"God likes mess"

John Frye looks at the contrast between the messy characters in the Bible and our own expectations of tidy, well-manicured lives:

Readers of the Bible discover very soon that the Bible is a messy book. Chocked full of stories—some familiar and others quite odd—and poetry about all kinds of subjects—speech, sex, enemies, searing pain and God—and enigmatic apocalyptic images with fire-breathing dragons and tattoos on the thigh of Son of God, the Bible distances itself from tidy Daily Bread devotionals and crisp, clean “principles” to support an anemic middle-class American life.

We don’t like mess. So we have pursued the self-appointed task of cleaning the Bible up. First, we categorize stuff. Like separating the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle according to color. We end up with piles of verses here and there, but have no clue about the “big picture’ they are supposed to offer. We like our little piles of verses here and there because we can ignore the picture they show us of God, of sin, of our self-absorbed selves. We also miss the variegated colors of grace, redemption and Jesus’ wildly radical life.

The Jesus most of us know is a theological construct whose most important, if not only role is “to get us to heaven when we die.” All that spitting and making mud, all his fierce rebellion from Jewish custom, all his simple stories for the very common people–these things are marginal to his ability to get us to glory at death (or more excitingly, at the rapture).

Good points. I recommend John's whole article.