot of scapegoating going on in the church.
Sometimes men are scapegoated.
But, from where I stand, it seems like women get the lion share of the blame.
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