Make us Instruments of Your Peace, Power, Strength and Beauty

Don Friesen
February 8, 2009
Ottawa Mennonite Church

www.ottawamennonite.ca

One of Aesop's ancient fables tells of a man and his son on their way to the market, leading a donkey. Along the way they passed other people, few of whom were short on opinions! "You fools!" remarked one man. "What is a donkey for but to ride upon?" So the man put his son upon the donkey, but it wasn't too long before someone said, "What a lazy kid! He lets his father walk while he rides!" So the man told his son to get off the donkey, and he got on himself. They hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other, "Shame on that lazy lout letting his poor little son trudge alongside him." So the man decided they would both ride on the donkey. That didn't please everyone, however; passers-by jeered and pointed at them, saying, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey?" So the man and his son got off, thought hard about what they might do to avoid criticism, then took a long pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, raised the pole to their shoulders and carried the donkey upside down. Well – people found the sight ridiculous! And as they crossed a bridge the struggling donkey got one of his feet loose, kicked wildly, causing the boy to drop his end of the pole, and the poor donkey, his legs tied together, fell over the bridge and drowned in the waters below.

Aesop always ended his fables with a moral, and the moral of this story is – you guessed it – "When you try to please everybody, you won't please anybody."

Welcome to the Society of Christian Chameleons!

I must say, however, that with thirty-some years of congregational experience trying to please everyone, it was a delight to discover that the Apostle Paul parts ways with Aesop. Paul too tried to please everyone. "I have become all things to all people," he says without embarrassment. (1 Corinthians 9:22) "I try to please everyone in everything I do," he repeats in the next chapter. (10:33) "To the Jews I was a Jew.... To those who were under the Law I put myself in the position of being under the Law (although in fact I stand free of it).... To those who had no Law I ...became like (one) without the Law.... to the weak I became ...weak...." (9:20-22, PHIL)

The word, "chameleon," comes to mind. Chameleons are lizards, ugly little creatures but with a distinctive characteristic: they can change their skin colour to match their surroundings, thus blending into their surroundings. Their wide range of colours include pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, yellow and turquoise, so you can put a chameleon almost anywhere, and he or she will blend in.

The word, "chameleon," has a negative connotation when used to describe human beings. To call someone a chameleon describes a person who is fickle, perhaps unstable, certainly someone who cannot be trusted. A human chameleon is unreliable because the circumstances dictate what that person will say and do. Just as a chameleon changes his or her colours in order to blend in, human chameleons change their opinions, their attitudes, their perspectives, even their minds – and sometimes their values – in order to fit in.

If you want to see a good example of a human chameleon, rent the movie, Zelig (1983), a mockumentary about a man so completely compliant that even his physical appearance changed to accommodate whoever his companions happened to be at the moment. One scene in the movie features Zelig between two Orthodox rabbis, and as we watch, Zelig immediately sprouts a beard and side curls. Among Asians his features become Asian; among African Americans his features become similar to their features. Zelig becomes a fascinating subject of psychiatrists, and when they interview him he begins to speak fluent psychobabble. His desire for conformity is revealed in cleverly-contrived newsreel clips chronicling his encounters with Babe Ruth, William Randolph Hearst, Pope Pius, and even Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally!

Paul, and the Corinthian Context

Is this what the Apostle Paul had in mind? If he did, then perhaps Paul founded the first Society of Christian Chameleons – Chameleons for Christ – dedicated to encouraging us to compromise our beliefs in order to accommodate ourselves to the prevailing ethos of our society.

I confess that I find it difficult to imagine the Apostle Paul as a chameleon! For one thing, the New Testament profile of Paul is of a bold and robust personality. This guy was not shy. He wasn't afraid to address anyone, even the intellectuals in Athens. They called him an airhead (Acts 17:18, The Message), but it didn't deter Paul one bit! Paul wrote, "God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power...." (2 Timothy 1:7, RSV)

Secondly, I find it hard to typecast Paul as a chameleon because his remarks to other congregations indicate the opposite of being all things to all people. To the Thessalonian Christians he wrote, "Our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery.... we speak, not to please (human beings), but to please God.... we never came with words of flattery ... nor did we seek praise from (human beings), whether from you or from others...." (1 Thessalonians 2:3-6) To the congregation in Galatia Paul wrote – after excoriating them for their fickleness (Galatians 1:6-7) – "Am I now seeking human approval, or God's approval? ...am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ." (1:10)

Thirdly, I find it difficult to imagine the Apostle Paul as a chameleon because of his motivation for being all things to all people. Paul says repeatedly that he adapts himself to each audience for the sake of the Gospel. He adapts the Gospel message in order to get through to different people in different contexts – "...in order to win Jews; ...so that I might win those under the law; ...so that I might win those outside the law; ...so that I might win the weak. ...that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel...." (1 Corinthians 9:20-22) – with the beautiful and saving Gospel message! "I do it all for the sake of the gospel," he writes. (9:23)

It's also important to take note of the context, which has to do with Paul's financial support. The truth of it is that not everyone was happy with Paul. He was not pleasing everyone. And here's a weird twist: the Corinthians wanted to support Paul, but he refused to take their help. "But you took it from the Philippian church," they said. And it's true, but as much as possible, Paul wanted to be free to share the gospel without being beholden to any particular church or interest group. Within the Corinthian context Paul is arguing for flexibility.

Changing Colour to Communicate

Now, what is interesting is that recent research indicates that chameleons – the lizard kind – use their range of colours, not necessarily for purposes of camouflage only, but to express mood, to regulate their temperature, and as a method of communication, including, for example, making themselves more attractive to potential mates!

The new research may not be sufficient to rehabilitate the chameleon metaphor, but it serves as a very good illustration of what Paul was trying to do. Paul was trying to communicate the gospel, whether he was in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus or Athens, and in fact, his communication of the gospel in Athens is an excellent example of adaptation. Paul took a look around the city, saw an altar dedicated "to an unknown god" (Acts 17:23), listened to their poets (17:28), got a sense of their philosophical inclinations, and incorporated these elements in his quest to communicate the Christian gospel to them.

What made Paul effective as a communicator was his ability to read his audience. On his travels he encountered people of vastly different experiences, traditions and understanding. Paul's own upbringing was multicultural and multilingual, and so he spoke to Jews in their context and in their language, to Greeks in their context and in their language, trying not to say things that would obstruct people's view of the beauty and strength and power of the gospel. That was Paul's genius.

It's just intelligent communication. Frederick Buechner points out that English-speaking tourists abroad are inclined to believe that if only they speak English loudly and distinctly and s-l-o-w-l-y enough, the people in that country will know what's being said, even if they don't understand a single word of English! Buechner points out that those who communicate the gospel often "make the same mistake. They believe that if only they speak the ancient verities loudly and distinctly and slowly enough," people will understand the gospel. ("Tourist Preaching," Listening to Your Life, page 230)

It's important to craft our message and choose our words carefully so that nothing gets in the way of hearing the good news that is music to our ears. For example, Bruce Prewer, an Australian, has adapted Psalm 148 to communicate to those down under. Here's a taste of his paraphrase:

"Praise God, dingo, platypus and wallaroo.
Give praise, lyrebird, magpie and cockatoo.
Praise God, Huon pine, silky oak and tree fern.
Give praise, spinifex, mulga and ghost gums. ...
Give praise, everything and everywhere!"