There was a time in my life when the term “free radicals” would most certainly have referred to a campaign to extricate student protesters from unfair incarceration. Today, “free radicals” would most certainly refer to bad guys in our bodies like unpaired electrons that damage cells, aiding in the natural aging process and giving rise to a number of anti-aging products on the market that boast the power of antioxidants to neutralize the effects of all those radicals running around free. Instead of a jailed radical in cell, we have a free radical looking for one.
Once we were clamoring to stop a war and secure the equal rights of a whole race of people (that was radical), now we are just trying to keep from growing old.
I’d like to free some real radicals today – the former kind; I’d like to induce some new followers of the rebel Jesus. For starters, try reading the Sermon on the Mount (The Gospel of Matthew chapters 5-7) and see how radical Jesus looks in comparison to today’s version of His message. Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemies, return good for evil… these are radical concepts yet to be embraced by many who claim to follow Christ.
And how about love and forgiveness, mercy and justice, and that boundless freedom of grace Christ Jesus brought us on the cross? It would be radical to express that all the time.
How about sticking it to a few modern Pharisees? That would be radical.
How about those followers of Jesus who are going to gay and lesbian parades wearing “I’m sorry” T-shirts and passing out literature apologizing on behalf of evangelical Christians for the way that segment of society has been treated by the church? That would be radical. Or those Christians in Chicago who are helping their Moslem neighbors build a mosque so they can have their own place of worship? That would be radical. And I would call radical what Marti and the Women of Vision have been doing at Isaiah House. And anything that would be the modern equivalent of going to the highways and byways of life and bringing in whoever you find there to the feast instead of keeping all that food to yourself, would be radical, too.
Tomorrow is Independence Day in America. Tomorrow we celebrate what a bunch of radicals set out to form – a more perfect union – that has resulted in a country none of them could have imagined and some don’t like – a country open to anyone and everyone who has a hope and a dream of freedom and opportunity.
We’ve got a gospel open to anyone, too. Let’s put out the welcome mat and treat everyone who crosses it with dignity and equality and embrace them in the name of Jesus. That would be radical.
Happy Fourth of July.
In observation of Independence Day here in America, there will be no Catch tomorrow and no Teleconference Bible study.
Did it ever occur to anyone that most of the founding fathers didn’t sound like Americans? They most likely sounded British or Irish or Scottish.
John Fischer The Catch 
I really like yesterday’s and today’s Catch. I find myself embracing this “radical” concept of who who Jesus Christ was and is.
It’s not new. He’s always been that way and the story has always been there in the Gospels for anyone to see. It’s just that when movements become structured and institutionalized they have the tendency of taking on the characteristics of the Pharisees and not of the founder.
Sorry John, but I take exception to a lot of this latest “rant” you’ve started on this 4th of July season. Are you actually suggesting we, as believers in Christ, go out and help construct mosques so the moslems in our neighborhoods “can have their own place of worship” ??!! And head up to maybe San Francisco to participate in a parade that is so abhorrent that no right-minded parent would dare expose children to… while passing out “apology” literature to blatant, in-your-face homosexuals on behalf of other christians for not seeing sex as they do??!! Good Grief!! And who are these modern day “pharisees” you are encouraging your flock to “stick it to”? Would you please name a few so we don’t have to guess who’s who? I thought we were supposed to endure these rather than “pull up the wheat with the tares”….. not listening to them is one thing, but “stick it to them”? …. what exactly do you mean? … don’t make us guess. As far as wondering what a true American sounds like… they sound like Irish, English, Scottish, and hundreds of others accents that make us up to what we are…. that is, if they came here for the freedom and opportunity all others came here for, and didn’t sneak in over the walls and disrespect our laws and work the system to their own benefit, and add to our financial woes we are now all experiencing. I say ‘get in line’ with those law abiding others and be welcomed as a true citizen ….. not a ‘line jumping law breaker’. Sounds a little harsh to liberal ears doesn’t it. Many of us are just fed up with this “social gospel” being spread which is no gospel at all…. compared to the real One. This political season we are in is really testing our discernment and I’m hearing a real left slant coming forth that makes me sound off. The freedom we so take for granted here in these United States did not come for free…. many died to have it…. protecting it from enemies foreign …. and enemies within. Happy fourth of July!
1) Jesus told us to love our enemies and our neighbor as ourselves. If my neighbor is Muslim I am called by Christ to love him, and I help him with what is important to him, I am creating a relationship and an opportunity for him to see the reality of Christ. 2) The apology has nothing to do with how we see sex; the apology is for treating homosexuals with disdain — for judging them and shunning them and not treating them with respect that is due every human being. The rest, Ralph, is your opinion, and you certainly have a right to it, but I’m sure you can find more appropriate places for it than here.
No, no, no……you’re off in Left field John. You are pushing what is referred to as “the social gospel”, which is no gospel. You are very subtly infusing the Liberal Socialist Left political slant with the Gospel of Christ, and coming up with a rebel hybrid which is drawing people down a broad, weed-filled road leading to a promised land envisioned by Marx/Lenin, and their minions. Western Europe has tried it…. look at them …. Antichrist is grinning and rubbing his hands together as his way is being paved for an extremely deceptive Social/religious “Solution” to the world’s ills. We’re being softened up for the kill by thinking we can “save the world” with our own religious efforts…. like “creating a relationship and an opportunity for them to see the reality of Christ” … this is naive. Jesus told us to preach this Gospel to every creature. Those that believe shall be saved, and those that do not believe shall be damned”. Hard words… but these were His last instructions before He left. We, and Christ in us, are not to “change” the world with a lot of niceness, but rather to reach into the fire and pull people out to save them from the sure destruction/wrath/damnation that is on it’s way. Tell the Truth clearly, firmly, from the heart, and let the chips fall where they may. Some will hear and believe and be saved, and others won’t….. their choice. The plain, simple Gospel message has great power inherent within it to draw people to faith in Christ…. this is His Way. It is getting very late! You have quite a platform to speak from John…. don’t waste it on mixed Liberal/hybrid messages. Preach it clear brother! He will be here soon.
My Ralph, I don’t know you but I do know it is not for us to judge others here on this earth. It sounds more as if you are the one letting all the political bs go to your head or rather straight out of your mouth instead of through filters first.
Anyway, I just hopped by to say great blog John. I stumbled across it and have been reading and really get caught up in it. Have a blessed day!!
Thank you Kim. We hope you keep coming back!