Army Crawl

This might be blasphemy, but the other day I quoted

a distortion of scripture.

As I was doing an army crawl though the chicken run to smash down the snow with my body, I kept quoting, "No greater love has a woman for her chickens than to lay down her life for them." It made me laugh and a little less resentful of what we do to get two fresh eggs a day.

I rarely quote the Bible for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm lazy about memorizing it.

2. Our Lutheran tradition teaches us to read large chunks in context. 

Memorizing proof texts to win an argument and validate an agenda is frowned upon as contrary to the good news of God's kingdom. One can use Biblical texts to promote a range of moral and social agendas; the entire political spectrum has used Christian scripture to justify their plans and that makes me nervous.

I do love Jesus. I love how no one knows quite what to do with him. He keeps loving the unlovable, scolding the successful, feeding the hungry, and touching the dehumanized until folks finally kill him. It's dangerous when people don't know what to do with you and you keep messing with expectations. 

That's when my misquote shows up. In John 15, Jesus says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."

We are friends of Jesus when we love as we are loved. So the question those who wish to befriend Jesus need to ask is, "how did Jesus love?" 

I like to think he loved a bit like I love my chickens. 

• He tried to remove obstacles so people could live and offer the gifts they have to the community. 
• He fed and tended people.
• He sometimes shook his head when people got lost in the yard and tried to sleep in the cold rather than allowing themselves to be gathered and put back in the coop.
• He scolded them when they were stubborn and doing something not in their best interest (like jumping in the neighbor's yard or road).
• He carried them across the snow because they didn't like the cold on their feet.

All right. Maybe it breaks down. I'd say there is a lot more mutuality of relationship between Jesus and people, but my chickens do bring me great delight and they are amazing conversationalists. I wouldn't die for my chickens, but crawling through a tiny tunnel full of snow and some eau de chicken is close.