Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, why do we love shame? This is prompted by an article I read in the Atlantic by Faith Hill called "The Horrible Rise of the Makeout Police". Maybe you've heard this story. There was a TikTok video, posted recently of a couple making out in Central park on a bench, and the video went viral. It had about 3.9 million views. it's not just that the video went viral, though. the video being, spread so quickly actually led to people beginning to investigate who these two people were, to begin to publicly shame them for this kind of public display of affection. It turns out one of the people is married to someone else. So then the Internet mob made it about fidelity, and actually, I mean, it has really, really skyrocketed into a public shaming of these two people. Now, in the article, Faith Hill connects it also to the Coldplay incident last year. If you remember, when the couple was cuddling during Coldplay, turns out it was the CEO and an employee. He was married, she was married. not to each other. And what she's talking about in the article is a culture of constant surveillance. she talks about how this idea that people are always watching and they can't wait, to pounce on us, to post a video of us at our worst moment, she says, actually is resulting in people turning away from, from relationships, citing recent studies that say Gen Z is far less likely to engage in a romantic relationship than generations before them, at least in part for fear of this kind of thing. I don't want to make this about dating or Gen Z. Instead, I want to ask, why do we like videos like this? Why do we find them interesting? Why do we like figuring out who these people are and shaming them? Why do we like, the vindication of, oh, he's married or she's married, and now they've been caught. What is it in us that likes it to point out other people's sin? Listen, I'm not justifying married people making out with people that are not their spouse. I'm not even justifying married people making out with their spouse in public. I'm not actually in favor of either one of those things. But that's not the point. Why are we so interested in catching other people and shaming them? Why do we Share the rum humor of our co worker and the things that they've gotten into. Why do we have to revel in the failures of other people? I think the answer to this comes back to a parable Jesus told in Luke 18 about a Pharisee and a tax collector. You know, Jesus said that the Pharisee, the religious man, goes into the temple to pray, and his prayer is, as he looks at the tax collector, God, I thank youk that I'm not like this man. the tax collector, though, says to God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Jesus is saying there are two answers to our deepest fear. You see, our deepest fear is whether or not we will be accepted or rejected by God, whether or not we will stand or fall on the day of judgment. Jesus says one way of dealing with that is simply to acknowledge our sins the tax collector did. To throw ourselves on the mercy of God. That is, by the way, to the Christian message. To quote the hymn Rock of Ages, nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling. We go to God saying, I'm a wretched sinner and I have no hope of being accepted by you, except for this, that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, I will be forgiven. But Jesus says there's another way of dealing with it, and that is saying, I'm better than that person. Somehow it makes us feel like if we're better than someone else, if we're more moral, more faithful, more discreet, more careful, then surely God will have to take us. It's like picking a kickball team in elementary school. I don't have to be the world's best kickball player. I just have to be better than that kid to not end up getting picked last. We revel in the moral inferiority of. Of other people. We like shaming other people because it makes us feel like we're getting life right. But the whole point of Jesus telling that parable is that it isn't going to work. That's what he's saying. Only one of those men walk out of that temple forgiven. And it's not the one who reveled in the shame of the other person. It's not the one who was morally superior. It's the one who was focused on his own shame. Focusing on the shame of others takes our eyes off of the parts of us we don't want to think about, but it does not lead to actual forgiveness. boy, the world would benefit from the 3.9 million people that watch this video having spent half as much time reflecting on their own moral inadequacy and their own need for forgiveness. Next time you're tempted to revel in the shame of someone else by watching a video, by by sharing a rumor, by listening to one, recognize that in that moment, what you're engaging in is a moral sleight of hand. It's Satan's way. It's your own sin sick soul's way of keeping you from dealing with your own sin. But dealing with your own sin is what actually leads to forgiveness. So don't share the video. Don't share the rumor. Instead, beat yourself in the chest like that tax collector and say, God have mercy on me a sinner. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website ccchapel.com.

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