by Stephen W. Smith
“The medium is the message.”
I first heard Marshall McLuhan’s words as a communications major in my undergraduate studies. I had a strong sense then as a young man just how true McLuhan’s words were, that the way something is communicated speaks as loudly as the message being conveyed. That strong sense has grown into a conviction.
Consider the disturbing images we’ve seen from the insurrection at our nation’s capital. They speak volumes. Consider this picture of a noose—the symbol of killing, hatred, racism, and terror. Although the gallows was quickly constructed, there’s no doubt it was pre-meditated, planned to send a message to anyone who saw it. The medium is the message.
Consider the t-shirts worn by rioters printed with “Camp Auschwitz” and “6MWE” on them. Consider the signs in the crowd emblazoned with the name “Jesus.” Consider the Confederate flag carried across the Capitol rotunda. In each example, the medium is the message.
Allow me to illustrate my point from another angle. When I see an upcoming conference being promoted and the line-up of speakers are all male, all over 60 years old, and all white, then I know something. The medium is the message. I know that the conference will not be a place of diversity. I know that the messages will all be given from one perspective—a perspective I am thoroughly familiar with since I myself am a 60+ white male. The medium says it all.
Look to the Mount, Not the Hill
During this deadly combination of global pandemic mixed with our own national crisis, I’ve been reading Jesus’ words in “The Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7). In three short chapters, Jesus lays out the Kingdom he is inviting his listeners to join. He gave us the message, but it was Jesus himself who was the medium for this message. Matthew gives us a post-sermon analysis.
“When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers. This was the best teaching they had ever heard.”
Did you catch that? “It was apparent he was living everything he was saying…” The medium equaled the message. Jesus’ life and message were coherent (a favorite word of Eugene Peterson). The language is a little old fashioned now, but Jesus “practiced what he preached.”
This is where I’m struggling right now. It’s nothing new, but it is exaggerated right now. Our lives as Christians are not matching up with our message. Instead of the Capitol on the Hill, I believe we must look to the Sermon on the Mount as the best path forward through this mess. Jesus does not offer sound-byte answers to please Republicans or Democrats. Instead, he extends an invitation to a different kind of life, wholly (holy) other, and unique. His words are a constitution of values, beliefs, and practices for those who claim to be his followers.
Scholar and theologian John Stott said: "The followers of Jesus are to be different, different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, lifestyle, and network of relationships--all of which are totally at variance with those in the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule."
The Kingdom Gets Personal
1996 was a watershed year for me. My life was crumbling, my heart was under siege. So, I ran for my life to a monastery in southern California to live for a month under the guidance of author and scholar Dallas Willard. The text Dallas used to help me re-form my life was the Sermon on the Mount. I will never forget the day when Dallas said, “I am drawing an imaginary line in this room right now. I am inviting you to cross this line and live with me in the Kingdom that Jesus described.” That was my singular moment of transformation—more important than my baptism as a child, or any other decision I have made since. Everything began to change for me as I took a step by step approach to living the abundant life—a life that not only sounded like Jesus but looked like him as well. I left California with the same height and weight and eye color. But I was different man.
The invitation to God’s Kingdom is always personal. As it was for me that day (and still is), it is for all of us. We must personally decide to whom we pledge our allegiance: the King or some lesser ruler. I am an American citizen and feel humbled to be one. But I am first and foremost a citizen of the Kingdom of Jesus. Nothing matters to me more than Jesus. I have crossed over the line. I’ve made my choice. I will never go back. I cannot.
As Christians, we are the medium by which not only our nation, but our world is currently seeing and hearing and experiencing Jesus. We must practice what Jesus preached. Our lives and our words must match up.