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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in Gods work to save the world.

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

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Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?
by: Chaplain Jarrod Cochran

Jesus said that the gate is narrow and few will enter into the kingdom of God. Despite the majority of opinion in Christian circles that tend to believe Christ was referring to those that do not believe in him, I think Jesus was focusing more so on those who claim to follow him, but through their words and actions, lead a life that reflects the exact opposite. Somehow we've ignored the majority of teachings and examples of Jesus and created new texts for our biblical cannon: the Gospels of Judgment and Escapism.

Where did we get the notion that following Jesus simply means that you can escape this world into another? How did Christianity come to be reduced to a sales-pitch, peddling "Fire Insurance"? Don't get me wrong, eternal life is a great thing, but as minister and author Dr. Tony Campolo often states, being a Christian is not about some "pie-in-the-sky-go-to-heaven-when-you-die religiosity."

Are we not supposed to be the light of the world; the salt of the earth? How can we be the agents of change that God calls us to be if we simply focus on the hereafter? How can anyone hear the good news of the Gospel if we're all in our air-tight bomb shelters disguised as churches awaiting Christ's return? How attractive does following Jesus look to others who only hear and see "Christian" leaders side with the richest, the strongest, the warmongers, and the elite of our world?

I contend that if Jesus were to show up in many of the churches in America today, he would promptly be shown the door. You see, we're afraid of Jesus, we're afraid of his radical nature, and his controversial lifestyle. This is why we debate so much over church doctrine and other silliness like the color of the church carpet: We realize that if we actually focused our attention on what Jesus taught, we'd actually have to change the way we live our lives.

Let's be honest, we American Christians don't worship Christ; we worship our nation and its ideals. We preach that we gain freedom and liberty through force. Jesus teaches us that the things we believe grant us liberty often enslave us and that freedom is only gained through surrender and sacrifice (please refer to the cross of gold around your neck if you believe otherwise). We preach that might makes right. Jesus, however, blesses those who are peacemakers and calls them sons and daughters of God. We exclaim that our current wars are acts of justice and retribution and pass bills allowing our government to torture our prisoners – guilty or innocent. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to do good to those who persecute us, and to not return evil with another evil.

We mock and chastise the illegal immigrants in our nation and demand that they "go back to where they came from" (which is sadly ironic, since my Native American wife reminds me that all of us are descendants from the first illegal immigrants). However, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves and illustrates this great love we should have with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

We demean and categorize the weakest among us, claiming that all the poor are "Welfare leeches" and deserve to be where they're at because they brought it upon themselves. The Gospels blatantly reveal that Jesus was homeless; he lived and died a pauper and depended on the kindness of others for his bed and his "daily bread". Jesus was one of the poverty-stricken that we debase today and a reading of the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46) clearly shows that he aligns himself with the poor and vulnerable even now.

We are infatuated with this

Comments

Jarrod:

You raise very important key issues, thanks for your commentary today. Like the third and fourth centuries we today are in a christological battle for the real Jesus; when so many proclaim a triumphalist Jesus that fits their political agenda, when scholars announce a stripped down Jesus unworthy of worship, when Jesus is paraded before us no longer as Lord and Savior but as Master of cultural values, we must dissent and name heresy.

For the early church, Jesus was everything and you could tell who Jesus was by the character and conduct of the church. Like you, I look around at corporate expressions of Christianity and I don't see much congruence between the Jesus of the canonical gospels and contemporary Christianity. So proclaim Him we must in spite of all opposition. Jesus is still and always will be the Lord, the Surprise of our lives and our theologies.<

Posted by: michael hardin

This article is very timely for me as our family is going through a rough time with our Church leaders because we have invited a number of illegal Mianmar people and their children to attend Bible Study and for our worship services. Leaders are concerned that the authorities of Government will come after us. Very beneficial article which encourages me to go forward to teach these people.

Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you.
Nalini<

Posted by: Mdm. Nalini

What would Jesus do?

I've spent over 5,000 hours writing what Jesus would do to help solve world problems. It is all at www.globalpublic.org.

If you find anything at this website that Jesus would not approve of -- or support -- please let me know immediately, and I will change it.

Best regards,

Ross King<

Posted by: Ross King

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