If you've been watching any comedy routines on the Comedy Channel lately, or have noticed some of the headlines about intolerant and racist comedy acts, or noted the popularity of the movie Borat, which I am told sets new lows in offensive speech and attitudes, you may be wondering what ever happened to "political correctness"? It seems that our cultural jesters are in a competition to see who can be the most degrading, offensive, racist, vulgar and insulting toward others--the most politically incorrect.
Of course, much of this material is satire that is intended to poke fun at the hypocrisy created by the politically correct rules. We may be offended by the courseness of much of this material, but we still laugh at it. And the reason we laugh is because we know the joke is on us. The comics are just holding up the mirror to our culture and saying, "Take a good look at ourselves. Don't we feel silly? We're not fooling anyone. We might as well admit it. We're all guilty of bigoted, critical, excluding, intolerant attitudes toward others we view as unappealingly different than us." In other words, they are telling us that it's ridiculous to think such man made codes of conduct make us better people.
If Jesus were on the scene today, he very well might be one of those showing up in a comedy club with a routine that would incorporate lines like, "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds" (See Matthew 23:15-33, The Message). Or, I can imagine Saint Paul standing on stage holding a microphone and with perfect timing pointing his finger at us and taunting, "...Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, don't know the first thing about living with others..." (Romans 3;13ff, The Message).
At first we might chuckle, but pretty soon we'd begin squirming. That's hitting a little too close to home. When our self protective and hypocritical outer shell is cracked open by penetrating truth zingers, light shines into those shadowy corners of our sinful hearts. Truth can be funny, sometimes the truth hurts, but as Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." The comedians of our day hope to make a living by getting us to laugh. God, on the other hand, hopes to get us living by showing us the truth that will free us from our old intolerant ways. Realizing we need God's help to pull us out of the ugliness of hateful attitudes toward others is a good place to start.
