DRINKING THE KOOL-AID

A recent article (11/20) by Brian Britt in the online newsletter Sightings dealt with the murder-suicide of over nine hundred members of Jim Jones's People's Temple, on November 18, 1978, in Jonestown. Most of us who remember that event remember thinking that those who drank the poison-laden Kool-Aid were simply fanatical followers of Jim Jones and were, simply, crazy. Had we been there, we would never have succumbed to his mesmerizing preaching and never, ever drunk the Kool-Aid.

Probably so. Nothing has changed in the thirty years since. We who were remember that event and those who only know of it either from some class on religious history or religious behavior or because of its anniversary still consider Jones’ followers to have been something less than totally sane. Yet similar occurrences have taken place in the years since, the suicide bombers in Iraq as an example. People from almost Day One have given up their lives in the name of some kind of religion.

Moreover, lest we Christians become too smug in our condemnation of such behavior, we must remember that part of our DNA as followers of Jesus Christ is the willingness to lay down our lives because of what we believe. The early martyrs who willingly walked into the arena with the lions instead of denying their faith were considered to be complete fools by those who delighted in the bloody massacre they were about to observe. Kool-Aid comes in many varieties.

St. Paul reminded his disciples – and you and me as well – that to be a follower of Jesus is foolish in the eyes of the world. “Fools for Christ’s sake” he called himself and all Christians. As far as worldly values are concerned, it is indeed foolish to walk the extra mile with someone we think may never get it no matter how many miles we walk with him. It is crazy to turn the other cheek when you know it will be slapped as well. It is insane to willingly pick up a cross and carry it while everyone with any sense runs as fast as s/he can in the opposite direction.

Yet that is what we are to do and be about as Christians. We do what the world thinks is utterly insane because it is not self-serving but selfless. Perhaps the reason why those who drank the Kool-Aid were looked upon as foolish is that so many of us, especially so many of us who called ourselves Christians, hardly ever did anything anyone would consider foolish. Not only did we not walk the extra mile, we didn’t walk the first one; not only did we not turn the other cheek, we were the one who struck first; not only did we not pick up our cross, we became a cross to others.

It is easy to condemn, or at least judge, those whose actions seem foolish, especially those who are acting the way they believe their faith is calling them to act. It is not so easy to examine our own actions only to discover that we often avoid doing that which our faith in Jesus calls us to do. Before we condemn those who drink or drank the Kool-Aid, we might ask ourselves when was the last time we had taken a drink. When was the last time someone accused us for being foolish because we were doing what our faith demanded?