As Jesus concludes his series of parables in Matthew chapter 13, he asks his listeners, "Have you understood all this?" They answer, "Yes." Then he says to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of their storeroom treasures new and old." (Matthew 13:51 and 52)

In recent years, I often sense that I understand less and less about how various people in our democracy are understanding what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

In his New York Times column yesterday, Charles Blow explores this conundrum, highlighting how various members of our body politic have very different definitions of what it means to be Christian in our society today. As he notes, "One survey respondent described Christian nationalism as 'patriotic Christians who believe in God, family and country, morality and kindness.'" He surmises "that many people just think of Christian nationalists as patriotic white people who go to church...."

Charles Blow goes on to propose that "Christian nationalism isn’t merely 'patriotic Christians' and it’s not Christianity, but rather, as the University of Oklahoma sociologist Samuel Perry put it, can be understood as 'an impostor Christianity that uses evangelical language to cloak ethnocentric and nationalist loyalties.'" Offering his own set of definitions to help describe our current societal situation, Blow writes that "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is trying to make his [stand] as the country’s chief Christian nationalist, a subset of white supremacy that holds that God has ordained America as a Christian nation, and that its ideals must be protected from the encroachment of pluralism — racial, religious or otherwise."

Helping people to discern what kind of values and actions are faithful to the spiritual vision Jesus preached and embodied is at the heart of what Matthew, a Jewish scholar and teacher, was seeking to accomplish in the writing of his gospel. In his diverse first century spiritual community of Jews who were drawn to Jesus, Matthew could not possibly expect that everyone would end up seeing things the way he did. But he was dedicated to making it possible for readers to understand the Jesus he knew and loved. (I am thankful for Anthony J. Saldarini's 1994 book, Matthew's Christian-Jewish Community, for its illuminating insights about Matthew's first century context, audience, and purposes.)

More tomorrow!!

Previous entries in this week's series, "Hot Summer Reading: Precisely the Parables We Need Right Now!!!" can be found by clicking on the Earlier Reflections link at the top of this page.