8-17-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My pastor years ago at the Assemblies of God church Christian Life Center outside Philadelphia, David Cawston, used this phrase to technically be polite but also to make an important point. And, perhaps, to wake up members of the congregation who might have been dozing. Or maybe to have some folks check their hearing aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever. Sometimes we need the spit scared out of us; and even other euphemisms. And many sins or shortcomings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spitting is an odd topic for a spiritual essay, perhaps. But my immediate thoughts, or temptation to think, have been triggered by a spate of videos from Israel. Tourist photos, security cams, and amateur photographers have captured incidents of Israelis spitting on Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are identifiable by their peyots (sidelocks), kaftans, kipahs, etc. The images online and videos from around the world are of Christian clergy being spat upon; nuns being pushed to the ground and kicked; a statue of Mary having a cigarette pushed into her mouth; a statue of Jesus with His head knocked off; Christian churches being spat upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the many reasons that people choose to spit, absent chewing tobacco, the flu, and simple bad manners, the common purpose is to indicate disrespect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One time I was invited to the Manhattan loft of friends, a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist and his wife, Art Editor of a popular magazine, to answer a question that confused them. They are Jewish, and knew that I am a Christian. They had seen advertisements for Christian apparel with messages about Jesus spitting people out. I will spit you out. \u2013 Jesus<\/em>. The passage, and context of the products, appeared serious enough, not irreverent, but seemed to my friends out of sync when attributed to a holy figure, the Son of God. Could I explain this apparent anomaly? Jesus cannot be the only person who gets frustrated by apathy, indifference, hypocrisy, spiritual laziness, insincerity; or at the other extreme, arrogance, hostility, presumption, prejudice, self-righteousness, and a closed mind. \u201cLukewarm\u201d specifically was a description of those who avoided reality and did not come face to face with the Gospel. It was to their own detriment to choose to be lukewarm in their faith. And if the Savior of humankind would feel like \u201cspitting such people out of His mouth,\u201d so should we. Such people\u2026 and each other; and ourselves, if applicable? No? We should be conscious of people who spit on others, or on sacred symbols, as a metaphor for contempt. Perhaps, as increasingly in the news, these are veiled (?) warnings of rejection and violence, even in cultures that make public claims of tolerance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why have I been motivated this week to think about the ancient (but not extinct) choice of spitting on others? I wondered the same thing, but, well, these increasing numbers of news stories and images have disturbed me. What in the world is going on in the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I have maintained above, in Jesus\u2019s case His threat to feel like spitting lukewarm \u201cbelievers\u201d out of His mouth focused more on the deficient quality of their faith, not the people themselves. And as I have addressed, we pray for these people \u2013 after all, Jesus ultimately died for their chance at salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it is better to be a spitee, to coin a phrase, than to be a spitter. Neither condition is ideal in this broken world. Jesus referred to that act, but in a very specific context and justification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, that was an easy one. I was able to direct them to Revelation 3:16 (have you ever noticed how many important verses are in chapter 3s and verse 16s?) \u2013 Jesus tells the church in Laodicea, Because you are lukewarm \u2013 neither hot nor cold \u2013 I am about to spit you out of my mouth. <\/em>Referring to the quality of people\u2019s faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we must pray for the \u201clost.\u201d Yes, we must lift up situations 70 times 7 times. Yes, pray without ceasing when we can. Is it Biblical to exercise \u201ctough love\u201d (the world\u2019s terminology) in order to break through to some folks? Can we be frustrated when people are determined to avoid the Truth, even regarding their own salvation? \u2013 Jesus was frustrated, as we see rather explicitly.
And for other examples of spitting, we need not go far. Jesus was spat upon, and worse, while He was humiliated and tortured before He was condemned by the Jewish holy officials and executed by the Roman authorities. In Deuteronomy, Numbers, Job, and Isiah are examples of spitting as a severe sign of disapproval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n