Mark 1:5-6 - Embrace the Weird
Word of the Week: Conforming
The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
— Mark 1:5-6
Mini-Message
We like to think we’re being rebellious and unique, but the truth is, we often look to others for approval.
The real narrow path—the one that’s different and strange—is the road that leads to life.
Following Jesus is an invitation to be truly weird—not the kind of “different” where you follow trends just to fit in and feel accepted, but the kind where you stop caring about what others think is cool.
You stop trying to fit in to the world.
The Five-Minute Version
I saw a grandma in the grocery store the other day. She had pink hair and was wearing a leather jacket. I thought about growing up, when pink hair and leather jackets were symbols of rebellion against “the man.”
We humans love to rebel.
We like to think we’re pushing back against what’s “normal” or boring. Rebellion feels authentic and true, like we’ve somehow discovered who we really are.
But what happens when everyone is rebelling? Does rebellion lead us closer to truth? Or have we just created a new “normal” that needs an even more extreme rebellion?
Maybe the real issue is that, even though we like to rebel, we’re still mostly sheep, as Jesus says. We like to follow what other people are doing. We care too much about what other people think. We let them define what’s normal and what’s weird… even though what used to be weird often becomes normal!
The issue is that we’re peer obsessed.
We are actually conforming to what others think is okay.
Every era of history has its virtues and vices—things that are considered normal, and things considered weird. For example, Japanese people once blackened their teeth as a sign of beauty. Weird!
Our “rebellion” isn’t as real as we think, because we’re still measuring ourselves by others. Judging our behavior by trends or what people call “authentic” can actually be harmful.
Using trends to determine what matters is a bad life strategy.
Jesus calls trends the “wide road,” which leads to destruction. We tend to travel the wide road until it becomes too painful. When the pain of living according to the herd gets bad enough, and it begins to exceed our perceived pain of change, we are finally ready to embrace the truly weird—to think differently.
Take John the Baptist. He wore clothing made from the hair of camels and ate bugs. Yes, that was weird.
Clearly, he wasn’t looking to his peers for approval.
Instead, he had a message. His understanding of what was cool was anchored in something greater than the fickle and feeble sensibilities of the current generation.
The world thinks of religious people as mindless sheep, marching to their demise, and the sinful ones as the smart ones.
But maybe it’s the truly “weird” road—the one where you aren’t just going with the crowd—where we find life.
Pray
Lord, as You open my mind to think differently, show me what is normal, not according to the world, but according to You. Amen.
Live It
What seems weird to you about following Jesus?