lifeasmission

Reconciling Jesus, Paul, and Bono

February 7, 2006

Bono, lead singer of one of the most amazing rock bands of all time, U2, was invited to the National Prayer Breakfast. He had some powerful and poignant things to say. Among them was…

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who
He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a
special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions
on the hill… I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of
controversial stuff… maybe, maybe not… But the one thing we can all
agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable
and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes
where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has
infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is
in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of
wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
“If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and
speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy
the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and
your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide
you and satisfy your desire in scorched places”

It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures,
poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident.
That’s a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. [You know, the only time
Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.] ‘As you have done
it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’
(Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

You can watch his whole (20 min.) speech here. I couldn’t get it to work in Firefox, so open it in IE if you can.

I love that Bono said what he did. I love that he was even given a chance to say it. But I am supremely confident that not a few conservative Christians will take offense to his suggestion that the God of Christianity would have anything to do, much less anything in common with the gods of Islam, Judaism, or the gods of “pretty much everyone.” For most conservative Chritians the God of Christianity is concerned first and foremost with people trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. Concern for the poor is supposed to be something you exhibit after Christ has made you a new creation as a point of discipleship. And even then, it’s a minor point in contrast to the more major points of discipleship such as joining a small group, attending mens and womend retreats, prayer meetings, and Bible studies.

None of this is all that surprising given the way Paul’s writing and theology have been understood – mainly through the eyes and writings of men such as Luther, Calvin, and Barth. But man is it hard to reconcile with the gospels and the life and teaching of Jesus.

Bono is right, you look at Jesus and you see, more than anything else, a concern for the poor, the oppressed, the outcast. He forgave sins and never said anything about it having to do with his death or resurrection (Mt. 9:2). As opposed to Paul whoseems to be constantly talking about sin and the need to believe in Jesus, Jesus seems to have spent his life and ministry emphasizing understanding God in a certain way and responding accordingly

My point. I am saying all this to make one point. I think one of the greatest needs in Christianity is that of understanding how Paul (and the rest of the NT outside the gospels) are to be understood in light of the gospels and the central figure of Jesus. I am happy to say that I think the New Perspective on Paul is making some progress in this direction and I am also convinced that narrative theology will be a majorly beneficial resource in this endeavor.

God love Bono for saying what he said. I don’t mean to pick on him at all. After all, there’s only so much he could have said given the time and place, I am merely using this as an example of something I have been noticing and pondering more and more.

I would love comments about this!

Posted in: culture, Jesus, Paul, theology