Life is a lemon

Read Luke 3:7-18

When I was a child I was a fan of a TV programme called “Senor Onion” developed by the South African playwright, Janice Honeyman. I looked forward to the adventures of Senor Onion and the other fruit and vegetables as they went about their veggie business in fear of the kitchen chef who occasionally came to harvest them with his big knife. One character particularly was my favourite: Mr Lemon. He had a signature song: “I’m a lemon, I’m a lemon, and I smell just like a flower. But when you taste me, oh, when you taste me, I taste so very sour!” (sung to the tune of My Darling Clementine).

Like a lemon, the apparently sweet smell of religiosity can sometimes be confused for genuine change when in fact it is but a sour attitude. I want to explore personal change, or repentance in the light of John’s message and am indebted to Sarah Dylan Breuer once again for her insights on John.

In John Steinbeck’s novel “The Wayward Bus” we meet a sombre group of drifters travelling on a bus. The bus driver whose life has become a rut, deliberately engineers a minor accident to create some excitement for himself. While the passengers await help they take refuge in a cave. As they enter the cave they pass a piece of graffiti scrawled on cliff adjacent to the cave. It reads “repent” but no one notices. Through their interactions with each other and the conflicts and connections that occur, many of the characters come to resolve that they will change their lives once they return to civilisation. But as the novel proceeds, it seems more and more likely that they will remain caught up in their old lives, unable or unwilling to break free from old habits. One is left wondering at the end, if indeed, any of them will really did change.

Psychologists have long puzzled over what makes for a personal change. One thing that they are certain about is that fear does not work in the long-term. So, for instance, advertisements that scare one about the dangers of speeding or of smoking might work but only in the short term; they do not provide the wherewithal for sustainable change.

Psychologists are also finding that the best kind of personal change is one based on a change of one’s personal ideas about oneself. Role models are therefore important in helping us change for we create for ourselves a personal image of self based on what we see in our role models. When we choose role models that model unhealthy behaviour, we are more likely to adopt that unhealthy behaviour and similarly, if their behaviour is healthy we will adopt healthy behaviour. Most of this happens at an unconscious level.

Because it is mostly unconscious, acquired behaviours are often those, which are visible to the observer but invisible to the actor. In other words, kids will do as their parents do, not as their parents say!

An example of the importance of role models is in the struggle against HIV where role models are the number one reason why young people engage in risk behaviour despite knowing intellectually that such behaviour is dangerous. Too much effort and resources are being expended in creating awareness without enough attention to the role models that young people emulate.

There is a great deal of hand wringing going on about the materialism of western culture. Young people are bombarded by consumerism and seem largely to have capitulated (as have all generations for that matter). In the church we are anxious because young people are inclined to follow Schumacher in a Ferrari rather than Jesus on a donkey. But it should come as no surprise that this has happened.

While this generation may ostentatiously demonstrate wealth as a value, a previous generation were no less covetous of wealth, even if it was “only” the new kitchen or family sedan the next-door neighbours have bought.

The question remains, how can Christians inspire radical change in society and individuals with anything near the effectiveness of John and Jesus?

Let’s take a closer look.

Firstly, John’s message was surprising and radical for a number of reasons, one of which was who it was directed at. Unlike his contemporaries who used Baptism as a means of entry into the Jewish faith, John believed that even Jews needed to be baptised - needed to repent. This is why he was not popular with the religious establishment. For John, Baptism was a mark of ongoing personal commitment to the values espoused by the prophets that preceded him.

Who you are and to which social category you belong makes no difference in the Gospel scheme. John declares that even stones can become Abraham’s descendents. We do well to remember that John’s call to repentance was not aimed at “non-believers” but at the heart of belief itself.

Today, as with John’s day, belief is seen as the destination. Once one has converted to the faith, been Baptised or Confirmed, one has arrived. In fact, this is the beginning of the journey, not the destination; it is a commitment to live constantly in dialogue with the values of the prophets so that slowly one may grow to maturity in faith.

If we want to change the world, we can begin with ourselves. When did we stop studying Jesus’ strange ways? At what point did we think we knew the answers? When did we become comfortable? Journeying with Jesus should become increasingly uncomfortable as we discover more and more in our lives that does not measure up to his model.

Secondly, it is worth remembering that Jesus and John did not agree on everything. Remember when John sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one they were expecting or if they are to wait for another? Obviously there was enough that Jesus was doing for them to think he was the one, but some aspects of Jesus’ behaviour that had them wondering if he really was the one. One of those things was undoubtedly that Jesus had not brought the fire of judgement John predicts. John expected Jesus to gather up all those who had given themselves to God, but he also expected Jesus to destroy those who chose to ignore the call to repentance. But Jesus did nothing of the sort. Instead he says to John, “Blessed is the one who takes no offence at me.” He challenges John to adopt a more gracious attitude.

It is interesting that history tells of many movements that continued John’s strong line of judgement against the wicked long after Jesus and John. It may be that not all of John’s disciples, perhaps not even John, could accept this call to grace.

As psychologists will tell you, you cannot scare people into heaven with pictures of hell. John’s message of repentance is critical for a generation of church people who see themselves as having arrived. But John’s message of the fearful consequences is not going to convince anyone – at least not in the long term.

However, Jesus’ practice of grace in his teaching and friendships does change the world. If those who see themselves as having arrived would repent of a judgemental attitude and begin again the hard process of growing in the stature of the Divine, the world might actually have some hope that there will be people to lead them into heaven instead of yawning when they are prodded by fearful fire and brimstone.

Christians are called to lead people into heaven, not scare people away from hell. If we want the world to change, the best way is to offer the model example of that change. I hope this Christmas we will engage again with Jesus, even if that engagement challenges us deeply. The world needs people who are learning how to follow Jesus.

For a great hymn about lemons check out Brenton’s song “Lemons” to the tune NOEL: