"We piped to you, and you did not dance"

I went to New York City this past weekend for a Jesus Radicals conference. And the best part was seeing Andy and Nekeisha again, and spending lots of time with Eric and Katie (interns here) and Eric (a Catholic Worker from Champaign) on the drive there and back. A great experience of the personal relationships that make up the Body.

At the conference I also came across this passage by Kierkegaard:

Christ was crucified, because he, even though he addressed himself to all, would not have to do with the crowd, because he would not in any way let a crowd help him, because he in this respect absolutely pushed away, would not found a party, or allow balloting, but would be what he was, the truth...

Jesus never tried to please the crowd, never trusted their support, never asked for a majority opinion to discern God's will. And they turned on him. Because the crowd, the group, "We, the people," does not like to be ignored or resisted. It makes me think of Jesus' words:

"To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.'

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Mt 11.16-19)

The one who does not bow to the group is always condemned.


This also connects to something else I was recently talking to Heather about: That Jesus was not a "success" in the world (in society, among the many), and so neither should we expect to be. Faithfulness is not successful, effective, victorious in the world. It is crucified.

Yet we should not worry about this, but like Jesus just focus on being who we are, the body of Christ, the Truth in the world.