Shades of Gray?

It is often said that healthy morality is never made up of blacks and whites but of shades of gray. Really? Is that our only choice? Gray is still just a mix of black and white. A true choice would be between black and white on the one hand and color on the other. Jesus leads us into a world of color.

Black and white are about safety. On this side of the line your okay. On that side? Not so much. Grays are about insecurity. "I'm not sure I'm safe, right, excusable." Black, white, and gray are about limitation. Color is for dreams. Color moves us beyond ourselves into something healing.

Can you imagine Jesus sitting his disciples down and saying, "That is the way the world should work." Referring to some past decade. "That was the moment in time when everything was going okay. Just keep doing that, maintain this set of rules, don't associate with anyone who disagrees, and everything will be okay."?

If you can, then Jesus has become a black and white cartoon character for you, and one that doesn't represent the Jesus of the New Testament.

Jesus came to bring change. Since humanity's rebellion against God, there hasn't been a single moment that Jesus could point to and say, "This is how life was meant to be." Since the moment of the Fall, God has been pointing forward to something new, to our healing, to a time when we would live together as we were meant to, a time when the broken hearted would be mended, the handicapped would be healed, and the ignorant would understand. A day when God's benevolence would be fully experienced, when the kingdom of God would be revealed.

The morality of black, white, and shades of gray is about protecting the past. It is often motivated by a fear of change and the unknown. The morality of color is about birthing something new. It is impatient with the present. Not in a harsh and judgmental way. The impatience is born out of a glimpse of the future that Jesus provides. It sees the broken, deceived, disillusioned people of the world and is excited about the changes that God's grace can bring.

"But we need to be realistic." Those words have brought down so many dreams. But what is more realistic, believing that we need to accept the world at face value, or believing that the God of the universe, who brought Jesus back from the dead, will finish the work by miraculously changing lives through the power of his Holy Spirit? If you have never tasted that Spirit, then it seems impossible, but if you have met this Jesus, how could you settle for anything less than his vision for the future?

Following Jesus is not about being safe. Yes, there really is right and wrong. We are called to follow Jesus and obey, but to what end? To prove that we were good enough? If that was the case, then Jesus wouldn't have had to die on the cross. To prove we are better than everyone else? That would just be a return to crushing pride. We obey out of love for Jesus, out of love for his vision, and for the sake of all those people he loves. That is a colorful morality. That is a dream worth giving our lives to.

Black and white people become bitter over a lifetime. The rules are not enough. The world never seems to get better (Jesus warned us it wouldn't till he returns, but we forget). People who follow Jesus' vision aren't surprised that the big picture still needs a complete overhaul, but they are encouraged because they aren't just looking at the big picture. They were looking at the individual's that Jesus loves and gave his life for. On that scale, lives are being transformed and healed every day. There is real, tangible progress.

The cynical is caught in the black and white. If it isn't all better, than it's all bad. Life doesn't work like that. Our lives and attitudes either draw color away from the world, or we become windows through which God's grace can flow. It isn't a matter of whether or not you are moral. Everyone is to some extent even if that morality is confused. What matters is whether your morality invests in the false security of rules and barriers, or whether it is shaped by the life-giving purposes of God. It isn't safe. It got Jesus crucified. But it is able to feed and enrich your life like nothing else can.

Don't tell me about the rules. Tell me about the vision. It's easier to let God shape me to the vision than it is to find any good coming from hiding in the corner and trying to stay safe. The vision is a lot more inspiring. Go with the color.