Sermons for the Month
Bobos for Jesus
DATE: February 11, 2001
SERVICE: Epiphany VI
TEXT: Luke 6:17-26“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
This is a test. Have you ever been inside a Restoration Hardware Stores- one of those upscale stores where you can buy a set of six Optimista Pessimista Glasses, Sabatier stainless steel steak knives or a Metropole Makeup Mirror? At breakfast this morning, did your coffee cost more than your newspaper? Do you buy only those cosmetics that swear that no animals were killed or tested to help make you beautiful? Do you consider yourself a paradigm-shifting, change-embracing Knowledge Worker? One who lives by the click and dies by the click? One for whom work is both a source of income and a search for meaning? If you can answer "Yes" to any of these questions, congratulations. You're a Bobo. Not a "Bozo" ... a Bobo. You've earned a spot in the ruling class of contemporary American culture. The term comes from David Brooks' new book, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. It means that you have BOurgeois values combined with BOhemian attitudes. You are blending the mainstream and the countercultural, marching into the executive suite with scuffed shoes on your feet, a Supersoaker water cannon in your grip, and a cockatoo perched on your shoulder. A few years ago, you would have been a "yuppie" (Young Urban Professional). Or a DINK (Double Income - No Kids). Before that, you were one of the kids who tried to please your elders by doing everything right: getting good grades, doing homework, taking advanced-placement calculus, going to an ivy league college. Now you're sitting pretty as perhaps a new dot.com MOP (Millionaire-On-Paper) sipping Starbucks coffee from a Pottery Barn mug while writing an Internet business plan on your iBook. If not a MOP, then at least a Bobo, and as a well-educated Information Age lion or lioness, you have moved to the head of the pack and created a Bobo establishment ruled by smart, ambitious, anti-establishment people like yourself. Yes, your establishment is antiestablishment. But watch out. The party may be over. Have you seen the stock market lately? You may already be slipping from power and on the way out. Not only that but studies have shown that there is actually an inverse relationship between academic success and entrepreneurial achievement - meaning that people with high SAT scores are not the risk-takers and innovators of today or tomorrow. Think of the brightest lights of the new economy: Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the rapper Master P and Steven Spielberg, for example. They're all college dropouts. In fact, in a Fortune Magazine study of the 40 richest people in America under 40, only two had an Ivy League education. Tomorrow's movers and shakers are less likely to be Harvard grads as they are to be Harvard dropouts. Many of America's smartest teenagers are not struggling to ace their achievement tests - instead, they're starting Web-based businesses. And the changes just keep coming. First we had an aristocracy, with an elite class grounded in bloodlines. Then we developed a meritocracy, where a person became part of the Bobo elite through academic achievement. Now we're moving into what might be called an "artocracy," an elite class based on mastery of the visual arts, music and drama and/or a technocracy of out-of-the-box thinkers and entrepreneurs. With our culture constantly churning, there's simply no way to stay on top for long. This is as true today as it was when Jesus thundered in our good news text for this morning, (Reading from the Contemporary English Version) "But you rich people are in for trouble. You have already had an easy life! You well-fed people are in for trouble. You will go hungry! You people who are laughing now are in for trouble. You are going to cry and weep! (Luke 6:24-25). Jesus knows that neither the literati nor the digerati will rule forever. Even they are going to forget to connect all the dot.coms and find themselves on the outside looking in. New leaders are going to rise up, both in the transient kingdoms of this world and in the eternal kingdom of God. So who makes up the ruling class - the establishment elite - in the kingdom of heaven? The aristocrats? The Bobos? The artocrats? The technocrats? Or someone else? Today's text in Luke is a version of the Beatitudes, and it describes the distinctive lifestyle of a child of the kingdom, not a child of the new economy. Followers of Jesus are called to an antiestablishment establishment - a network made up of the poor, the hungry, the heartbroken, and the oppressed - an establishment that depends on God for its survival and salvation. If we move forward into the teachings that follow this passage, Jesus goes on to suggest even more counter-intuitive ideas: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you" (vv. 27-31). It's clear that Christians are to reject bourgeois values, while retaining a bohemian countercultural mindset. So, if you think about it, we're really not supposed to be "Bobos for Jesus" - bourgeois bohemians for the Lord. Better to call ourselves "Jesus bohemians." Jebos ... not Bobos. Jebos are the ruling class of the kingdom of heaven. The establishment elite. Of course, it sounds a little odd to use the term "ruling class," since God alone is the king of this divine establishment. Nor can we be said to be "elite" in an earthly sense, since a leader who follows Jesus is always and in every way a servant of other people. If we aspire to be Jebos, then we had better get used to having a different understanding of what it means to be an elite ruling class - we're going to be elitists who turn the other cheek, and rulers who give to everyone who asks for help. "Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return," says Jesus to his Jebos. "Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High" (v. 35). This status as children of the Most High God is the highest honor that a Jebo desires because as children of God we are given a place in his coming kingdom, a place where our hunger will be filled and our sadness will be replaced by joy. Rejoice in your days of persecution and "leap for joy," advises Jesus - "for surely your reward is great in heaven" (v. 23). True Jebos look first and foremost to God for sustenance and salvation, trusting that they will someday be "Jebos in Paradise." Talk about your paradigm-shifting, change-embracing occupations! If you are a Knowledge Worker on a search for meaning, then look no farther than the teachings of Jesus. If you do, you'll become a leader, not a loser. You'll become more empathetic and understanding as you put yourself in situations where people are in need - places such as elementary schools where kids need tutors; Habitat for Humanity where would-be-homeowners need a helping hand, OPEN M helping with their food banks, Hospice where grief and pain can only be tempered by compassion. You'll become a more giving person as you engage in generous acts - not just once, but again and again. Jane Piliavin, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin, has discovered that repeat blood donors make the act of giving part of their sense of self, so that if they were to stop they would feel as if they had lost something of themselves. Others start to view them as the kind of person who helps, so they end up with both internal and external encouragement to continue. There is a sense in which a Jesus person stands apart, over and against the culture, defying conventional wisdom. This need not always imply hostility or antagonism, but does suggest that a Christian functions at a different level and on a higher plane. Sip your lattes, and enjoy Restoration Hardware. But remember that we, too, are in the restoration business - the restoration and refinishing of souls as well as the political and cultural context in which these souls must survive. Such a mission calls for fresh and innovative ideas; just the task for us Faith Lutheran Jebos. AMEN