Fame has a powerful effect on people, those who become famous and those who pay them inordinate amounts of attention. It can undermine our priorities and cause us to do and say things that don’t reflect our best selves. Who among us, if given the chance to hang out with a celebrity we admired, wouldn’t clear our schedule and get ourselves to wherever the meeting was to take place? I would drop at lot to meet a celebrity I thought was cool – and I’d be pretty sure everyone knew about it! Being connected to famous people can make us feel more important.
People who are famous say it feels odd to receive such attention from total strangers simply because you have a talent or skill or position that gives you exposure. It can be hard to be the object of projection from a public that doesn’t actually know you, but thinks they do. For the very famous, celebrity constricts movement, home life, spontaneity, even families and friends.
So how did Jesus handle it:
At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Without a doubt, Jesus’ fame helped him spread the Good News more widely. It was a factor in attracting followers, who helped spread the Good News more widely still. Yet we also know from the gospels that more than once the crowds kept him from something he was going to do, and he spent long hours teaching and healing all who came to him.
And, of course, fame has an underbelly. The famous can suddenly be deemed – or become – infamous, notorious, the criticism directed toward them all the fiercer because it is distorted adulation. It was the fame generated by Jesus’ raising of Lazarus that sealed his fate with the temple authorities, and we all know how the crowds shouting “Hosanna” as he rode into Jerusalem became mobs crying, “Crucify him” within the space of a few days. We love our heroes – and we love to watch them fall.
Should Christians seek fame? Some star athletes and artists use their celebrity to proclaim their faith, sometimes with mixed results. And we know of pastors who’ve gotten very famous on the Gospel losing their way morally and legally. We might conclude that fame is something not to be sought, but if it comes to you unbidden, it should be managed with all the humility we can muster. As a boss of mine once said, “Don’t put too much stock in your own press releases.”
Jesus became famous out of all proportion to his humble beginnings – his humble human beginnings, that is. From the perspective of his divine origins, his long reign at the “top of the charts” is understandable. But he never acted like a famous person, never claimed prerogatives or favors, never let fame draw him off-mission. He went to the cross like the lowest of criminals – and emerged from the grave the Lord of heaven and earth, whose fame will never diminish, until we all gather in that Land where no one is more valued than anyone else.
Without a doubt, Jesus’ fame helped him spread the Good News more widely. It was a factor in attracting followers, who helped spread the Good News more widely still. Yet we also know from the gospels that more than once the crowds kept him from something he was going to do, and he spent long hours teaching and healing all who came to him.
And, of course, fame has an underbelly. The famous can suddenly be deemed – or become – infamous, notorious, the criticism directed toward them all the fiercer because it is distorted adulation. It was the fame generated by Jesus’ raising of Lazarus that sealed his fate with the temple authorities, and we all know how the crowds shouting “Hosanna” as he rode into Jerusalem became mobs crying, “Crucify him” within the space of a few days. We love our heroes – and we love to watch them fall.
Should Christians seek fame? Some star athletes and artists use their celebrity to proclaim their faith, sometimes with mixed results. And we know of pastors who’ve gotten very famous on the Gospel losing their way morally and legally. We might conclude that fame is something not to be sought, but if it comes to you unbidden, it should be managed with all the humility we can muster. As a boss of mine once said, “Don’t put too much stock in your own press releases.”
Jesus became famous out of all proportion to his humble beginnings – his humble human beginnings, that is. From the perspective of his divine origins, his long reign at the “top of the charts” is understandable. But he never acted like a famous person, never claimed prerogatives or favors, never let fame draw him off-mission. He went to the cross like the lowest of criminals – and emerged from the grave the Lord of heaven and earth, whose fame will never diminish, until we all gather in that Land where no one is more valued than anyone else.
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