Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship

by Gregory Boyle

To just say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I’m your biggest fan,” causes him to stare at his watch, tap his feet, and order a double Glenlivet on the rocks with a twist. Fandom is of no interest to Jesus. What matters to him is the authentic following of a disciple. We all settle for saying, “Jesus,” but Jesus wants us to be in the world who he is. If you read the Acts of the Apostles, it doesn’t say that people “prayed in tongues” but were suddenly able to hear those around them speaking “in their own native language.” It is, as Marcus Borg points out, “the reversal of Babel,” when languages get confused and division, rivalries, and misunderstanding become commonplace: it’s the polar opposite of kinship, but it’s also the beginning of something: an amazing possibility of reunification. Somehow the highest praise of God is not in speaking unintelligibly but, rather, in speaking a language of inclusion where barriers are dismantled, circles are widened, and no one is left outside. No one. People hear their language spoken and feel brought in and welcomed as never before. Safe to say, this pleases God, because it is God’s only passion.