Smartphones and the Jesus Creed
Issue 034
OCTOBER 3, 2018
WRITTEN BY CODY MCMURRIN
The year that I was born there were less than 600 webpages.
Today, I visit that many in a week.
One year old and laptops came onto the scene. Two...email. Then things moved fast. Especially with the smartphone.
In our pocket we have access to unlimited amounts of information. But do we go to our phones for information or escape? When you are waiting on someone, do you pull your phone out to feel less alone or to seem busy?
I enjoy connection and information. I love what our smartphones offer us, but all of this comes at a cost.
It’s no one’s fault. We inherited our world. Filled with connection. Filled with escape. Now, today, we have the opportunity to live well in it. And I think the Jesus tradition has a lot to say about it.
Matthew narrates a few stories in his gospel where religious elites are trying to trip Jesus up. In the last of them, he gets asked an easy question: “What is the greatest commandment?”
Jesus responds as the crowds expected with an ancient answer from Deuteronomy, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Everyone in the crowd would have had this memorized. They already knew the answer.
But then,
He does something surprising. He gives another commandment. This one from Leviticus. And not only does he give this commandment, Jesus claims that this commandment is “like it” in greatness: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
What does this teaching from an ancient gospel account have to do with your smartphone? Pay attention to the “when” from Deuteronomy.
“Often, I pull out my phone, which has virtual access to the entire world, to avoid looking at the real world that’s right in front of me, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them...
...when you sit in your house
...when you walk by the way
...when you lie down
...and when you rise.”
Do you see it?
Most of the time, that’s when I’m on my phone.
Often, I pull out my phone, which has virtual access to the entire world, to avoid looking at the real world that’s right in front of me, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
This week we have the opportunity to take advantage of these “micro-moments” - these fleeting times during the inbetween - and remember the love of God and his love for those around us.
Take the opportunity to experience the beautiful image of God within everyday people around you today. Take the opportunity to practice loving one another as God has loved and poured out grace onto you. It might just change the world.