I've got a thought running around inTside my head, and it's based on a number of conversations that I've had over the past few months. It's less a thought, more of a question:
Who is Jesus... really?
I haven't answered this question all the way. I don't have any special knowledge. I have read much of the Bible, alongside several differing commentaries, but I still don't understand as much as I'd like to.
What I am beginning to understand is that Jesus gets pigeon-holed quite a bit. He gets put into a box. He gets oversimplified. He gets remade into our image... or into whatever image we want to see.
I take comfort in the fact that we are not the first generation of believers to do this (nor will we be the last.) Even His disciples, and the followers of His disciples, had different ideas about who Jesus was and what Jesus meant to the world.
The following are two most common oversimplifications that I see, and the problems that I find with them.
Jesus as William Wallace
"Jesus Christ is 7 feet tall!"
"Aye, so I've heard... kills men by the hundreds. And if He were here, why He'd consume the unbelievers with fireballs from His eyes, and bolts of lightning from His..."
End of Braveheart quote.
This is the image of Jesus that many people of His time - even His disciples - wanted to make Him into. When He said He brought 'freedom for the captives', they thought He meant, "FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
(Seriously, I'm done now.)
The Messiah was a political savior, and so they wanted Him to kick some Romans in the face. When He talked about the Kingdom of God, they thought He meant a really real Kingdom on Earth.
Immediately, He began confusing them. He talked about the Kingdom belonging to weak people, to poor people, to humble people, to meek people. He called Himself "meek and humble of heart." What kind of a King was this? How was this Messiah going to save them from Rome?
Immediately, He began confusing them. He talked about the Kingdom belonging to weak people, to poor people, to humble people, to meek people. He called Himself "meek and humble of heart." What kind of a King was this? How was this Messiah going to save them from Rome?
Unfortunately, we still make the same mistake today.
I refer everyone to a quote by Mark Driscoll that seriously disturbed me when I read it, and continues to disturb me today.
"There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some
emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a
dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made
pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair
of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo
down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make
someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the
hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can
beat up."
(Blogger's Note: I am not taking on Mark Driscoll's total theology or ministry. In the course of finding the exact wording of this quote, I found many quotes from him that emphasized love and service. Like most of us, I think this man has a mix of great ideas and nutty ideas... I am only talking about this particular quote.)
You actually see two simplifications in the above quote, but the one I focus on is the "prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg..." Just as His original listeners wanted Jesus to kick the teeth out of the Romans' heads, the writer of Revelation (as well as many of its modern readers) really believe that the point of Jesus is that - eventually - He will dispense with the forgiveness and "make someone bleed."
A lot of people who have committed to this image of Jesus don't really want Jesus - they want Zeus. They want William Wallace or John Wayne. They want an action hero, someone who will vindicate their suffering and destroy their enemies. They don't know what to do with a Jesus who went meekly to the cross, who submitted to pain, torture and suffering. They are baffled by a Jesus that cried "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!", as He died - unless it is part of a larger scheme that involves Jesus shooting lightning bolts at the end of time, smiting the ones that He asked forgiveness for, causing a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth.
They want a Warrior-King, not a Prince of Peace. So, talk of forgiveness will always be colored with the smug knowledge that sinners will "get theirs" when Jesus comes back and really saves us.
(I'm not claiming innocence of this simplification. Just because I hate people who hate others, I'm not excused from hating in the first place.)
Jesus As Philosopher
The opposing simplification is the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was a wonderful moral philosopher, and that His death was very sad. The end.
I find myself in conversations like this a lot. I identify myself as a Christian, and I am immediately branded as intolerant, bigoted, or any number of other unflattering things. After some conversation, if the other person becomes convinced that I am not those unflattering things, the conversation turns into something like this:
"I just don't understand why you can't follow the teachings of Jesus, without all the divinity and miracles and stuff. You can be a good person without the superstition."
That's a paraphrase, but the sentiment is always the same: Jesus is alright, as long as it's all about living a decent, moral life. But, you can keep the "Son of God" stuff. You can stuff the miracles, the resurrection, the claim to be "at one" with God.
Christianity is alright, as long as I don't need to believe anything.
I am, unfortunately, guilty of having lived this simplification. I thought, If I just make this about "following" Jesus, de-emphasize the divinity, more people will be interested.
But, then I decided to dig deep into the Gospels. I tried to look at them as independent documents, how people might have viewed them before they became canon, before they were exposed to the other writings. The result was the same: I was confronted by a Jesus who was not simply a moral philosopher. I was confronted by a Jesus that spoke with the authority of Almighty God, who claimed a relationship with YHWH that was blasphemous to the Jewish Temple...
Unless it was true.
I've found myself at odds with Clive Staples Lewis in the past, but I have to agree with his inestimable intellect when he says this:
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the
level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil
of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of
God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a
fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us
not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human
teacher. He has not left that open to us."
Jesus As Jesus
"My teaching is not my own.
It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will,
he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I
speak on my own."
—John 7:16
"I came into the world, to
testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to
me."
—John 18:38
"For the Son of Man came to
seek and to save what was lost."
—Luke 19:10
"It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners."
—Mark 2:17
"Come to me, all you who are
weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light."
—Matthew 11:28-30
"The Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many."
—Matthew 20:28
"The Father judges no-one,
but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the
Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son
does not honour the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth,
whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life
and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will
live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the
Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to
judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a
time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his
voice."
—John
5:21-28
"All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the
very end of the age."
—Matthew 28:18-20
And there you have Him. A King. A Judge. A Servant. A Savior. Gentle. Humble. Teacher. Healer.
The Christ.
He does not always make me comfortable. He calls me to be more than I sometimes want to be. He is Lord and King, Comforter and Friend. He loves, forgives, judges and commands. He speaks with authority. He rages against the temple priests, but refuses to condemn the woman caught in adultery. He forgives the ones who mock, torture and kill Him. He forgives sin, and commands us to "go and sin no more."
I am in awe of Him.
I am comforted by His presence.
I believe Him.
I cannot help but follow Him.
What about you?
My Love to You, Wherever You Are,
Michael Brian Woywood
