2:76 – Snarky Parents, Snarky Jesus

#faithbites #faithjourney snarky

I don’t know about you, but I like to make my own choices. I like to try new things and go out and get them done. Sometimes, ok more than I would like to admit, those things may end badly for me or just not turn out the way I thought they would. As a child, there was many a “Solomon David Lieb” shouted in my house, and you know that wasn’t good. When I first got engaged to my wife, I equated her to the myth of Icarus. Whereas I would try to fly to close to the sun and melt my wings, but she would pull me back before that happened. At the time, I hated it. I was being controlled by someone and I didn’t see their rationale. I felt my parents and my fiance were being snarky at the time. Because I didn’t understood they were doing what was best for me.

The week’s sermon was very much like that. We see Jesus and the prophets being “snarky” when they are doing God’s work. They are preaching what God wants them to preach, but others see it as snarky, blasphemous, or wrong. Even though Jesus and the prophets just want what is best for them.

Scripture

• He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! – Luke 13:31-35
• When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” – John 2:13-16

Reflection

When we think of Jesus, we think of love, no sin, pure, healing, and forgiveness. We try to emulate that. As we see in the Luke verses, he is telling them he will do God’s work and they can threaten him with death or whatever. In our parlance “Bring it On”. In the John verses, he is throwing around tables and such to show how much people have disgraced his father’s house. This isn’t the calm, child, 1970’s Michael Landon Highway to Heaven Jesus we know. He also isn’t being mean or rude or destructive or snarky just to do it. Jesus is being forthright and strong to make sure he can deliver God’s message.

As people who emulate Jesus, we need to be like that as well. We shouldn’t be hateful, mean, or forceful, but rather be assertive and strong when we need to be. Jesus, is very rarely, what we would call “snarky”, only when necessary. As servants of Christ, we need to know how to tailor our approach to the world based on who we are dealing with and how our words will be accepted or not. Sometimes walking away is the best, while other times, a little snark may be ok if we are following the will of God as a parent protects their children even if they don’t like it.

Charge

Remember that Jesus was/is a complex person. He is God afterall. Just like him, we need to be flexible in our approaches. We need not to back down, but make sure that we are sharing God’s word in the way it is best understood. Sometimes, that may be seen as snarky, but that should be the rarity and not the norm. Just ask the Lord for guidance.

Prayer

Gracious God, thank you for providing us with your Son, Jesus. The more we learn about him, the more we can be like him. We see that his approached changed when necessary and that no matter the obstacles, he overcame them. Help us to be like him. Teach us when to change our tactics for the better. Let our mouths always speak your word. In your name, Amen.