In 1967, in the days leading up to their bout, a boxer named Ernie Terrell decided to call Muhammad Ali by his previous name, Cassius Clay. This infuriated Ali and he promised before the fight that he would make Terrell pay for his disrespect and would make Terrell acknowledge his new name.The fight was 15 rounds of unrelenting punishment on Terrell. Most agree that Ali purposely refrained from knocking Terrell out just so he could continue the brutal torture. Terrell suffered a broken bone under his eye in the early rounds. Then his retina was damaged. He eventually was bleeding so badly that he could barely see the punches coming. And when he could see them, he’d flinch as Ali drew back his fists. Throughout the match Ali taunted Terrell, screaming at him, “What’s my name?!?! What’s my name?!?!?”
A couple of posts ago, there was some discussion about how Christianity in general and church programs in particular often feel a little, well…, wimpy, or sissy or…..feminized. Ellsworth verbalized something that had only been a vague feeling of discontent within me about some of our current “worship experiences.”
“We sing songs with flowery language about coming to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and about falling in love with Jesus. Fortunately, that’s not what Christianity is about. I have no interest in falling in love with Jesus. He is my sovereign king, not my wife. I’ve even heard some suggest that we need to ‘let Jesus make love to us.’ That’s a description that simply churns my stomach, and one that is found nowhere in Scripture.”
An interesting comparison, I think. Jesus as gentle lover vs. Jesus as warrior-king. Please don’t misunderstand me – I know that we are called the “bride of Christ” for a reason. But I think we have neglected relating to Christ in other ways. I’ve been singing love songs to Jesus for a long time. But I don’t even know how to begin singing a song to my warrior-king. What would we do differently if we were to approach Jesus like that every once in a while in our church services?
As I closed my post yesterday, I quoted Philippians 2:8. And then I thought of Ellsworth's post on wimpy Christianity. Then I tried to picture Jesus defending his name. When Satan is finally defeated, I don’t picture a quiet, gentle, compassionate Jesus kneeling down to Satan and wiping his brow, holding Satan in His arms and with tears rolling down His cheek whisper, “I wish you would have known my name.” Rather I picture Jesus standing over Satan, eyes blazing, and roaring victoriously for all to hear, “What’s my name?!?!”
I have no idea how accurate that picture is, frankly. But I know Jesus is my warrior-king and that as a man, there is something in me that yearns to follow that Jesus just as much as (if not more than) the one I sing love songs to.
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2 comments:
There must be balance. I agree that much of Christianity has turned Jesus into a bit of a nancy, and forgets he will one day be on a horse with a sword and a tat on his thigh, but in opposition to that Christians can become cold, and overly focused on the judging warrior king contending the faith and pouring out his wrath on all bad theology! I have seen both happen, i read guys who make Jesus almost a gay hippie and others who make him a bloodthirsty Hun out for sinner blood. God is both the great warrior-king and the great lover of our souls, the great fighter and peacemaker. We should awe him for being the warrior and take from his example of peacemaking.
Bryan
Good stuff, Bryan. Thanks!
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