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| Photo: Versify Life |
The problem in
Western culture isn't that no one has heard of Jesus. Everybody gets the day
off for His birthday. There are more churches per square mile than gas
stations, for crying out loud. His name's used as a swear word, too, so
that covers the delinquent youth bracket. In fact, a lot of us would argue that
there's too much Jesus.
Our culture likes to
mold Jesus into what we want Him to be: A revolutionary. An "I'm
okay, you're okay" sort of guy. A conservative. A liberal. A patriot. A hippie. A pastor. A warrior.
A madman. A figment of imagination. An amalgamation of all kinds of mythology. The
more I read about Jesus in the Gospels, the more I discover someone who didn't
fit in any of those molds.
In the course of all
four Gospels, I've noticed something: Jesus
makes people uncomfortable. He made the ones in religious power
uncomfortable with the way he drew crowds and spoke of the Kingdom of God. They
were uncomfortable to the point of feeling threatened, to the point of turning
Jesus over to undesirable Roman authorities just to be rid of him.
Jesus made his own followers uncomfortable. Take a look at the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5. Yes,
there are the Beatitudes (also known as the "Blessed are the"s), and
it makes you warm and fluffy inside. It should. It's comforting.
And then there's
stuff like this:
"You
have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and
anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who
is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment… And anyone who
says 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matthew 5:21-22)
"But
I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed
adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)
"If
your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is
better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be
thrown into hell." (Matthew 5:29)
"Be
perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
I measure up to
exactly none of those standards. If Jesus is so comfortable, so accepting, why
would he have these words attributed to him? If these standards really are set
this high, I can't reach them on my own.
Jesus
answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as
well."
John
14:6-7, NIV
If you're the sort
that takes the Bible as truth, then the above is an absolute truth. I
understand that not everyone looking at these words is in that same boat. Some
folks don't see the Bible that way. To some, it's a collection of stories. It's
mythology to some. It's downright fraudulent in the eyes of others. No matter
how you see the Bible, look just at the context for what it is: The Jesus that's written about in the Bible is one
that sets an impossible standard, one that's only achieved through Him.
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| Credit: Etsy |
About a month ago,
we were observing communion at church. An older lady was giving out the wafers
to represent the body of Christ. The usual protocol is for the volunteer to
recite some sort of "This is the body of Christ, broken for you" as a
reminder while you take that part of communion. Instead of a scripted
sentiment, this woman clasped her hand over mine, handed me the wafer, and
looked at me sincerely. "Take this and eat. Jesus's body was broken for
you to show you that you are precious. You are beautiful to Him. You are
forgiven." The light in her eyes, the sincerity, the warmth, the almost
pleading way she told me all of this… Guys, I couldn't have heard it any other
way if Jesus himself were saying it to me.
And here's the best part: it's not a message just for me. It's for you. Jesus's body was broken for you. If you were the only soul on earth, He still would have chosen to go through all of it. You are beautiful to Him. You are worth it to Him. You are precious. The question remains: what do you do with all of this?
