What Are You Famous For?

Isn't that the real question? Isn't that what drives us? Don't we all strive to make our names known for something? Whether it be an artist, a philanthropist, an inventor, or a progenitor of the common good (or evil), we all want to make a mark in this world somehow.

Understandably, not everyone actually wants to be outright famous. There are some people who are quite content working thirty some years in a cubicle. They serve their term, retire, and take up hobbies, some of which, gain them quite a bit of attention. Yes, we all can relate to the desire of being known for something. After all isn't that the point of blogging?

Now, to prove a point, I am calling into question the fame of one of my favorite artists. Running the risk of sacrilege, I call into question the life of John Lennon. Hands down, he is one of the most influential people of the twentieth century, but what was he famous for? Duh, of course he was one of the Fab Four, but did he not also a propagate marital infidelity and proliferate illegal drug use? Didn't he say that "All You Need Is Love" but couldn't work out his own marriage with Cynthia Powell? Despite all of these things that would certainly tarnish my record as a human being, John is remembered as the Dreamer. An altruistic proletariat that inspired a generation for peace. He was the voice that thrust forth a cultural revolution, and despite his propaganda for peace, was ironically murdered by one of his crazed "fans".

Let's think for a moment. How long can this type of fame last? Yes, John helped spark a cultural revolution and a musical revolution here in America from 1964 to the present, but what happens when our culture shifts again? When all of his fans finally die off, what other contributions to society will he be known for? What I am finding these days is that famous people are famous for simply being famous. Another way to look at it is by saying that our heroes are our heroes for doing nothing heroic.

If you are like me, you scarcely remember Virgil. C'mon, the author of the Aeneid!? YEAH! The national epic of ROME! I actually have a copy of the Aeneid sitting on a shelf about eight feet away from me right now, but I have never really been compelled to read it. One day, someone may remember that they have a copy of the White Album sitting eight feet from them, but may be too disinterested to ever give it a listen. Even worse, necessity might take the place of rock and roll and the generations that idolized Lennon will pass away along with his fame.

How tragic would that be? It's almost unimaginable that those in a place of supreme influence would be wasting their time. I guess my point is that there is so much more to life than to endeavor to make a name for yourself. I think Jesus really hammered the point that we should not endeavor to have treasure here, but treasure in heaven. Even on philanthropy Jesus said,

"When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:2-4)

In a wisdom that only Christ can provide, He just flips the whole system on its head.  Yep, there He goes again with all that "If anyone wants to save his life he must lose it" stuff, but I must say He is right.  He's not renowned, even by His critics, as a good teacher for nothing!

In fact, I just got done reading the gospel of Mark.  You know, Mark isn't my favorite book in the New Testament.  I find it a bit dull.  I get tired by the pace that is set by the author.  It just flies in and out of scene.  Christ comes across as this extremely busy servant, being whisked to an fro healing and doing wonders all along the way.  Yet, there is one thing that burns through the pages more than anything else;  the fame of Christ.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  Mark wasn't writing to a Jewish audience, so they wouldn't have been familiar with the coming of Messiah.  They didn't know Jewish eschatology, they had little or no understanding of the covenant relationship with Israel and God, and they certainly did not know the theological nature of this YHWH.  That didn't matter though, because what they did see was the amazing life and person of Christ.

You almost find yourself seated along the road to Jericho, sounding with excitement, calling to Christ with Bartimeous, “Have mercy on me Son of David!”  His fame travelled with Him.  Of course, as with the whole of Scripture, the spotlight is on Christ, but in Mark's rapid fire account, the reader is confronted with simply Christ; his busy life, his miraculous power, and his unmatched fame.  The only thing left to determine was whether you accepted or rejected the account, and in doing so Christ.

Okay, that was a rabbit trail, but really the application.  Nothing in history has been so influential as the life of Christ.  It is often imitated, reconstructed, perverted, mocked, or detested.  I just cannot seem to compare Virgil and Christ or even Lennon and Christ (even though Lennon remarked at one point that the Beatles were "bigger than God").  All jokes aside, we are always one cultural shift away from all of our live's work from becoming null and void.  You never know, the day could come when our biggest stars would be just as relevant as a long forgotten Mesopotamian snake charmer.  Fame comes and goes like a desert wind, rearranging landscapes, and covering the cities of old.  We are only ever one Dark Age away.  Ponder that the next time you schedule classes, take a job, or even write a song.  You might be surprised as to how often our motives, no matter how philanthropic, are truly selfish.

I conclude with a word from Muggeridge,

“I look back on my own fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, the great majority of them convinced, in the words of what is still a favorite song, that, ‘God who’s made the mighty would make them mightier yet.’ I've heard a crazed, cracked Austrian announce to the world the establishment of a German Reich that would last a thousand years; an Italian clown announce that he would restart the calendar to begin his own ascension to power. I've heard a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by the intellectual elite of the world as a wiser than Solomon,more humane than Marcus Aurelius, more enlightened than Ashoka. I've seen America wealthier and in terms of weaponry, more powerful than the rest of the world put together, so that had the American people desired, could have outdone an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale of their conquests.

“All in one lifetime.All in one lifetime. All gone with the wind. England part of a tiny island off the coast of Europe, threatened with dismemberment and even bankruptcy. Hitler and Mussolini dead, remembered only in infamy. Stalin a forbidden name in the regime he helped found and dominate for some three decades. America haunted by fears of running out of those precious fluids that keep her motorways roaring, and the smog settling, with troubled memories of a disastrous campaign in Vietnam, and the victories of the Don Quixotes of the media as they charged the windmills of Watergate.

“All in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.”

“Behind the debris of these self-styled, sullen supermen and imperial diplomatists, there stands the gigantic figure of one person, because of whom, by whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope. The person of Jesus Christ.”