Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Sometimes it can be hard to be a messenger - an intermediary, especially when you have bad news or a message that will make you unpopular. We all want to be loved. So, the temptation for the messenger is to shave off the hard edges of the message, to try to make it more palatable. As Christians, we have Good News to bring to our families, friends, and communities. However, sometimes that Good News comes off as Bad News because of the circumstances of the hearer. This is when we are tempted to tone down the demands of the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul's only desire was to proclaim the Good News or, as he calls it in our first reading, "the Gospel of God's grace," "the entire plan of God." What did he get in return? Tears, trials, and plots. There were people who tried to kill him. Hardships and imprisonment were coming. Why didn't he just make his message more acceptable to folks? He could have presented a Jesus who didn't upset his Jewish friends and relatives. He certainly could have created a Jesus that everybody loved, even if they didn't want to follow him. Repentance? Why talk about that? He could have emphasized an "I'm okay, you're okay" message. Why stir people up and tell them that they have to change, that they have to start living differently, that they can't simply do whatever they want to do and have God respond with "That's nice?" How dare he teach people that they had to trust in God and not themselves. I mean, aren't we lacking enough in self-esteem that he has to go and tell us we have to humble ourselves before God? Paul seems to think that he will have blood on his hands if he doesn't tell people the truth. No wonder people hated him.

We should not be nasty or pushy in proclaiming the Good News. Our words should be "seasoned with salt," to use Paul's words. But we cannot shrink from telling the truth. We cannot do anything to domesticate the radical message of the Gospel. Following Jesus is filled with joy and love but also hardship and trials. To present to people anything but the unadulterated plan of God, the Gospel of his grace, is to stand before God with blood on our hands. In light of this, I am beginning to think that being loved by everybody is highly overrated.