I have a question that needs answered. It seems like such a simple question at first, but then why is it still so hard to grasp? The question is, "Who is Jesus?"
For a good portion of my life now, I've heard about Jesus, what he's done, where he's from, what he's said. But when I try to learn of his personality, my mind seems to be pulled in multiple directions.
This is a problem. It's a problem because we are called to be imitators of this Jesus. He is our example, our guide, and the head of our faith. How are we supposed to imitate someone when we don't know what to imitate?
Jesus may be the author and perfecter of our faith, but what did he laugh at? He was sinless, but what sins were he tempted by? He loved the lost, healed the sick, taught the crowds, but what were his feelings like? The bible presents us with lots of characteristics, but which of those are simply descriptive of him, and which are prescriptive for us as his imitators. Which characteristics are we to imitate and what do these characteristics really look like? Who is Jesus and what would he do if he were in my shoes right now?
Many people remember the WWJD phase that went rampant a while back. What Would Jesus Do? It's disheartening and more than annoying that because of it's popular kick this question has become a cliche to be laughed at and ignored. But what better question is there? What Jesus would do is the number one first thing every Christian should think about wherever they are. It's in our very title, "Christian" that we are given this great calling. The first Christians were given the term "little Christs" because they did the things that he did. They asked themselves "What would Jesus do in the situation?", then they actually did it. So they were dubbed Christians for their representation of him. I can't help but notice that that apple has not only fallen far from that tree, but it has rolled down a long mountain. I say this because I look at the church today, and cannot honestly say that the people there represent Jesus enough to fulfill the title "little christs".
A couple months ago I was in a conversation with a few people here at SBU and the topic came around to what our personal denominations were. One girl in the group gave the typical answer (not negative, I get her point, but still a typical answer) that she is just a follower of Christ. And someone else in the group, an incredibly thought-provoking man, said these words, "Do you really think that you follow Christ?" I haven't forgotten this because after a little reflection the honest answer that came to my mind was "No".
No I don't follow Christ. I can't honestly see him doing the things that I do. I can't see him sleeping in, I can't see him playing video games, I know he wouldn't say some of things I say, I don't see him laughing at some of things I laugh at. I don't know how he would be able to have the down time I have, I'm certain he wouldn't be stealing silverware from the school cafeteria, (no matter how justified I feel when I do it). And he wouldn't speed either. I also don't think he would eat the same things as me, and certainly not as much, or even with the same people.
When I look at this further, I don't even know how much of the religious things I do Christ would do. Would Christ go to my church, or a church at all? or would he be to busy helping the poor? Would he be the pastor? Would he be a sunday school teacher? Would he even attend sunday school? Would he go to a house church? How much would he tithe? Would he have anything to tithe? Where would the rest of his money go? Would he even have a job or would his ministry be taking the rest of his time?
Then with his personality there are even more questions: What would he be angry at? Would get in arguments with people about religion? Who, if he lived near me, would he be hanging out with? Would he support the president? Would he support the military? Would he wear cool clothes? Would he shop at a mall? Would he come with us if we were doing something he disaproves of? Would he read a lot? What authors would he read from? Would he speak to us in parables? with poetry? with slang? Would he play a board game? Would he have more hang out time or bible study?
That's a lot of questions. Many more than I think I will ever actually be able to answer. But there are answers to some of these in the Bible. Jesus' personality is displayed in what is written about him in that great collection of writings. There are 4 different portraits of what Jesus would do at the beginning of the New Testament. Not just one, there are four. I think this is because Jesus' personality cannot be summed up by what just one of them saw his personality as. In the Bible Jesus gives me some of the answers to the questions I have.
From what the Bible says I know that Jesus would help the poor. From what Jesus said I know that he would help the widows, I know that he would help the orphans. I know that Jesus would spend his money much more benevolently. I know that he would give it to the poor. Jesus would instruct those younger and older than him. Jesus would heal the sick and give sight to the blind. Jesus would be a peacemaker, he would mend wrongs, he would fight with love, because it's like burning coals on his enemies heads. I think Jesus would live homeless and lonely. I beleive he get the attention of everyone around him then focus their attention to God. I'm pretty sure Jesus would live with lost people. I'm certain Jesus would hang out with lost people. I have no doubt that Jesus would love lost people. And I know that Jesus was persecuted and died for lost people. Jesus' example was to go against the grain, rebel from the unjust laws of our nation, be a barbarian for the faith. He was jailed, he was going to be stoned, thrown off a cliff, and thrown out of towns. He was whipped with lashes 39 times. He was beat up, spit upon, and disrespected. I know that he gave hope to those who have none. I know he washed the feet of his servants. I know he taught with God's authority. I know that he fed the hungry, and quenched the thirst of many, both literally and spiritually. And I know that he impacted the world by laying down his life for his friends, and for his enemies.
I also know that I do none of these things.
Do you?
