Of course our judgments about such things are hardly fool proof. As the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham points out, we sometimes categorize things incorrectly.
In our highly polarized culture, this categorizing tendency can cause real problems. For example, Republicans can assume than anything a Democrat says is wrong, and Democrats can assume the same about Republicans. Progressive Christians can dismiss anything coming out of more fundamentalist, evangelical circles, and those evangelicals can feel certain that any progressive is off base and ungodly.
And so we can be fooled by packaging. Truth coming to us from places labeled "bad" is missed, and falsehood coming to us from places labeled "good" gets embraced. The very power and presence of God can saunter right into our midst and be rejected because it lacks the proper packaging.
It happens to Jesus. He visits his hometown and wows the folks there. They are astounded at his wisdom and power, but then they look at the packaging. They know his family, his parents and siblings. He cannot be an important religious figure, "And they took offense at him." The phrase "took offense" is the single Greek word skandalidzo, the root of our words scandalize and scandalous. Jesus' packaging causes a scandal, and so they cannot see his power, wisdom and truth. They cannot see God because the package is "wrong."
If you are anything like me, you probably have those moments when you wish God was more vividly present to you, even moments when God seems totally absent and unavailable to you. But I wonder how often God is right there in front of me and I miss it because of the packaging. I wonder if God becomes incarnate - takes on flesh and draws near to me in someone - and I cannot see it because I "know" that God doesn't look or act like that.
Open my eyes, God, to your presence wherever and in whomever it may be.
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