The Power Of Being Politically Incorrect
A Lesson For The Church From “The Passion Of The Christ" - Part 5
'Even when related in foreign languages – one of them almost dead – the story of the cross confronts us with a raw power that exposes the shallowness of our twenty-first century sophistication.'
After achieving success in the cinemas, Mel Gibson's movie 'The Passion of the Christ' was recently released on DVD and video. The film's success offers some interesting lessons for the church.
 We've noted some of those lessons in this series of articles. Now we will turn our attention to one last lesson, which is simply this: the world needs people who are committed to political incorrectness.
We live in an age that all-too-often confuses political correctness with truth. Political correctness (P.C.) says: 'All ideas of truth are equally true and all lifestyles are equally valid.'
P.C. teaches that the will of the majority represents truth; the path of least resistance is the best; security comes from doing as others do.
P.C. is the human version of 'mad cow' disease: it leaves people wondering around in a moral daze and, like those infected cattle, constantly falling over for no apparent reason.
What's more, political correctness kills faith. It buries reformers before they are born, trying to prevent any dissenting voice from being heard.
The effect of Gibson's movie shows us the power of a dissenting voice and the need for the raw polemics of the Christian story.
Even when related in foreign languages – one of them almost dead – the story of the cross confronts us with a raw power that exposes the shallowness of our twenty-first century sophistication.
Far from being pretty, the cross is a hideous affront to everything that we call desirable.
Why did Jesus' death have to be so brutal? We can't fully answer that question, but perhaps it was because our condition is uglier and messier than we think.
We wear a mask of civilized behaviour but we are, each one of us, very much like the people who watched the crucifixion unfold. Part of us feels sorry for Jesus but the other part – the more vocal part –fears rejection by our peers and envies Jesus' purity of life. So, like them, we scream 'crucify him'.
Our fallen condition is ugly: we prefer evil to good, injustice to righteousness and self-preservation to godly repentance.
Sin is ugly. The problem of sin and the presence of evil in this world required an ugly solution.
The cross can never be politically correct. The cross crashes through our castles of political correctness; it shows us the unvarnished truth about the world in which we live. That truth divides people.
As Christians, we ought always to be motivated by a passion for reconciliation, yet we know that our message will often pull people apart.
Jesus said: 'Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household' (Matt 10:34-39).
Charles Finney, the so-called father of modern revival said: 'The church of Jesus Christ was first instigated to be a body of reformers.'
We were not called to mirror the status quo, but to challenge it and point the way to something better -- the Kingdom of God.
We simply can't be politically correct and prophetically correct at the same time. Faith people have never been motivated by a drive for political correctness. In that sense, they are dangerous people!
William and Catherine Booth defied the religious convention of their time, to bring hope and relief to millions suffering in poverty through their aggressively proselytising Salvation Army.
On occasion, the king of England sent out his army to stop the Salvation Army coming to a town. Faith people are dangerous people.
William Wilberforce, the English Parliamentarian, worked for years to overthrow the practice of slavery in the British territories. He challenged the powers of trade and commerce that thrived off the sweat and suffering of the slaves. Faith people are dangerous people.
Martin Luther was an unknown German monk teaching in the regional city of Wittenberg. One October morning he nailed 95 statements to the door of the city church.
His statements called for massive reform of the Catholic Church. He was ex-communicated by the pope and then called to appear before a council of princes.
Facing possible death, he ended his defence with these classic lines: 'I cannot and I will not take back anything. My conscience is bound by the Word of God. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.'
Luther challenged the powers of dead religion and changed history. Faith people are dangerous people.
Oral Roberts once remarked that 'faith is living on the edge of insecurity.'
Faith lives by revelation, not just education. Faith walks in obedience not just convenience. Faith follows a sovereign calling not just social conditioning.
How do we keep our lives free of political correctness?
We start by measuring our influence, and that of our churches, against the life of the cities in which we live. How much do people outside the church refer to what we've taught, when they have a decision to make? That is the true measure of our influence.
P.C. Christians measure their effectiveness against the work of other Christians, but faith people ask, 'How much impact am I having on the world around me?'
Paul taught that when we measure ourselves by ourselves – or others like us – we are 'not wise' (2 Cor 10:12-14).
Secondly, we need to live off divine revelation not human motivation, constantly listening for the whole counsel of God in our lives.
Each of us needs to stay on track, finding out what God has called us to become. It's not wrong to imitate the style or habits of the people we most admire but we should use imitation as a temporary scaffold, in order to establish our own identity in God.
If we borrow someone else's motivation, we will also accept their limitation.
Finally, we must live in the power of the resurrection. The evangelist T. L. Osborn has written that 'Christianity without miracles is just incredibility.'
What Mel Gibson's film was to the cross, our lives should be to the resurrection. We should be living witnesses to the supernatural power that became available through Christ's death.
'The Passion of the Christ' has captivated people because it is about a man whose life and death provides the ultimate measure of living for something bigger than self-interest.
Living as we do in an age that's obsessed with the cult of self, the idea of a man willingly pursuing death by crucifixion, for the sake of others, is strangely attractive. In an age of blandness, Jesus reminds us of the true measure of passion – and its power.
© Mal Fletcher 2004
Photos by Philippe Antonello. © 2003 Icon Distribution Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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