Clueless

Luke tells par­al­lel sto­ries about male and female spir­i­tual devel­op­ment issues. The Prodi­gal Son story is about the clue­less over-conforming older brother as much as the waste­ful errant younger brother. There is a hint in the story that the younger less-conforming brother is pre­ferred, because he comes to under­stand the grace and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties of life. There is always a pref­er­en­tial place for repen­tant sin­ners in the econ­omy of God. Hard-working over-conformists play the role of the clue­less (Phar­isees, the older brother, Martha, and even Simon Peter…).

In our work-a-holic cul­ture, we pre­fer the hard-working con­formists. They pay the bills. They suf­fer from con­trol issues and resent­ment, but they “git er done” effi­ciently. That one virtue becomes their blind spot. They can’t imag­ine that God prefers the less con­form­ing messed up per­son. To them it is all earned. To those that real­ize how messed up they really are, God gives a pref­er­ence. God is in the redemp­tion busi­ness, not the quota business.

I know that does not sound fair, but it is the way God works. You can also see it in every­day life. Cre­ative “off the wall” peo­ple often make zil­lions of dol­lars, while the more con­form­ing slog away at much lesser pay — resent­ful of the “high rollers” that made it with rock songs, paint­ings, weird inven­tions, and cre­ative ideas (Bill Gates is a col­lege drop out…but a cre­ative non-conforming one).

There is a place for con­for­mity and a place for cre­ativ­ity. When given this fork in the road, choose the cre­ative one — mis­takes and all. Martha kept the kitchen in great run­ning order. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to hear his words. The dishes can wait. Jesus can’t. The hard­est work­ing peo­ple in your church may be the most lost. Don’t for­get to extend them some grace too, but don’t con­fuse pro­duc­tiv­ity with spir­i­tu­al­ity. The first may mas­quer­ade as the sec­ond, but it is not even in the same ballgame.