Conor McGregor Says He Can Beat Up Jesus - A Spiritual Response

Many Christians reacted in anger to UFC Fighter, Conor McGregor's comments about being able to "whoop" Jesus in the Octagon if he were alive.  In fact, Wanderlei Silva said he would slap Conor in the face if he ever saw him.  I think Jesus appreciates a man like Wanderlei because he reminds him of the Apostle Peter!  Silva is not the first or the last to want to slap someone in the name of Jesus.

However, there are a few reasons why I do not find McGregor's comments offensive nor do I want to slap him in the face or like Peter, want to take a knife to his head.

First of all, who am I to go after someone else's sins?  I have way too much evil in my own heart to deal with before I start policing others.  And this is the catch all that stops "motivated" Christians from going after homosexuals, celebrities, homosexual celebrities and all forms of "sinners;" namely, the sobering fact that if we're honest enough to admit it, we cannot talk about the plank in someone else's eye because we have a log in our own eye.  But if we are Pharisees, then we can't see our own sin.  In fact our prayer is, "thank God I'm not like THAT guy."  Sound familiar?  Check out Luke 18:11:

"The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector"

Jesus abhors the self-righteous.  And the Church is full of this flavor of hypocrisy.  Church goers who "don't smoke, chew or go with the girls who do..."  Christians who define themselves by what they don't do, how well they know the Bible or how well they can drop theological terms and most of all are glad they aren't like "those sinners."  Let's be honest.  We are all self-righteous.

Second, let us challenge ourselves to wage war on our own sin rather than on unbelievers who act like unbelievers.  When believers wage war on sin, they dive in to gospel saturated community marked by confession, repentance and life on life living.  We walk in the freedom that Christ purchased with his life by exposing the deeds of darkness.  We flesh out community by confessing our sins one to another as a role model of rejecting the lies of shame and guilt.

Who is more evil and offensive in God's sight?  A guy who ignorantly suppresses the truth and mocks Jesus openly or a Pharisee who looks good on the outside, people trust him, and has a wicked and evil heart.  One wears his feelings on his sleeve and deceives no one whereas the other is deceiving thousands with his books, fake smile and false doctrines.  People empty their pockets for the evil pastor who hides behind his pulpit, but nobody ever put money in an offering plate for McGregor.

We don't blame a blind man for walking into a wall and we wont' find offense when a blind man tells us we are ugly.  On the other hand, the Church is full of people who think they're righteous because of what they do, how much theology they know and how fluent they are in Christianese.

The spiritual life is not one of pointing out the crazy things that non-believers say and do, but rather a life of confession, repentance and the building up of the body of believers.

This is probably an unorthodox response to Conor McGregor's comments, but I think it is a biblical one.  Leave him a lone and wage or on  your greatest enemy; the evil in your  heart.  Once that is settled, go get him!