Zealots & Gnosticism

I saw a statistic online (which doesn’t mean much these days!) but it said that 45% of people say fall is their favourite season, the majority by far. I’m firmly in that camp as well, and thankful to be in California where fall lasts for multiple months, not the short 3 week stint I grew up with. I absolutely love it. But the other day when I saw the abundance of pumpkin items at Trader Joe’s I thought, have we taken it too far? Pumpkin bagels, ok yum. Pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin hummus, pumpkin alfredo sauce?!

We can lean so far into the things we love that we cross the line and make people turn away in disgust. Zeal without discernment has the opposite effect that is intended, and that is what has been happening in the western Church. As we move towards our corners we stop gathering around the cross, and the world is turning away in disgust. It doesn’t matter how good the causes in the corners are, they are not worth abandoning the gospel of love. That’s what we are called to, it is our commission, it is Jesus’ final wish for us as He finished His physical life here.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:35

He came at a time when the people of God were hungry for political change, they wanted a Messiah to take over and right all the wrongs, to fight a war and overthrow the government and put an end to all the parts of culture that didn’t look Christian. Jesus did none of that. He came as a baby, He never picked up a sword, and He had no interest in politics. What did He do? He stayed silent when persecuted. He criticized the religious leaders who were passionate and zealous for all the right causes. He loved radically. He washed the feet of people who were getting it wrong. He died.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:8

The Zealots were a group of passionate believers who saw injustice in the Roman Empire and started a political movement that began with rebellion and grew to violence. In their minds it was all justified and righteous, they thought they were defending God.

(God does not need your defense)

Peter in the garden tried the same thing, he tried to defend Jesus and when it came down to it, he pulled out a sword.

(Jesus does not need your defense)

I want to be clear - I am not saying the issues Christians are fighting for don’t matter. I think abortion is wrong, I think we should have freedom of speech and I want people to be able to make their own medical decisions. I think everyone who is able to should vote, and I would love to live in a country where all the laws agree and align with my values. What I am saying is that LOVE MUST BE OUR PRIORITY.

Jesus didn’t need to make laws to control people. He is oddly at ease with everyone having free will. Zealots, Pharisees, Sadducees, they are the ones that needed laws to try to control others. It did not work for them, and it won’t work for us. We should absolutely vote for our convictions. But if we think that making abortion illegal will bring an end to it, or will point people to Jesus, we are mistaken and we are missing the point. Abortion will end when the church becomes so loving that no one wants to abort a baby. And in the meantime, as we are creating laws trying to control the sins of others, we are rebelling against our leaders, and the world does not feel loved by us. They do not feel attracted to Jesus, and they are repulsed at how we are treating other human beings.

Rebellion leads to violence. We saw it on January 6th. I see it in Christian extremists, modern day Zealots who call bullets “freedom seeds” and want to take back their country. Jesus doesn’t want your country, He wants your heart. He wants you to love your neighbour, even if you disagree with them. He wants you to die to yourself. He wants you to be known by your love, not your rebellion.

Gnosticism is not something we’re familiar with today, but it was at the top of mind in the early Church. It was one of the main false doctrines that they faced, and the task theology of the gospel of John. There was a faction of Christianity in those early days where believers became obsessed with having secret knowledge. The Greek word “Gnosis” means knowledge. Gnostics had a whole belief system connected to angels and mystical things. There’s a lot more to it, but the reason it matters to us today is because Christians were drawn to it so they could obtain this mystical secret knowledge that the majority didn’t have. They would feel superior because they were on the right side, they knew behind the scenes and had information that wasn’t widely available. It is elitism, spiritualized. It is a spirit, an evil spirit set on division and it is religious.

I see this operating in the church today with the incredible amount of internet conspiracies being embraced by believers. The internet is full of misinformation and disinformation, and what you click on is what you attract, which is how you get further into that corner and away from the cross. It all feels justified and righteous, and it is dividing us and destroying our witness.

We must get back to the gospel, to the cross, to love. I don’t think it’s a mistake that one of the markers of covid is that people lose their sense of taste and smell. The enemy is showing his hand here - what he’s doing is not taking away our freedom, but destroying our discernment. The people of God have lost this sense of discernment, this ability to smell when evil is in the room or when we’re being misled. Our war is not against flesh and blood, it is against powers and principalities.

So what is the solution, how do we move past this? The best move when you don’t know what to do is to look at Jesus. God was always encouraging Israel to remember their history, to write it down. Not because He is a history buff, but because He wants us to learn from the mistakes of our past, and the past of our Christian heritage. So let’s remember what happens when God’s people get zealous and focused on laws. Let’s remember how the enemy tries to distract us from our commission by dividing us. Let’s look at Jesus and how He acted when He was walking this broken earth. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you Lord. And I think when you look at Him you’ll see humility, sacrifice, death to your own rights, and a commission to love people. All of the freedom you need was given to you on the cross. What will you do with it?