Jesus and John Lennon

In high school I had to write a paper on the Beatles. Mmm—maybe that’s not entirely true. Actually I could write a paper on whatever I wanted but I chose to write about the Beatles and the cultural impact that they had on Brit and American society. It was a pretty largely sized paper and I did about a dump truck load of research for it. This included reading the entire Beatles Anthology. This is a book that was too large to fit on the library shelves so it sat on the very top of the bookcase and was covered in actual cobwebs. It’s the kind of book that was made to sit on someone’s coffee table to be flipped through on rainy days when you felt like learning something about culture. It was not the kind of book that was made to be read cover to cover in half a lifetime…it took me two weeks. I consumed more information about the Beatles in two weeks than most people consume in their entire lives. 2000 calories a day of pure John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I got to know these four lads from Liverpool pretty well. Anyways, this is running away from me a little.

Maybe I should have started with my second set of thoughts. I recently went to New York City which was GREAT! No lie, I love the city. I love the sheer amount of people, the wild clothing, the noise, language, piercings, buildings, parks, it’s chaos pure and simple—an intricated network of people living their lives on top of each other. And it is fabulous. Perhaps the center, the most chaotic, the most artistic, the most fantastic place in New York City is Times Square. It’s cool, plain and simple. Times Square is full of billboards advertising Broadway shows, IPod nanos, Giorgio Armani, and peace. Yes, you read correctly. The one in my head is a plain white sign with black text declaring, “WAR IS OVER! If you want it.” The board next to it says “imagine peace” in a bunch of different languages. These are the words of John Lennon. The whole concept is that if you are focusing on peace, it is hard to hate. I agree with this. God tells us something similar (whatever is true, noble, etc-- think on these things, right). If we are focusing on good stuff, that will be evident in our actions. If we are focusing on bad stuff, that’s gonna come out too. And I am still distracted. Main focus now.

John Lennon is huge. He’s a role model right now. I think he’s almost as big now as he was when he was actually alive. This man changed the world. I think I can say that legitimately. I find him to be really intriguing. Of course, I find Marilyn Manson intriguing too, but I’ll save that for another day. But right now, John Lennon is everyone’s man. He’s the background of Miley Cyrus’ Twitter page; his words are staring down Times Square for goodness sake. John Lennon’s message was one of peace and love. I’ve got a quote in my scrapbook, “It sort of dawned on me that love was the answer…it seems to be the underlying theme of the universe. Everything that was worthwhile got down to this love love love thing.” Alright—think about that last sentence for a second. “Everything that was worthwhile got down to this love love love thing.” Pretty intense statement, right? Love and peace are things that the world is eternally lacking and everyone wants.

If you guys know me moderately well, you’ll know that I am into the whole lovelovelove thing. But it doesn’t begin and end with me being sort of a hippie. Which I am. It’s true. I like to hug trees and protest formaldehyde in my vaccinations, and recycle. It’s not just being weird—it’s being a good steward of what God gave me. This world, my body, natural resources. But that’s not where the love thing is. It begins and ends with Jesus.

1 John—God is love. Think about that one. God. Is. Love. Love is a noun. Kate is excited—excited would be an adjective. That’s like Kate has excitement inside of her. No, this is a noun. God is love. Kate is human. Human is a noun. Human is what I am, my identity. My very essence is humanity. Person made in God’s image. God’s identity, his very essence is love. Cool, right?

Jesus was God. He said it, I believe it. Jesus while he was here on earth, shoveled out that love in intense ways. He healed people, forgave their sins, fed them, he made prostitutes and tax collectors feel worthwhile when society considered them similar to dirt. His commands were pretty simple. Love God. Love people. This may seem vague, but I don’t think that Jesus left us searching for answers on this one. I think that He defined love pretty well for us in 1Corinthians 13. Personally, I don’t believe that this passage was written just so that we have something to read at every conventional wedding ever performed. I think that it lays out a standard for us to live by. Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy, boast, isn’t proud, isn’t rude, etc… It’s all there (and it’s also in calligraphy (a.k.a. my handwriting) on my wall). Love defined.

Keep moving toward the end of the New Testament (back to 1 John) and we are basically told that if we are not showing love to God and love to other people, our salvation is not real. Harsh but that’s what the Bible says and I believe that is truth. God didn’t promise us a chill and easy life. Serving and following him is hard work but it’s totally worth it.

Alright, back to John Lennon. Great guy. Have you heard his music? I firmly believe that the Beatles were the most influential musical group ever. Hands down. They talk about peace (Come Together), and love (All Need is Love), and rock and roll (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), and hope (Blackbird), and all kinds of great things. John Lennon was a cool guy. He had a lot of neat things to say about loving each other and living in peace and flowers and the world and war. We look at him and say, “wow, I want to run with what this guy’s saying!” but John Lennon was a man. That’s it. Just a man. A man who came to a lot of his “great conclusions” when he was coming off from a good drug trip. He was a sinful, addicted, confused, lost, unloving man. Why are we looking at him?

Why follow John Lennon when we can follow Jesus?