Jesus Christ

When thinking back upon Palm Sunday and Easter, I began to think about Jesus and His views on politics. Christians have long tried to figure out which side he would be on. I read this great quote about “American Jesus” and his beliefs (not sure who said it).

“Several times during the week, I thought about telling my family what’s happened to Jesus in the United States – how he’s been kidnapped by politicians and preachers who decide what he does and doesn’t think. They speak for him, and it doesn’t always make sense. They say Jesus is ‘pro life,’ but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with the death penalty. And he thinks stem cell research – something that would save lives – is no different from murdering babies. They say he’s the embodiment of kindness, love, decency and compassion. But he hates gays, lesbians and Muslims. And he’s not too crazy about Buddhists, Hindus and the rest. Jews? He can put up with them if he has to.”

If you really boil politics down it is simply the pursuit of power and authority. Christ was pretty clear who has the power and authority: God. It’s his authority and power we should concern ourselves with. What happened to “seek ye first the kingdom of heaven…” Do we do that? How many times we use Jesus as a platform for our own agendas.

So it comes to this: is your life driven by an agenda or a calling?

We are called to follow Christ. Anything short of that is an fallible, self-serving agenda. It’s it about ’my way vs. your way’. But what about His way?

All I know is this - He’s less concerned with any of the political issues of the day and more concerned with the state of our hearts. 

 Will politics save our country? Nope. They never will.  Our only hope is prayer and a pursuit of Christ. His way will always lead to the hurting people, not towards picketing or pushing policy. That was his way. Jesus didn’t concern himself with politics, only people.   

Are we a Christian nation? Ha ha. Don’t even get me started on that one…

Expectation and Anticipation (Palm [A])

“the great sin of white north-american middle-class protestantism is shallow hopelessness, ‘cheap hope.’ we cannot be said to have a gospel because we refuse to know enough of the bad news to prepare our collective soul for the good. our insistence upon being and remaining positive and optomistic is what prevents us from exploring deeply the meaning of hope, biblically understood. we want to have easter sunday without good friday- or better, we desire a friday so ‘good’ that it is no longer for us a sybolic mode of identification with the suffering world.” [douglas j. hall, confessing the faith- 1998.]

It’s the end scene from Braveheart. I was at a conference where John Eldredge was speaking and he described this scene as the most accurate portrayle of Christ’s death (both symbolically and physically). He was beaten, broken, taunted and defamed, but it was all for one purpose. ”Freedom” says it all.

And the scene that follows the death. Men with the heart and charge of their leader, changed forever and giving it all in a fight. Freedom was given to us by Christ, but it’s our fight to claim it and keep it.

Thank you Lord today for your gift of freedom! 

I firmly believe that if we were to have said nothing about this exhibit, it would have made the news and gone away. By giving it spotlight it gives it credence and perpetuates the life of this story. It simply makes Christian Conservatives and Catholics look like idiots.

For my original blog on this go here.  

For some of the press go here [Anderson Cooper]

Listening to our pastor’s Palm Sunday message, I was pondering upon what it would feel like to be a part of the procession welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem. There must have been an amazing electricity - such expectation and anticipation running through the crowd. The heading in my Bible for this section (Luke 19:28-38) reads “The Triumphant Entry.” I think that’s about sums up what was going on that day.

The people had seen Jesus heal and perform miracles, they knew he was their Messiah. Only their definition of Messiah and His were vastly different. They expected a king to take over and liberate them as a people. They wanted a system change. They were looking for power.

Jesus makes his big entrance, then… nothing happens. Well, not nothing, but not what they expected.  The government didn’t change. He didn’t take his place on the throne. And the people with their expectations dashed would soon turn on Him. 

We are no different than them. We hear what we want to hear when it comes to the Lord. There’s a Jesus that we are comfortable with in our lives.  He’s usually more of a servant than a King to us. Kind of a Santa Claus Jesus. We sit on his lap and tell Him what we want. We seldom, if ever, fall at his feet in reverence. If He doesn’t do what we ask (pray) we lose heart and then, how often do we turn our back on Him.

He certainly came for liberation.

He came for transformation.

As we begin to focus on Easter, we must see Jesus for who He is, not what we want Him to be. This in no way diminishes Him. Putting Him in perspective of our own perception diminishes Him. Let us think upon Him as our King, Savior and God. Then that should remind us where we stand. We are simply servants thankful for the gift that was given to us on the cross and solidified Easter morning. Redemption is ours because of Him.  

 I truly believe that how you view Jesus determines how you follow Jesus. 

This clip is a fair representation of American Christianity.

Agree? Disagree?

“Instead of teaching kids to allow Christ to live through them, we invite them to mimic Him. They rely on their own power, interpret their own behaviors as God-honoring and feel a sense of spiritual pride when they hit the mark.”

                                                                                              -Steve Gerali

Wow. Um. Yeah. Uh. Well.

What an amazingly succinct summary of our culture of youth ministry. NO WAIT! Not simply youth ministry… the CHURCH!

That statement sure hit my marrow. I’ve always been told that Christ is our standard, but that standard isn’t something we can comprehend, interpret or quantify. It’s only by living in and through Him do we begin to understand who He is (and that there is so much we don’t know).

As I walk more with Him, I begin to realize - it’s less of being like Him and more of me submitting myself to Him. That is the process of becoming more Christ-like. 

I’ll leave you with the words of Aaron Shust, who summarizes this thought much more eloquently that I could ever do. 

“You are my strength. You are my God. You are my King. You make me laugh. You make me dance. You make me sing. All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before your feet. All of my time, all that is mine, I submit to your design. Because you are the one, the only one, who would give it all away for me.”