Nerfing the Gospel

Beloved in Christ,

As the parent of a teenager, I take a lot of mischievous joy in intentionally misusing popular slang expressions currently fashionable in youth culture. Playing up the role of clueless adult is always good for a laugh in our household. At our staff Bible study this week, our Minister for Children and Youth, Dan Miglets-Nelson, taught me the term "nerfed," which is used to describe diminishing or softening the impact of something. 

In our gospel lesson for this Sunday, we are told that many of Jesus' disciples responded to him by grumbling: "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" Indeed, the teachings of Jesus often cut against the grain of how we normally think and how the world normally works. In an age when the Christian church is declining and churches are more and more anxious to retain or attract new members, we can often unconsciously nerf the gospel, finding ways to make it more appealing, less strange, harsh, or demanding. 

But actually, I suspect that what the world and the church most need in this moment is an unnerfed Jesus. In a culture of bitter division, the church and the world need a call to love your enemies. In a culture where corporate greed drives massive and wasteful consumption, what the world and the church need is to hear Jesus' reminder that we have to lose our lives to save them, we are fed not by gaining more but by feeding others. In a culture where the name of Jesus is so often invoked to simply justify the power of one group over another, the church and the world need to remember that Jesus is always and only found in the streets, with the poor and the forgotten and the downtrodden.

Jesus' message is sharp, and if we have ears to hear it, we can't simply point the finger at someone else who needs to hear it. Like a surgeon's healing knife, we have to allow it to cut the sinful scar tissue that has built up around our own hearts. It will hurt a little, but it is the only thing that will set us free. In a world where upside down has become normal, the gospel sounds weird, and irrational, and that is precisely what makes it good news.

So don't nerf the gospel, dear ones. Feel its full impact, give yourself over to its full demands, that we might be caught up in the wave of love God is longing to wash over the whole world. 

Grace and Peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya