You ever get on social media thinking to yourself, “You know what I need? I need someone’s hot-take. I need to know what someone thinks about some current event after several seconds of deep, thoughtful reflection on it.” What you and I need is yet another hot-take, isn’t it? We get onto our favorite social medium to see what others—even those largely unqualified to address a particular topic—happen to think about the latest hot issue. Elders in Christ’s churches all across this nation often feel compelled to address every current event with as little delay as possible. If they comment on one national tragedy they’re given flack for not commenting on another. To avoid offending someone soon they’re posting hot-takes about everything but the actual work God has given them to do!
Many of you know that I meet with a group of pastors from a few local churches in our neighborhood. We meet every Wednesday morning to pray together and for one another. Last Wednesday morning we were talking about this very phenomenon, that we feel the pressure to be givers of hot-takes. Pastor Eric from Fourth Church shared some insight with us that floored me.
Matthew tells the story of the death of John the Baptist. John was a popular preacher. People flocked to him. He was a prophet and spoke truth to power, including challenging Herod, who claimed to be king of the Jews. He did have the title king, but he was not the king of the Jews. Herod threw a party and foolishly offered to give his wife’s daughter (by his brother) whatever she asked for. Her mother, being devious, forced her to ask for John’s head on a platter. Herod had foolishly made this vow in front of the entire party so he complied and had John killed.
This was national news. John was extremely popular. The people knew him to be a prophet and Israel had not had a prophet in centuries. He was well-loved by all. His execution would have been all over whatever the first-century equivalent of social media was. Everyone was talking about. It was scandalous! It was an abuse of power. It angered the public greatly. Matthew describes the news being given to Jesus.
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
Matthew 14:12-13a ESV
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
Jesus withdrew. Matthew doesn’t say what his purpose was. Likely Jesus withdrew to pray, to reflect, to grieve. None of these things were to be public. What we know for sure is he did not address the issue. He did not offer a public reaction.
Eric pointed out last week that if ever there were a time to speak truth to power, to prophetically denounce the evil of the day, to condemn the execution of a righteous man, this was it. We should all mourn any loss of life taken in a tragic manner, especially when it is so intentional and meant to shock and horrify. The temperature of the room was, so to speak, ready for Jesus’ response. Surely the disciples expected Jesus to rally the troops—finally! He was the Messiah, after all, and Herod, an extension of Roman oppression, had just taken the first shot in what should be a relatively easy war of deliverance. They were still expecting a political Messiah!
Think of what Matthew had already recorded in his Gospel. Jesus calmed a storm by just saying, “Shhh”. Jesus healed people oppressed by demons. Jesus healed people of their diseases and injuries and such. Can you imagine how useful that would be when Messiah raised an army to finally push Rome out of the land? Jesus withdrew.
There was no public statement. There was no public denouncement of Herod’s evil. There was no public lament for the ongoing oppression of God’s people. There was no hot-take. Jesus heard John had been executed and he got into a boat—by himself—and left the crowds and his disciples behind so he could be alone.
The Sea of Galilee is not a huge lake. You can see across it on a clear day. The crowds were able to follow him. Matthew says the crowds followed him on foot. The path around the lake was longer, of course, than rowing across it, but rowing is much slower than walking, especially if he were battling a headwind. Matthew says this:
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:14 ESV
He didn’t say, “Oh, good. You’re all here for my rally.” Matthew specifically says Jesus had compassion on them and then gave them what they truly needed: he healed their sick. In that moment, the Lord knew the people didn’t need a rally. They didn’t need to be riled up. They didn’t need another hot-take from some public figure. They needed God’s love to them in Christ, and the Lord Jesus gave them this.
In recent weeks there have been a number of tragic deaths, including very public assassinations. Still today I see posts on social media claiming if these are not specifically spoken about in a worship service—well, one death in particular—then the people of those churches should leave those churches and find new churches. To say this another way, if, upon hearing of a tragic death of a popular speaker, an elder in Christ’s church does not give his hot-take about that death, the whole church should leave that church.
I am amazed, first of all, that I hear this from elders—pastors—on social media. I am astounded at the cavalier attitude they have toward membership in a local church. I am reminded of Sunday’s sermon on discipleship in which we looked at the idea of spiritual maturity. In that sermon I said spiritual maturity is always seen in death, whether literal death like Ignatius, who in the year 107 declared before his public martyrdom that by being faithful unto death he would be a true disciple, or the far more likely death of dying daily to self. To follow Christ we must take up our crosses, the instruments of our death. We must die to our selfishness and our self-centeredness. We must become like Jesus, who gave his life for the good of others.
I’ve told New City on a number of occasions that my job is simple: the work I am given to do is to teach the church how to die well. This is discipleship. This is maturation. Spiritual maturity—that is, thinking like Christ—is found in death. To make disciples we must teach one another to die to self. Jesus said in Luke 14 something profound, something that leaves zero wiggle room, and it’s likely what was on Ignatius’ mind when he said his death would mean he was truly a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:27 ESV
He doesn’t say whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me will struggle to be my disciple. He doesn’t say whoever will not bear his own cross and come after me will have a really hard time being my disciple. He says if you and I will not bear our crosses—that is, if we will not die to self—we cannot be his disciples. We cannot.
To carry your cross is to renounce your self-will. It is to renounce your self-interest. It is renounce your sin. It is to become like Jesus. This is Paul’s point in Philippians 2 in that text we all know well. Jesus, even though he is God in every way, did not consider holding on to his rights as God but instead emptied himself and took on the form of a servant. He is and always will be King of kings, yet he took on the form of a servant. He did this that he might become obedient even to death, and not just any death: death on a cross. Crucifixion was used for enemies of the state. It was reserved for the most vile and violent offenders. Jesus was innocent in every way, yet he took this suffering and shame upon himself for the good of his people. What we so often miss in that text is Paul points this out in order to tell the Philippians “have this same mind among yourselves”. That is, they were to be like Jesus, who didn’t insist on having his own way.
When Ignatius was facing his own death for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, he said that by being faithful unto death—taking up his cross—he would be a true disciple of Jesus, for he will have become just like him. Paul often speaks of discipleship—dying like Jesus—in terms of union with Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Believers “have died” and therefore they must “put to death what is earthly” in them, and he names a variety of sins (Colossians 3:3-6). Our “old self” was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6).
The truth is the world does not need another hot-take. The world needs faithful Christians who are faithfully present, Christians who look and act and think like Christ. This means the world needs Christians who don’t immediately offer hot-takes but instead are willing to withdraw to be alone with God and then to have compassion and love others by serving them. This is, quite literally, what Jesus did. We should think carefully about those voices who clamor that unless an elder in a church addresses specific current events you should leave that church.
John the Baptist was a well-loved public figure who preached the gospel. He was a prophet from God. Jesus said in Matthew 11, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” When John was murdered by Herod, Jesus did not offer public comment. He did not have a public rally. He did not denounce anyone involved. He withdrew in silence and then emerged to serve others with compassion. Surely it would be better for these voices to urge God’s people to be more like Jesus.
There were times Jesus offered his perspective. In Luke 13 there were some folk who brought up the Galileans Pilate had recently murdered. He himself brought up the then-recent tragedy of a tower in Siloam falling and killing eighteen people. The reality is Jesus made deliberate choices to both speak and to not speak. Who are we to say when another should or should not speak?
The difficulty with all the clamor is elders are usually not qualified to speak out on various topics. During the COVID lockdown, many were suddenly experts on viruses and vaccines and such. So many pastors speak as if they are experts in foreign policy or tariffs or any other public policy matters. I am always struck by Paul’s words to the Corinthians. The church in Corinth loved wisdom. Origen said this means they loved rhetorical and philosophical excellence—they loved those who could debate and reason and argue. There were some in Corinth who did not like Paul all that much because Paul did not exhibit such skill in his preaching. He wrote this to them:
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2 ESV
Paul was not given to flashy sermons or attempts at eloquent persuasion. He was not interested in the hot-button issues of his day. He determined the center of his preaching would be the proclamation of Jesus, and Jesus alone. Surely this is the model we should seek after. We should all seek to imitate Paul, for as he said in 1 Corinthians 11, he imitates Christ.
The world does not need constant hot-takes from church leaders. We don’t need to give our opinions and thoughts on newsworthy issues. We can take the time to withdraw—to pray and think carefully about world events, in order to seek the Lord’s direction for what we should do in response. I suspect if we did this we would begin responding the way Jesus responded: by having compassion and demonstrating to others God’s love to us in Christ. This is what the world needs more than anything else.