False love
This week is on Luke 7:31-35:
I taught on this one in church on Sunday but I figured I'd use it again for the online study. I was thinking about these verses. Jesus is ripping on the Pharisees and comparing them to arrogant children. Most people have seen kids like that. They're always the villains in kids movies, the cool kids who insist that everyone go along with what they're doing, and try to shut down anything anyone else is doing. They're a clique and the clique wants to call the shots.
They say "We played the pipe for you, and you didn't dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not cry." In other words, "Why aren't you playing along? How dare you not dance to our tune! If you want to be a part, you'd better dance when we say." These kids aren't content to offer the other kids an opportunity to join them. They want to control them.
When I was reading the verses, a quote from the movie Idiocracy popped into my head: "A pimp's love is very different from that of a square." In a way, it's talking about the same thing. A pimp doesn't love the same way that we love. The pimp has a business to run. He wants girls and he wants money. If he loses control of his girls, he loses his paycheck and his fun. They aren't free the way that a girl in a normal relationship would be free. They belong to the pimp the way a cow belongs to a farmer.
If one of those girls decided to work in a different profession or fell in love with a guy and wanted to date him, the pimp wouldn't wish her the best. He'd beat her, or kidnap her, or shut her down. He's got a business to run, and that business depends on power, which rides on control. The pimp describes it as love, because that's the lie that keeps it all together, but it's not love. At least not love for anyone but himself.
The Pharisees were like pimps, not just because of their lavish clothing, but because they wanted power. They wanted total control and wielded it in place of love. Instead of loving God, they stood in his place and misrepresented him. Instead of loving the people who looked up to them and who they were supposed to care for, they made thousands of rules and enforced them. It wasn't about doing God's will, it was about making sure everyone else did theirs, so they could keep getting paid.
Their power rested on making sure everyone else felt inadequate. Nothing was every good enough. They thought John the Baptist, the greatest prophet of their generation, was demonized because he didn't play by their rules. They thought Jesus, the Son of God, was a drunkard and a glutton, because he didn't play by them either. If the people praised someone else, or acknowledged a truth other than what they preached, it might diminish their power. John was "doing his own thing," and Jesus was "in rebellion."
You can see it if you look through the stories in the Bible involving Pharisees and ask yourself "Is this love, or is it control?" Is ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry’ a cry of love, or is it a desperate attempt to manipulate someone into playing a game they don't want to play? Is the Pharisees telling Nicodemus to avoid Jesus because of the inconvenient truths he spoke about organized religion an act of love, or an attempt to control? Are the attempts to trick Jesus in public and trip him up a loving outreach, or a kind of witchcraft meant to control the narrative? When they tried to manipulate Pontius Pilate into executing him, was that a compassionate act of euthanasia or a final act of control?
The love of a Pharisee is very different from that of Jesus. The Pharisee has a business to run. He only cares about being admired and getting paid. If he doesn't control the people, he could lose those very things. What better way to control them than to keep them busy at all times. Fill the week with meetings. Put people to work on building projects and works of benevolence branded with their logo. Get them in counseling, and mentorship programs, cleaning toilets and chasing down new recruits. Keep asking for money so they have to keep working to give. The pipes were not the only thing getting played.
The one thing that seemed to make Jesus angry during his time on earth was the crushing burden of organized religion. The religious leaders acted like they loved, but they just wanted power. They gave so that people could see how generous they were, not because they wanted to meet a need. They had parties, not because they wanted people to have fun, but so they could build their inner circle. They begged for money, not because they were poor, but because they wanted to be rich.
Jesus was about love. He even loved the Pharisees. He didn't tell people not to go to synagogue or to avoid them in the marketplaces. He didn't throw them out of his gatherings or refuse to attend theirs. Those sorts of things are what people do when they want to consolidate power. Jesus wasn't interested in control. He was there to love.
It's easy for us to rail on the Pharisees as if they are someone else, but what if they're us? How much of the things we do in the name of church are really about love, and how many are just meant to keep getting what we want? Are we sometimes in it to be praised? Do we hope for a full time staff position? Are we charitable to feel like good people? Do we look down on other denominations because their worship is different or they dress differently? Do we defend our church even when it's wrong? Those are things that defined the Pharisees in Jesus' eyes. They were the "cool kids" who were in it for themselves. It was "their" church, not God's. For all the fanfare they had for Jesus, ultimately he wasn't welcome. They crucified him.
How do we know whether we're the Pharisees? The sad thing is that even when Jesus was telling some of them to their faces they still didn't get it. Are we so much smarter? It boils down to whether our love is the false love of a pimp or the true love of Jesus. Do we love God, or do we turn on him when he doesn't serve us or do as we ask? Do we love our fellow Christians, or do we just love our faith and how they accessorize with it? If one of our brother left our church, would we still be friends? Religion or relationship? False love, or true?
Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
I taught on this one in church on Sunday but I figured I'd use it again for the online study. I was thinking about these verses. Jesus is ripping on the Pharisees and comparing them to arrogant children. Most people have seen kids like that. They're always the villains in kids movies, the cool kids who insist that everyone go along with what they're doing, and try to shut down anything anyone else is doing. They're a clique and the clique wants to call the shots.
They say "We played the pipe for you, and you didn't dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not cry." In other words, "Why aren't you playing along? How dare you not dance to our tune! If you want to be a part, you'd better dance when we say." These kids aren't content to offer the other kids an opportunity to join them. They want to control them.
When I was reading the verses, a quote from the movie Idiocracy popped into my head: "A pimp's love is very different from that of a square." In a way, it's talking about the same thing. A pimp doesn't love the same way that we love. The pimp has a business to run. He wants girls and he wants money. If he loses control of his girls, he loses his paycheck and his fun. They aren't free the way that a girl in a normal relationship would be free. They belong to the pimp the way a cow belongs to a farmer.
If one of those girls decided to work in a different profession or fell in love with a guy and wanted to date him, the pimp wouldn't wish her the best. He'd beat her, or kidnap her, or shut her down. He's got a business to run, and that business depends on power, which rides on control. The pimp describes it as love, because that's the lie that keeps it all together, but it's not love. At least not love for anyone but himself.
The Pharisees were like pimps, not just because of their lavish clothing, but because they wanted power. They wanted total control and wielded it in place of love. Instead of loving God, they stood in his place and misrepresented him. Instead of loving the people who looked up to them and who they were supposed to care for, they made thousands of rules and enforced them. It wasn't about doing God's will, it was about making sure everyone else did theirs, so they could keep getting paid.
Their power rested on making sure everyone else felt inadequate. Nothing was every good enough. They thought John the Baptist, the greatest prophet of their generation, was demonized because he didn't play by their rules. They thought Jesus, the Son of God, was a drunkard and a glutton, because he didn't play by them either. If the people praised someone else, or acknowledged a truth other than what they preached, it might diminish their power. John was "doing his own thing," and Jesus was "in rebellion."
You can see it if you look through the stories in the Bible involving Pharisees and ask yourself "Is this love, or is it control?" Is ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry’ a cry of love, or is it a desperate attempt to manipulate someone into playing a game they don't want to play? Is the Pharisees telling Nicodemus to avoid Jesus because of the inconvenient truths he spoke about organized religion an act of love, or an attempt to control? Are the attempts to trick Jesus in public and trip him up a loving outreach, or a kind of witchcraft meant to control the narrative? When they tried to manipulate Pontius Pilate into executing him, was that a compassionate act of euthanasia or a final act of control?
The love of a Pharisee is very different from that of Jesus. The Pharisee has a business to run. He only cares about being admired and getting paid. If he doesn't control the people, he could lose those very things. What better way to control them than to keep them busy at all times. Fill the week with meetings. Put people to work on building projects and works of benevolence branded with their logo. Get them in counseling, and mentorship programs, cleaning toilets and chasing down new recruits. Keep asking for money so they have to keep working to give. The pipes were not the only thing getting played.
The one thing that seemed to make Jesus angry during his time on earth was the crushing burden of organized religion. The religious leaders acted like they loved, but they just wanted power. They gave so that people could see how generous they were, not because they wanted to meet a need. They had parties, not because they wanted people to have fun, but so they could build their inner circle. They begged for money, not because they were poor, but because they wanted to be rich.
Jesus was about love. He even loved the Pharisees. He didn't tell people not to go to synagogue or to avoid them in the marketplaces. He didn't throw them out of his gatherings or refuse to attend theirs. Those sorts of things are what people do when they want to consolidate power. Jesus wasn't interested in control. He was there to love.
It's easy for us to rail on the Pharisees as if they are someone else, but what if they're us? How much of the things we do in the name of church are really about love, and how many are just meant to keep getting what we want? Are we sometimes in it to be praised? Do we hope for a full time staff position? Are we charitable to feel like good people? Do we look down on other denominations because their worship is different or they dress differently? Do we defend our church even when it's wrong? Those are things that defined the Pharisees in Jesus' eyes. They were the "cool kids" who were in it for themselves. It was "their" church, not God's. For all the fanfare they had for Jesus, ultimately he wasn't welcome. They crucified him.
How do we know whether we're the Pharisees? The sad thing is that even when Jesus was telling some of them to their faces they still didn't get it. Are we so much smarter? It boils down to whether our love is the false love of a pimp or the true love of Jesus. Do we love God, or do we turn on him when he doesn't serve us or do as we ask? Do we love our fellow Christians, or do we just love our faith and how they accessorize with it? If one of our brother left our church, would we still be friends? Religion or relationship? False love, or true?
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