We had a chance to get away for a few days this week. The older two kids had a three day excursion known in our family as “Adventure camp.” This is essentially some special time with grandparents doing treasure hunts, etc… our youngest spent a couple of days with her cousin, so Lynn and I were free to spend two nights in Chicago. Of course it is hard to use the word “free” and “Chicago” in the same sentence! Wow, life is expensive there! But we had a relaxing time and enjoyed hanging around the river walk area, mostly watching people and listening to their languages from around the world.
Probably the nicest building in that area is Trump Tower, a city within a city, or to put it more accurately, a rich suburb within a city. The tower looms over the river walk with its shiny brilliance, offering a plush hotel and very high end condos. Right where everyone can see are mounted the gigantic letters… T R U M P. Lynn asked, “What kind of person puts their own name on the building like that?” I joked, “the type of person who would make a wonderful president who can relate to common folks like us!” Probably since Mr. Trump has been in the news so much lately, and because we found ourselves relaxing in the shadow of his buildings, I found myself reflecting on the nature of fame and influence.
When I was younger I used to think the only way to be someone who mattered was to become famous. At one point a good friend confronted me on that character trait and said, “Not everyone can be famous, Cory.” He also nicknamed me “David Koresh” because of my habit of getting large groups of people to do crazy stuff. (Young people, check your 90’s history to get that reference.) That was a wake-up call to me and I began to take notice of people who make an impact without becoming famous. Number one on that list is Jesus.
Jesus? Not famous? Yes that’s right. We always have to remember that at the moment of his death Jesus was perceived by almost everyone to be, as my kids would put it, an “epic failure.” Of course we know now that Jesus rose from the dead and began appearing to people, but as the masses headed home from that year’s Passover celebration, they surely had begun the process of forgetting about Jesus and looking toward the next big thing, whatever that might be.
And yet Jesus is now truly “the famous one” as Chris Tomlin wrote in his song with the same name which is based on Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” The crazy thing is that Jesus became well known simply by maintaining a razor sharp focus on glorifying God, not himself. Unlike the Donald, Jesus did not self-promote.
We live in a culture that glorifies the fantasy of making a name for oneself, for sticking out above the crowd, for being famous. How many TV shows provide an opportunity to grab at that dream? The streets of Chicago are full in the Summertime of performers trying to impress the crowds. But there is no joy, peace, or happiness to be found in the adoration of people. As much as they love you now is proportionate to how much they will hate you later. John wrote about how many believed in Jesus but would not follow because “they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” May it not be so with us!
Cory Grimm