The Scoffer
Personas, contemporary with Jesus, are intriguing. Some people are much better at getting into a text than others, essentially role-playing. S.K. does this well as a component of his thoughtful explication. Here is one that I've chosen to look at today, "the scoffer." I find it somewhat amusing, and the logic humorous, given the environment in which I work -a high school and college. From both students and teachers I hear logically sound arguments used toward ridiculous conclusions. I hope you enjoy this "admired," "good natured," and "witty" scoffer! (I think of him as the AP student who tested into English 100 and uses his ability to pontificate to challenge every comment I make!)
"Tomorrow I shall announce that I, the undersigned, am God." While I haven't heard a student utter these words exactly, they have come close ;)
Good friends of the Scoffer also included in this section are the Philosopher, Sagacious, Sensible, Clergyman, Statesman, and the Solid Citizen. I enjoyed all of them, but thought the Scoffer most accessible. He makes me shiver, because I know that with his audacity he would surely voice any and every opinion of me, and his whispers of shame and condemnation would follow me in wagging tongues on the street, outside of my home, in my occupation, to the market-place, and in the temple. The scoffer would boldly make known his criticism, not just of Jesus, but of me:
"Imagine yourself contemporary with him..."
By following Jesus, one contemporary with him loses everything, including reputation and the good opinion of the "sagacious, sensible, and reputable people." If one were already mad, homeless, scorned, and an outcast, this wouldn't be nearly as difficult -moving from one association as a lunatic to another. But if one were a rich man (not just in materials, but in knowledge, friendships, position, interests, freedom to come and go, and do and be whatever one would like...) he would have everything to lose, and so it will be nearly impossible for him to find, in Jesus, the Kingdom of God. As the rich young man in the gospel accounts, he would walk away sad.
"Do not say this whole account is exaggeration! You do know, of course, that of all the esteemed, all the enlightened and sensible contemporaries --while it certainly is possible that one or two of them, perhaps several, had something to do with him out of curiosity --there was only one, just one, who in earnest sought him out, and he came to him -at night."
Because I really like to complicate matters I have to tell you just what this makes me wonder!
How come they had to sacrifice everything to choose him when Jesus was right there, before them -speaking, walking, sharing, loving, and healing, and we can waltz in and out of the bible, church, prayer, and relationship whenever it is convenient . The cover of night is not required because we are not scorned, persecuted, or chastised for associating with him. Albeit, religion has a bit of a stereotype in the U.S., especially Christianity, but all we need to do is sequester ourselves among other Christians to avoid any discomfort.
Yet they only dared to come to him at night:
I wonder if Kierkegaard's objective, in personifying the contemporaries of Jesus, is to suggest that Christianity has become so tame that there is no offense in it (which basically means that it is not Christianity). Has Christianity acquiesced inch by inch as persecution, martyrs, and dissenters chipped away at the resolve to maintain allegiance to the disgraced, disreputable, and abased example of Jesus? Has Christianity conceded to human tendencies toward ease, boredom, comfort, complacency, justification, happiness, and self-service, so much so that Christianity has become a human invention when it was originally in complete opposition to human systems, culture, and and vice?
I think the shame in Christianity is not from the offense (challenge to authority, questioning societal and religious norms, displacing the earthly kingdom with the priority and rule of God), but from the emptiness. When the world looks on they see us come and go, and come and go, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday evening, and times in between. And they are prevented from even caring what we do, because other than our commitment, we have nothing else to show: good, bad, alluring, or offensive for all of our Christ following in twenty-first century Christendom. They chuckle at us, shake their heads, and return to their meaningful lives.
Off of my soap box. I mean, S.K.'s.
The Scoffer will really enjoy tomorrow's post. Jesus died. "Now everything has happened to him that all the sagacious and sensible people, the statesmen and citizens, the scoffers etc., predicted."
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