This Jesus-Thing is Malarky
Not sure if you’ve seen the FX comedy Louie. In a recent episode simply titled God, standup comic Louis C.K. shared his theology declaring, “if there really is a God, he’s an ***hole,” and that God is like a “sh*tty girlfriend.” (Actually feel a little uncomfortable putting that in my blog, but sometimes it’s good to be reminded that not everyone knows the God we love.) In a flashback to his boyhood days in Catholic school, Louie asks his mother about Jesus and his death on the cross. Louie’s mom responds that Jesus was “a really, really nice guy who lived a long time ago and told everyone to love each other,” but the resurrection, “The whole thing is a bunch of malarkey.” Listen to the clip below…
This weekend at Calvary as we make our way through Mark’s Gospel, we are asking the question, “Why do people reject Jesus?” I’m going to explore a handful of reasons, but one sentence in Mark 12 has really grabbed my heart. In Mark 12:24, Jesus says, “Your mistake is that you do not know the scriptures and you do not know the power of God.” Interesting thing… He made that comment to religious leaders. But they didn’t really know God’s words, and they had never really experienced God’s power.
I’m really not all that upset with Louie. His heart hasn’t been touched by the Gospel of Jesus. But I’m just wondering how many of us “religious people” don’t really know the scriptures — the voice of God? How many of us religious people have never really experienced the power of God? AND… how often is it our actions that cause the Louies of the world to have a bad impression of God?
As we — those of you here at Calvary — go out prayer-walking, go not just with your prayers, but go with the heart of Jesus. Before you go ask Jesus to let you feel just a touch of his love for the people you walk past. Ask Jesus to help us know when prayer is not enough, because we need to be the answer to someone’s prayer. Ask Jesus to pour out his love, his power, and to open up his words to the community around us, so that the Louies of the world want to know the God we love.