Obscurity: a concept
My first post—reflections on the spiritual discipline of obscurity and how obsessed our culture is with Being Remembered.
Starting is always a challenge. An empty page can be very intimidating. I tend to want all of my thoughts to be refined, perfectly articulated, and deeply researched before I share them, especially in such an open setting as this. But that’s a part of this experiment and process: me learning to express my brainwaves coherently, letting go of some perfectionism, and practising the discipline of Writing.
Thanks for coming along on this journey with me :)
Reflections on obscurity
Our culture is terrified of obscurity, of not being remembered—or worse, of being remembered for the wrong thing; being on ‘the wrong side of history’. Gary Vaynerchuk, internet guru, ‘serial entrepreneur and investor’1 warns:2
Never ever waver. Be on the record. Don’t be on the wrong side of history.
I have believed that lie for a long time. I easily fell, and fall, prey to the idea that my worth as a human being comes from if, or how, I am remembered by future generations.3
I believe obscurity to be a spiritual discipline4 that Jesus Himself practised, especially in the days before His public ministry. Let’s face it: we know very little about Jesus’ life outside of His teaching. There are no written records of anything He did between the age of twelve and thirty—that’s a pretty long time!
Many people refer to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as ‘biographies of Jesus’5—and in a sense, that is true. But at the same time, an argument from F. F. Bruce comes to mind:
‘Our gospels are the transcript of the apostles’ preaching and teaching. And that is why they are not biographies, for the primitive Christian message was not concerned with the biographical interest of Jesus’ life, but with… the salvation made available to men and women.’6
I’m not sure if I agree with that or not. Nonetheless, my point remains: there’s a lot we don’t know about the everyday life of Jesus, beyond His teaching and patterns of living as recorded in Scripture. As much as possible, it seems to me that He lived a life of obscurity and regularly retreated to a ‘solitary place’.7
A deep part of me is afraid of life slipping through my fingers and that I won’t have done anything. What does it mean to have Done Something? It’s an elusive concept that lives in my mind—but it returns to the Gary V quote, and the idea of Being Remembered for a positive impact that you’ve had on the world.
This desire to make a difference isn’t all a bad thing. As followers of Jesus, we are called to fundamentally change culture and embrace the upside-down kingdom8 of God. The prayer of Susanna Wesley echoes through my heart:
Dear God, guide me. Make my life count.9
As the youngest of twenty-five children, it seems unlikely that she would Do or Become anything. In faithfully raising her many (about twelve?) children, she paved the way for her son John to catalyse the Methodist movement. A lot of her life was lived in obscurity, but her name is ultimately written down in (church) history books.
Yet there have been millions of faithful women and men who are not written down in history, who have completely changed it.
In a culture that values popularity, greatness, success, and is deeply afraid of failure, we are called to see things differently:
It comes down to four key differences. The world’s discipleship says, ‘be popular’; Jesus’ discipleship says, ‘reject popularity, be popular with me’. The world’s discipleship says, ‘be great’; Jesus’ discipleship says, ‘reject greatness-ism, be great with me’. The world’s discipleship says, ‘be successful’; Jesus’ discipleship says, ‘reject success-ism, be a success with me.’ The world’s discipleship says, ‘avoid suffering and failure’; Jesus’ discipleship says, ‘embrace suffering and failure, be faithful to Me.’
—Pete Scazzero10
This is still a new concept to me, and I have a long way to go. But I think it’s worth starting a discussion on. When we talk about or write about things, it helps us become aware of them.
May you trust God with your legacy.
Recommendations
Currently reading: Paradise Lost by John Milton. Also, the Psalms and Exodus.
Podcast recommendation: This is an incredibly insightful interview between John Mark Comer and J. T. Thomas. It gives you a lot to think about. (I AM VERY VERY EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK.)
Song of the week: ok, so I really don’t like to like mainstream Christian music. But even though it’s from Elevation, this song, Jireh, has been on repeat in my head. It’s reassuring to be reminded that God is my Provider despite all external circumstances.
Ok, that’s all! Have a lovely week.
May God fill you with grace and peace in abundance.
— Bethany
P. S. Feel free to reply to this post—I’d love to hear your thoughts :)
P. P. S. I don’t think all posts will be quite this long, but there’s a lot of pent-up content in my head to get out in this first one!
Ok so maybe I just searched ‘the wrong side of history quote’—but this is still super insightful. Gary V is seen almost as a warped prophetic father figure in the internet and entrepreneur space by many Gen Zs and Millennials.
This reminds me of the musical Hamilton, and how the protagonist is obsessed ‘with how they perceive you’ and his ‘legacy’ to the point where it destroyed everything good in his life (spoilers, sorry haha!)
This idea was introduced to me through this podcast episode of Fight Hustle, End Hurry by John Mark Comer and Jefferson Bethke
Bridgetown Church, in Portland, Oregon, for example.
Quoted from F. F. Bruce’s book, The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from its first Beginnings to the Conversion of the English (1958). This is a (relatively) old book that I found in a cupboard of my house—I was very pleased to find it—there’s something so charming about finding obscure books that your parents didn’t even know they had.
Luke 4:42 is one example, but instances are littered all throughout the Gospels.
I get the term ‘upside-down kingdom’ from the Bible Project, but others use it too.
You've really touched on a part of my own struggle, I believe, Bethany! My objective in mortal life has, in the past, been to be remembered. But recently I started coming to similar conclusions to you. A very good article, and it's been helpful to me in my thinking!
I was actually thinking about this concept recently as well! I've been considering how work for the kingdom of God can often go unnoticed by the majority of the population, but if it's done truly and honestly for God's purposes, then the Lord's recognition is all that's necessary.
Our church pastor's wife passed away last year, and though I never knew her very well, it hit me unexpectedly hard. She was just the kind of person who shone with God's love on anyone who interacted with her, no matter how fleeting the interaction was. I've never been one to know where God is taking me, but the one thing I do know is I want that to be the impression I have on the minds of people when I am gone. Whatever 'impact' I may or may not have on the world as a whole is not important. How I display God and his unending love is all that I wish to leave here; traces of his glory in the places I walked, the people I spoke to and the things I did.