There is this really good documentary film out there called “The Protocols of Zion” by filmmaker Mark Levin that chronicles anti-Semitism. If you don’t know, The Protocols of Zion is a work that was purportedly completed by a group of Jewish Rabbis in the late 19th or early 20th century that outlines how the Jewish faith would be used to overcome the world. Now, of course the work is blatantly a fake and was most likely put together by anti-Semitic activists in Russia or Germany near the close of the of 19th or early 20th century. Specifically the film centers around 9/11 and whether or not it was a Jewish conspiracy that brought the towers down. (Wait, I thought that the Bush administration conspired to do that…)
The film itself is fascinating in that it profiles, with such a degree of normalcy, how much hate is still prevalent in the world today. Muslims hate Jews, Jews hate Muslims, white people hate black people, black people hate white people, and I hate big tobacco. Hate, stares you right in the face.
But it wasn’t the hatred, or the kook theories that were most fascinating; it was what the cross-dresser had to say…
Toward the end of the film there is a large gathering of Jews in New York, from all paths in life, together to celebrate the Passover meal. The amount of diversity in people of a like-minded faith was just astounding. The rapper Matisyahu was there…Jerry Stiller was there…famous people and not so famous people alike sharing a table together.
Right in the middle of this group of people was a person, who could best be described as the “cross-dressing Jew with the French/Yiddish accent”. The filmmaker, for some profound and presently guarded unknown reason, starts to talk to this person about hatred and terrorism and the like. And after being questioned, the cross-dresser responds (this is a paraphrase) “You know I have lots of money…I have servants to cook for me, clean for me, arrange my schedule, but every night I clean my own toilet.” The filmmaker asked why, and they responded with what is the most thoughtful and introspective statement I have ever heard, they said “because everyone has to deal with their own s**t (crap)”.
Everyone has to deal with his or her own crap…
My dad never told me that…
My pastor wouldn’t ever dream of telling me that…
But a cross-dressing French/Yiddish Jew with the fashion sense of Rush Limbaugh on crack and handcuffed to a male lesbian communist activist teaches me that cleaning my own toilet reminds me that I need to deal with my own crap.
WOW!!!
Maybe that is what the sacrificial system in the Old Testament was all about. Maybe all those sacrifices and prayers where put in place by God to remind us that we needed to face our sin, that we needed to face our darkness and deal with it. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that by facing it that we are “working” it away. But there is some sense in which, despite the fact that Christ died for my sins…that Christ takes away my sins…I still have to face my sin.
Paul writes in Romans Chapter 7 about this struggle, about coming to grips with the fact that even though he has given himself to Christ, and Christ has forgiven him, he still struggles with sin…He still needs to repent.
All this thinking has made me realize something that I never really understood about repentance. Its not a disgrace to be endured…it’s a gift to be received. Repentance gives me the opportunity to clean the crap out of my toilet. Repentance gives me the opportunity not to just confess my sins, but to be cleansed in the process because I was courageous enough to face them.
Despite all my time in Seminary (which I still haven’t finished…any financial backers out there want to help me?) studies. Despite countless sermons, lessons, conversations, and discussions. It was the cross-dressing Jew that finally helped me with my fear of repentance.
Biography information:
Gary is a free-lance loser and captain of the Olympic Duck-Duck Goose team…Seriously, Gary is a budding writer, teacher, thinker, former youth pastor (ask about that later) and someday Church Planter who lives in LaPorte Indiana with his wife Trista and dog Zoe. You can read more from Gary at http://transformission1.blogspot.com/
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Comments
Loved this article. Saw and old anonymous quote: "Face it, Face it, Face it - Always Facing it!"
In counseling many folks over the years, it is the bondage of their past or their sin that just leads them down so many paths other than the lit path. It is not until one does the hard, dirty work of dealing with the issues of life that keep us from effectively communicating with our Creator - we become quite fruitless. The "Fruit of the Spirit" with all of its good intentions begins to rot on the branch despite the wonderful life giving Vine. Face your Crap man - or it will Face you!
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In counseling many folks over the years, it is the bondage of their past or their sin that just leads them down so many paths other than the lit path. It is not until one does the hard, dirty work of dealing with the issues of life that keep us from effectively communicating with our Creator - we become quite fruitless. The "Fruit of the Spirit" with all of its good intentions begins to rot on the branch despite the wonderful life giving Vine. Face your Crap man - or it will Face you!
IHL,
Richie "Old Barbarian"