There’s a minor Internet meme that goes “I Feel Personally Attacked by This Relatable Content.” It generally accompanies a link, image, or article that speaks to the sharer on a personal level, but also feels like an attack on them. So when, say, satirical “news” site The Onion posts a headline saying, “Prematurely Balding Man Considers Shaving Whole Head Off” . . . well, as a prematurely balding man who did shave his head for a time in his 30s, I felt personally attacked by that relatable content.
In today’s gospel selection from Luke, Jesus says, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
So, as a guy who’s literally sitting here, writing about scripture as a “scholar,” trying to help folks see things from new perspectives and — yes — perhaps do things more fervently than they did in the past . . . well, I do, indeed, feel personally “attacked” by this relatable content. How do I talk about that? And perhaps more importantly, how do I not?
I certainly hope Jesus’ words don’t apply to me! But I have to wonder, and it’s a good cause for self-reflection.
One of the biggest challenges about trying to bring the Word to others is that it is incredibly easy to impose morality that would be a burden unto others, but not onto yourselves.
Like, it would be really easy for me to say, “Oh, rich people should give all their money to the poor.” I can point to scriptural justification. And I’d probably feel very sanctimonious in saying such, even though — as someone who’s decidedly not rich — that proclamation of what others “should” do will never have any effect on me.
Look at today’s first reading from Galatians, where it speaks out against sin in the form of a list: “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.”
Read that list. Think about how you read that list. What did you focus on? What did you drift over?
For me, it would be so easy to focus on those things that don’t affect me, and use them as “proof” of my superiority and a cudgel to beat down others. I’m relatively mellow so I really don’t think I have an issue with outbursts of fury or hatreds, I have no interest in sorcery, I don’t particularly enjoy drinking, and I’ve been invited to exactly zero orgies in my life.
So, all of you . . . you see the Bible! Stop drinking! Stop being furious! Knock off all those weird sex things! Be like me! Aren’t I great?!
But, of course, that’s at the expense of those elements that I probably do have to watch out for. Do I enjoy watching the Black Widow or Catwoman in those comic movies for the wrong reasons? Do I think about the latest science-fiction TV show more than I think about God? Am I too eager to place myself in “us versus them” camps in a factious world? Am I jealous of others’ homes or possessions, living as I do in a prosperous community?
Our Faith is not a weapon. It’s a guide, vital to leading us to a life with the Creator in this world and the next. We should be sharing this Faith with others like we would a precious gift, out of love and compassion, rather than using it as a prod or shield to push, silence, or shame others.
We should be working to help everyone — ourselves and others — to overcome the sins and temptations that would lead us away from God. We have all fallen short when it comes to the Almighty, but thanks to the gift of Christ’s promises and teachings, we can hopefully become better than we were, and help others — with love and kindness — down a new path of peace.
