They will put you out of the synagogue…
I want to take a moment and focus on the first eight words of verse two: “They will put you out of the synagogue…”
What does that mean? How bad could that be? The answer is that it is a pretty serious threat. In Jewish culture, the synagogue was the center of their world. If God is the center of everything, the synagogue was the doorway to God. Once shut out of the synagogue a person is both shut away from God and shut out of everything important about society.
In our current culture, we take a measure of rebellion for granted. Youth will rebel. Counter culture people are… well… counter culture. Social norms are being challenged from all directions. Belonging is no longer as simple as conforming to the “status quo.” There is no status quo and there hasn’t been one for a long time. Yet we still hunger for social acceptance.
Whatever our “group” is, we have a need to be accepted. Being isolated from those we respect and admire is a lonely experience. This gives the “group” power over the individual. We strive to conform. Even today, the threat of being “put out of the [synagogue equivalent]” is something to be considered.
The disciples were being told that they would be asked to stand up to the crowd. They would risk being pointed to, called up before the leaders, accused of hateful things. In modern terms, they would be de-friended by everyone who was anyone, doxxed by those in the know, and angrily ridiculed and “flamed” by everyone on the internet. On a modern university campus, they might be the cause of a riot, protested, accused of being “haters” and threatened with physical violence.
It is easy to gloss over these eight words because we Christians do not have synagogues, but we do have lives. Jesus seems to be saying that we should expect our lives as Christians to be … unsettled. At least as far as our connection with the world goes.
Let’s Discuss: How do you apply this idea of being “put out” to being a Christian in today’s world?
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