In the tech world, the word ‘disruption’ is used a lot – and often times inaccurately because it is kind of hip these days to say your business is disrupting something.

In his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, Harvard professor Clay Christensen defines disruption this way, ‘A disruptive product addresses a market that previously couldn’t be served by the incumbent because it would be unprofitable given the incumbent’s business model.’ So Coursera’s massive, open, online classes are disrupting higher education because a traditional university wasn’t built to make money that way, while Tesla’s electric cars are not disruptive because GM or Ford are already making electric vehicles.

Reading this Sunday’s Gospel it’s tempting to say Jesus is out to disrupt. What else do we make of sayings like this: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword?”

However, it may be more productive to see Jesus less as a disrupter and more of a reformer who was actually out to point us back toward what we already know, show us how we are missing it, and tell us how we might move forward.

When Jesus talks about loving God more than a person (even if it’s your mom) he’s simply echoing the first commandment. When he says that only those people who take up the cross and follow him are worthy of him, he’s harkening back to the Israel’s radical commitment to, ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body.’ In other words, the only way Jesus can be seen as a disrupter is if our lives are so far removed from these convictions that this kind of dedication totally rocks our worlds.

And I don’t think it does. If you’re like me, your prayers often contain the sentiment, ‘Take me Lord, take this situation, take these people around me, and may your will be done.’ I think what Jesus is looking for is a people who will remember who they are and realize that the call to stay rooted in God is our challenge - which is actually quite sacrificial and counter to much of our instinct and environment.

The questions this brings up, then, have to do with how much you and I are giving ourselves to God. Are we generous to those in need? Are we attentive to those who inconvenience us? Are we looking out for the concerns of others before ourselves? This will be more disruptive to some people and not so much to others. My prayer is that we would increasingly find ourselves in the latter category.

Reading:

Learning to Dream – Samuel Wells

Shaping the Prayer of the People – Wells/Kocher

If You Meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him – Lewis-Anthony