by David Dixon
In his time on this earth, Jesus had a knack for speaking to issues that were much deeper than what seemed obvious on the surface. He often did this by juxtaposing the values of the Kingdom of God with the values of the current culture. As he did this it would often move people to question and response as to which value was the true value for life.
Take Luke 10:25-37 for example. In his exchange with a lawyer, known for the parable of the good Samaritan, the initial questions go back and forth about what must be done to inherit eternal life and the law. It’s a fairly straightforward conversation as presented by Luke, until the lawyer asks the question, “Who is my neighbor?”
In response to this question, Jesus could have given a definition and left it at that. He could have confronted the man for “putting him to the test” in a tactic similar to how politicians dodge a question. He could even have quoted more scripture to throw back in the man’s face. Instead what we see happen is that Jesus takes the opportunity to demonstrate the stark difference between the values of the culture and the values of the Kingdom.
As he tells the story of the good Samaritan, the goal is not simply to talk about loving others or being kind to strangers. While these are values that come through, Jesus speaks more deeply into some of the key cultural issues of the day. In his story, both the priest and the Levite, who were supposed to be the religious and moral leaders of the day, pass the injured man by. Jesus did not include these people in his story by accident. By including them in his parable, he is exposing the hypocrisy and pride of the current Jewish culture of religion. Without even having to say it in explicit terms, he is showing that they Kingdom of God is different than what the current worship of God was portrayed to be those religious leaders. He is both challenging the cultural values and inviting people into the deeper and richer life of the Gospel.
The same is true of Jesus’ inclusion of the Samaritan. Jesus could have chosen a variety of people groups to be represented in his story. He could have chosen everything from Romans, Greeks, barbarians, or criminals, but instead he chooses to place a Samaritan in his story. Why? Because he knew (and likely saw firsthand) of the racial prejudice that was present between the Jews and Samaritans in that day. He knew that they weren’t truly carrying out the law of loving their neighbor because of the hatred in their hearts for the Samaritan people.
By including the Sarmatian he exposes the gap between the values of the Kingdom with the cultural values of the day. You see this in his closing question to the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be the neighbor?” The lawyer is left to respond, “The one who showed mercy.”
Jesus was so good as demonstrating how the truths of God impacted the culture around him. There are many examples like this one where Jesus teaches or has a conversation and he speaks so poignantly to the culture of his day that it reverberates into many of the issues of our day as well. It is easy to be in awe of Jesus in these moments because he seems to do it so effortlessly.
It’s even easier to think that that kind of skill is relegated to Jesus or maybe even to those that are really smart, but the reality is that that isn’t true. The words of Paul in Romans 12:2 remind us that as living sacrifices being offered in holy worship to God we are to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God.” As a part of our worship, we are to test the thinking we have and that which we see in the world around us to the words of Jesus. In essence, we are to expose our thinking to the transforming power of the Gospel and allow it to reveal the cultural lies and false values that we cling to.
We are to be a people that seek to understand the Gospel and our culture and speak the truth of God into the world around us. It is a part of that maturing process that takes place in the life of the believer. We may never get to be as good at speaking truth into the culture as Jesus, but it is something that we can grow in as we work together with the Spirit of God to test and discern the values of the world around us.
This is the heart behind why we are launching a new proclamation development track in 2021 called “The Gospel and Culture.” We want to grow as communicators of the Gospel. Whether we are in a pulpit every week or we are trying to share the Gospel with our family and friends, we all need to grow in the skill of speaking the life transforming truths of Jesus into the everyday stuff of life.
One way to grow in that is study the culture and practice comparing the values of the culture today to the truths of Jesus. It can be difficult to do especially as you get to harder or more controversial subjects. But in today, just like in Jesus’ day, people need to see how and why the truth and grace of God is even better than what they can imagine.
If you have interest in joining “The Gospel and Culture” track, please reach out to me. I would love to talk with you more about it. We will be asking for a commitment by the end of November. If you’d like more information about the track, please visit www.epdalliance.org/develop.