An Easter Season Reflection 

April 1, 2024

Christianity is hard, or it should be. I think a lot of Americans have lived for a long time with an easy Christianity, one that placed them in comfortable buildings with people who look and think exactly like them. Rules are easy because everyone is the same, except they are not. Those comfortable buildings and committee structures invite, or even socially demand, that we be, act, and think in a certain way. You are welcome if you fit the mold; don’t rock the boat. You are welcome if you dress like us and are cisgender and hetero like us. You are welcome if you or your child are not depressed or neurodivergent or question their gender or the imposed moral rules of the group. You are welcome as long as you are not too poor, have mental health issues, or question our theology. 

It is easy to build a Christian fence where members are part of a particular political and social tribe. It is easy to exclude. It is easy to see sin in others. It is easy to say, “We love the sinner but hate the sin.” We are, after all, tribal creatures. Since the very beginning of time, we have made tribes. These tribes served our human desire for contact and cohesion. Our tribe gave us safety, protection, and a mutual set of rules. 

Jesus came to earth to show us another way, and that way is hard. It is hard because it is not tribal or comfortable, and rules do not govern it. Its core values are love, grace, and forgiveness. In life, Jesus dissolved all the groups and tribes of his day. He loved and cared for all—all the time. He challenged the rules and regularly broke them. When asked a question about the tribe, such as “who is my neighbor?” He answered in parables instead of sound bites. Those parables called on us to question our lives, our culture, and our rules.  He forgave those who killed him. 

Being a Christian means following the example of Christ – and that is hard. It is harder to love all than to hate and see some as “other,” outside my tribe. It is easier to judge than to understand. It is easier to ignore than to help one who is lost.  Being Christ-like is a discipline because it is hard every day. We are to love because we are loved; we are to forgive because we are forgiven; we are to offer grace because we receive it every day from our Creator. We are not to judge ourselves superior to others. We are also to give ourselves love, grace, and forgiveness even when broken. 

Being a Christian means that your heart is always breaking. Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, you cry for the people murdered in Israel and weep for those slaughtered in Gaza and in the rest of the world. You don’t get the luxury of condemning others: the transgender man at the store, the prisoner isolated and alone, or the woman who does not have enough food for her children. We are called to see and respond to the misfortunes and horrors of the world. We are called to name tribalism for what it is. We are called to build a bigger table for all to sit, eat, and rest. Being a Christian means we do not get to look away. It means our hearts break all the time. 

Being a Christian is hard because the love Jesus calls us to is more than emotion or pity or with strings attached. Love is not an emotion but an action. Love is political and challenges the rules that advantage some and disadvantage the rest. Love is an action that means we don’t just pray; we act to change the brokenness of our world. We are called to stand against the status quo all the time. 

Being a Christian means you do not get to shy away from the hard conversations. In a couple of weeks, we will celebrate the life of Norman Kansfield, NBTS’s former president. During his tenure, we started hard conversations around race and racism, and we are still at it twenty years later. As Christians, we believe we are called to these hard conversations about race and gender and power and privilege. We see it as an outward sign of love for all. We believe that the love of Christ calls us to fight for inclusion for all, to share grace for the ways we fail, and a requirement to continue the work for a lifetime or more.  

And finally, being a Christian is hard because that work is never done. The hate, war, and violence never end, yet we are called to see it, grieve it, act on it, and wake up the next day and do it all again. Jesus showed us that sometimes you need to remove yourself from the work to rest, eat, pray, and refresh, but only in service of continuing in the calling of our faith. 

Being a Christian is hard and rewarding and heart-breaking and a discipline and a calling. That is what it means to follow Christ in this world. It means faith that is hard to practice and a faith in a world more like the one Jesus offers than the one we experience. It means being uncomfortable with tribal associations and seeking the kingdom of God’s doing, just as Jesus did. It means believing all our work will make a difference even when we do not see it.  We believe we are called to be a beacon of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness for those who need it desperately.

Easter Monday 2024

– Beth LaNeel Tanner
Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs
The Rev. Dr. Norman and Mrs. Mary Kansfield Professor of Old Testament Studies