I have been writing and preaching a bit lately about performative religion – the kind that is done for show and not for good. The kind that the readings for Ash Wednesday advise against. The kind we see in the public eye every day. Part of what I think has led to this massive amount of performative religion is choosing some of the verses from the Apostle Paul over the bulk of the teachings of Jesus. Let me show you a couple of examples.
1 – Paul – Romans 10:9 – because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
2 – Jesus – Matthew 7: 21 – Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of God in heaven.
I’m not suggesting that Paul didn’t think people had to do good works – to believe that would negate most of the Gospel. For Jesus, though, what we do matters so much more than what we say. When asked by a rich young man what he needed to get into heaven, Jesus listed some of the commandments. When the guy said that he already did that, Jesus then pushed him, telling him to sell his stuff, give it away to the poor, and follow Him. The rich young man couldn’t do that – he had too much stuff to let go of it. In the passage that I believe is the central teaching of Jesus, He told His followers (Mt. 25) that their eternal destination – heaven or hell – depended on how they treated people who were poor, homeless, in prison, sick, etc. The kicker was that followers of Jesus have to treat struggling people as if they were Jesus, and if we don’t, we go to hell. Simple and pure and direct. How many people do you know who do this?
Words matter – they teach, they guide, and they define who we are and what we believe – but actions matter more. We can say we love God and our neighbor, but if we don’t follow through with how we live, we are liars and our faith is a performance, not a reality. How we treat the planet – how we vote – how we share what we have – all of this matters. I believe that God hears our words and sees our lives and then makes a judgment about us. I think that when Jesus said (Mt. 5:37), “Let your yes be yes and your no be no – anything more comes from the evil one”, He was challenging us to not allow nuance or loopholes to get in the way of saying and doing what is right. I think that all of us would benefit from a strict self-analysis of how we live and what we say. When others look at us, do they see someone whose words and actions align? Only we can make that happen for ourselves. Because all of us can change.
Prayer – Holy God, during this season of Lent, help us to be more generous and less judgmental, so that the world might be better and people might be helped. Amen.
Today’s art is “Giving Out Light” by Dina Chhan.