Apparently, Pope Francis dropped the F-bomb. Except, not really. If you read up on the story, it seems he mispronounced a word that sounded similar to the Italian word for “penis.”
Why is this news?
Probably because it’s funny. But also because our culture has a decidedly limited idea of what makes for a Jesus follower.
For decades, we’ve promoted a gospel of “sin management.” As Pastrix Nadia Bolz-Webber says, we’ve gotten really good at “not doing things.” As the tirade goes “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance, don’t chew, and don’t go out with girls who do.”
The reason this is a news story is because some in our host culture and many Christians think “doesn’t cuss” is a good description of following Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we should always strive to use our tongue in ways that are in line with his teachings. This probably means that we should be careful about the language we use.
However, we must also recognize that it is time to deeply reevaluate what we need to be known for in the 21st century. To be crass, we should ask two questions:
- Do we think that Jesus died to save us from the F-Bomb? (Or alcohol, dancing, people with alternative lifestyles, dirty drinking water, etc.)
- If following Jesus means more than avoiding a few “no-nos,” then what does it mean?
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