Jesus gave us his life and then said go and do likewise. I believe that that means everything he did. In Romans 8 and in 2 Timothy 3 Paul talks about how a proof that you are living out the faith is when you're coming upon the same trials that Jesus did. He felt that when he was put in jail, stoned, lashed, and ship-wrecked, it was a proof that he was doing what Jesus did, cause he facing the same consequences. I do not have those same trials. In fact, I'm pretty content with how my life is going. There is little trial and little hassle, there is no persecution, no jail time. I have no threats on my life nor am I losing friends and family. This is because I'm not living like Jesus.
I am not an imitator of Christ and therefore do not deserve his name for me. The term "little christ" should be my goal, not my title.
Certainly because of Jesus' sinless life, a perfect imitation will never be achieved. But I know that I'm still nowhere near where I ought to be. But, and I'll end my point with this, in the midst of my inadequacies, my laziness, selfishness, and moral disgrace, Christ is there; picking me up at all of those places where I fall short. It makes me begin to understand what Jesus means when he says that:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
- 2 Corinthians 12
don't be content,
Andy Sander
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
that my friend was freaking awesome, lets co-write a book and not get it published
ReplyDeleteandy....it sounds like God is after you...if he gets ahold of you...he'll ruin you life.....you better run while you got the chance!
ReplyDeleteDude, Andy. This is really challenging and good.
ReplyDeletePlease keep blogging!
Three comments, abridged believe it or not, submitted by me, Ben B.:
ReplyDelete(1) Mary gave birth to Jesus a couple thousand years ago, not a couple decades ago. In a certain sense, I think the question WWJD? is slightly irrelevant. For a divine, mysterious, purpose, He was not born during the time of automobiles, television, internet, shopping malls and Protestant, denominational, Christianity. Perhaps I'm merely nit-picking over vocabulary, but maybe a better line of questioning would begin by asking, "What would Jesus want me to do in this situation in order to move closer to becoming a son of God?" Perhaps sometimes God wants us to fail, prompting the question afterwards, "What would Jesus HAVE DONE and how should I act in the future?"
(2) I was reading this last night:
"The process of being turned from a creature into a son would not have been difficult or painful if the human race had not turned away from God centuries ago.
...When you find yourself wanting to turn your children, or pupils, or even your neighbors, into people exactly like yourself, remember that God probably never meant them to be that. You and they are different organs, intended to do different things.
...To put it bluntly, you are 'dressing up as Christ'. If you like, you are pretending. Because, of course, the moment you realise what the words mean, you realise that you are not a son of God. You are not a being like The Son of God, whose will and interests are at one with those of the Father: you are a bundle of self-centred fears, hopes, greeds, jealousies, and self-conceit, all doomed to death. So that, in a way, this dressing up as Christ is a piece of outrageous cheek. But the odd thing is that He has ordered us to do it. Why? What is the good of pretending to be what you are not? ... You see what is happening. The Christ Himself, the Son of God who is man (just like you) and God (just like His Father) is actually at your side and is already at that moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality.
...You are no longer thinking simply about right and wrong; you are trying to catch the good infection from a Person. It is more like painting a portrait than like obeying a set of rules. And the odd thing is that while in one way it is much harder than keeping rules, in another way it is far easier. The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to 'inject' His kind of life and thought, His 'Zoe', into you.
...And now we begin to see what it is that the New Testament is always talking about. It talks about Christians 'being born again'; it talks about them 'putting on Christ'; about Christ 'being formed in us'; about our coming to 'have the mind of Christ'. Put right out of your head the idea that these are only fancy ways of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out - as a man may read what Plato or Marx said and try to carry it out. They mean something much more than that. They mean that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has. At first, only for moments. Then for longer periods. Finally, if all goes well, turning you permanently into a different sort of thing; into a new little Christ, a being which, in its own small way, has the same kind of life as God; which shares in His power, joy, knowledge and eternity.
...We begin to notice, besides our particular sinful acts, our sinfulness; begin to be alarmed not only about what we do, but about what we are.
...After the first few steps in the Christian life we realise that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God. ... We, at most, allow it to be done to us.
...The ordinary idea which we all have before we become Christians is this. ... Some of the things the ordinary self wanted to do turn out to be what we call 'wrong': well, we must give them up. Other things, which the self did not want to do, turn out to be what we call 'right': well, we shall have to do them. But we are hoping all the time that when all the demands have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, and some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. He pays them all right, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on. ... The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says 'Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.
...The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self - all your wishes and precautions - to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call 'ourselves', to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be 'good'.
...The command 'Be ye perfect' is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose - He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.
...Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth. Some, as I have admitted, are still hardly recognisable: but others can be recognised. Every now and then one meets them. Their voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognisable; but you must know what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of 'religious people' which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less. ... They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from. When you have recognised one of them, you will recognise the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognise one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of colour, sex, class, age, and even of creeds. In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society. To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun."
(C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" (book 4))
(3) "I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it....Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked."
I really think that we (almost every one of us) haven't begun to grasp this statement. I truly believe that we haven't begun to comprehend what it means to hand over the whole natural self and condemn it to death. I think that becoming a little Christ is something unfathomable. We can't understand the LIFE that Christ wants to give us because we can't understand, or are afraid to accept, the radical sacrifice it takes on our part to receive it.