Sadistic. Sectarian. Barbaric. Savage. Bloodthirsty. These and many other similar words have been used recently throughout the media reporting on the current situation in the Middle East. Human nature is showing its ugly side in a dreadful and direct manner. To make it even worse, it\u2019s all being done in the name of God and his Will by people with an extremely narrow and shallow interpretation of Islam. But let\u2019s not be fooled \u2013 this kind of extremism is not reserved solely to one religion. A few days ago I saw in a newspaper a photo of a group of so-called Evangelical Christians at a rally in the USA, bearing placards that read \u2018God hates you!\u2019 Really?<\/p>\n
Some people claim that religions have been the most divisive ideological powers in the history of humankind. Certainly there have been persecutions, conflicts and wars motivated and driven by religious differences. Most of them have actually used religion as a useful unitive ideology, while the real reasons were the usual suspects: the craving for power, resources and territory. The present day\u2019s religiously brainwashed psychopaths in Syria and Iraq are no worse than those ideologically brainwashed in Hitler\u2019s Germany or in Stalin\u2019s Soviet Union. Even here, in Scotland, there are some supporters of either the Yes or the No campaigns who follow suit.<\/p>\n
I dare say that we have a sort of inclination towards evil; somehow it\u2019s much easier to be like that. Evil comes easily, while goodness requires some considerable effort on our part. In the gospel Jesus presents what sort of effort is required: \u2018If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.\u2019<\/em> We could argue that this might be a recipe for Christians, but it\u2019s hardly applicable to anyone else. But I\u2019m sure this is a perfect way of life for everyone who wants to be a decent person, though I agree that it requires some re-wording in order to make it clear to non-Christians.<\/p>\n \u2018To renounce himself.\u2019<\/em> In general terms we are self-centred, driven by selfishness and looking for our own benefit. Dealing with other people, we usually play a subconscious game of loss-and-gain, prepared to lose something in order to gain something else. It\u2019s so \u2018natural\u2019 that we don\u2019t think about it, we just do it. Going against our own selfishness, self-importance and the need to gain requires substantial mental strength and self-awareness. \u2018To take up his cross.\u2019<\/em> Over against the most common interpretation, this is not about a humble way of accepting suffering, particularly when it seems to be undeserved. But Jesus talks about active involvement, not the passive acceptance of inevitability. Taking up the cross<\/em> means the active and positive use of our skills, talents, potential, and to exceed our own limitations. In Christian terms: the sky\u2019s the limit.<\/p>\n \u2018To follow me.\u2019<\/em> In order to understand this particular call, we have to return to the beginning of today\u2019s gospel where Jesus announces that \u2018he was destined [\u2026] to suffer grievously [\u2026] to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.\u2019<\/em> If you think you\u2019re the only one considering his plan foolish, listen to St Peter: \u2018This must not happen to you.\u2019<\/em> He\u2019s as horrified by such a prospect as each one of us would be. Jesus got crucified for the sins – the wrong-doings – of the world. The literal and historical meaning of Jesus\u2019 Passion aside, this is a call to \u2018crucify\u2019 our own twisted ideological excuses, ill-conceived motivations, and whitewashed selfishness. Jesus promises us today: \u2018Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.\u2019<\/em> He\u2019s not necessarily talking about the martyrdom of blood, but rather about more demanding, but also more rewarding martyrdom of everyday selfless goodness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sadistic. Sectarian. Barbaric. Savage. Bloodthirsty. These and many other similar words have been used recently throughout the media reporting on the current situation in the Middle East. Human nature is showing its ugly side in a dreadful and direct manner. To make it even worse, it\u2019s all being done in the name of God and his Will by people with an extremely narrow and shallow interpretation of Islam. But let\u2019s not be fooled \u2013 this kind of extremism is not reserved solely to one religion. A few days ago I saw in a newspaper a photo of a group of so-called Evangelical Christians at a rally in the USA, bearing placards that read \u2018God hates you!\u2019 Really? Some people claim that religions have been the most divisive ideological powers in the history of humankind. Certainly there have been persecutions, conflicts and wars motivated and driven by religious differences. Most of them have actually used religion as a useful unitive ideology, while the real reasons were the usual suspects: the craving for power, resources and territory. The present day\u2019s religiously brainwashed psychopaths in Syria and Iraq are no worse than those ideologically brainwashed in Hitler\u2019s Germany or in Stalin\u2019s Soviet Union. Even here, in Scotland, there are some supporters of either the Yes or the No campaigns who follow suit. I dare say that we have a sort of inclination towards evil; somehow it\u2019s much easier to be like that. Evil comes easily, while goodness requires some considerable effort on our part. In the gospel Jesus presents what sort of effort is required: \u2018If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.\u2019 We could argue that this might be a recipe for Christians, but it\u2019s hardly applicable to anyone else. But I\u2019m sure this is a perfect way of life for everyone who wants to be a decent person, though I agree that it requires some re-wording in order to make it clear to non-Christians. \u2018To renounce himself.\u2019 In general terms we are self-centred, driven by selfishness and looking for our own benefit. Dealing with other people, we usually play a subconscious game of loss-and-gain, prepared to lose something in order to gain something else. It\u2019s so \u2018natural\u2019 that we don\u2019t think about it, we just do it. Going against our own selfishness, self-importance and the need to gain requires substantial mental strength and self-awareness. \u2018To take up his cross.\u2019 Over against the most common interpretation, this is not about a humble way of accepting suffering, particularly when it seems to be undeserved. But Jesus talks about active involvement, not the passive acceptance of inevitability. Taking up the cross means the active and positive use of our skills, talents, potential, and to exceed our own limitations. In Christian terms: the sky\u2019s the limit. \u2018To follow me.\u2019 In order to understand this particular call, we have to return to the beginning of today\u2019s gospel where Jesus announces that \u2018he was destined [\u2026] to suffer grievously [\u2026] to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.\u2019 If you think you\u2019re the only one considering his plan foolish, listen to St Peter: \u2018This must not happen to you.\u2019 He\u2019s as horrified by such a prospect as each one of us would be. Jesus got crucified for the sins – the wrong-doings – of the world. The literal and historical meaning of Jesus\u2019 Passion aside, this is a call to \u2018crucify\u2019 our own twisted ideological excuses, ill-conceived motivations, and whitewashed selfishness. Jesus promises us today: \u2018Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.\u2019 He\u2019s not necessarily talking about the martyrdom of blood, but rather about more demanding, but also more rewarding martyrdom of everyday selfless goodness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-a"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}