Embrace the hyperbole

Being raised in the 60’s and 70’s, the word “radical” had a particular meaning. It calls to mind the shattering of all the norms of the 50’s, some of which needed to be shattered. Racism, as well as the blatant discrimination against any minority, including women and those of us with disabilities, all needed to go. Fifty years later it seems clear that we, as the old saying goes, threw out the baby with the bath. We indiscriminately grabbed anything with the word tradition attached to it, and tossed in the garbage.

Today St. Paul tells us he is going to show us 

a still more excellent path

The word he uses for more excellent is hyperbole. In English we use this word to refer to overstatements, things that we can’t possibly want people to take literally. And that is how we dismiss much of the gospel. We declare it hyperbole. Even some Christians who claim to follow the Bible literally, dismiss the more radical portions as hyperbole. 

If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. (Mt. 19:21)

Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt. 5;48)

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. (Lk. 6:30j

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Eph. 4:29)

And we could go on and on listing those Bible verses that most of us simply choose to dismiss. We dismiss them because they are too demanding of us. 

Perhaps it is time for us to take a fresh look at our faith, and embrace the truly radical nature of Christianity. Maybe it’s time to embrace the hyperbole. 

Paul’s discourse today ends with a famous verse.

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

But the love of which he speaks is not the love of TV and movies. It is not the love holding hands and singing songs. It is a self-sacrificing love, that demands everything. It is a love that finds its origin only in God. It comes from God and we cooperate with Him in it. 

For almost half a century we Christians have tried to fill our churches by adapting to the culture. We forgot what St. John taught us, that we are to be in the world not of it.  Instead of filling our churches, we have watched as an increasingg number of people list their religion as “none.”  If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, perhaps it’s time to chance course and embrace the radical difference of Christianity.