What kind of Jesus do you favor? What kind of Jesus do you believe in?
There seems to be some disagreement and debate over the nature of the Son of Man, the glorified being that, according to Christian doctrine, saved the world from its sins, its troubles, its infirmities, its hardships, its imperfections, its pain, its mortality. Indeed, from death itself.
Some say his grace and forgiveness are freely offered and given to all.
Some say his grace and forgiveness are offered but only to those who acknowledge him properly as the way, the truth, the light, the life, as the wellspring of every good thing.
And some say those offerings are extended only to those who repent and walk away from their sins, set on keeping commandments he has spelled out and reiterated as heavenly law.
Some say he is love.
Some say he is love, but that love only goes so far.
We can argue over scripture here, over what is represented in chapter and verse as the nature and intent of Jesus, over the correct interpretation of what he means, what he is, what he wants, what he expects.
I’m disinclined to do that in this particular space. Read to your heart’s content on your own. I’m more interested in discussing the way those personal interpretations, whatever they are, take effect in everyday lives.
The differences, though, are fascinating. Even within single religions, followers have and hold the aforementioned varying views of not just who and what Jesus is, who and what he’s all about, but also what that means and portends and requires for you and me, all of us.
Are we supposed to find our profound truth about Jesus and then simply use that understanding to love God, to love our neighbor, to love family members, to love our friends, to love our business associates, to love our customers, to love those who love us back, to love those who disagree with us, to love those who despise us, to love those who curse our names, to love those who are our enemies? Are we supposed to turn the other cheek at every turn?
Are we supposed to be timid, humble and meek, lending others a listening ear and an understanding mind and heart? Are we supposed to primarily love those around us, even those who believe differently than we do? Should that be our emphasis, our priority?
Or are we supposed to stand firm, loud and proud for truth and righteousness? Are we supposed to fight, or at least teach and preach to those around us, even if that teaching and preaching do more harm than good, rupturing relationships and causing, in some cases, irreparable disconnect and discord?
What does Jesus, if you’re a believer, want from you?
Does he ask you to stand on the city wall and scream his gospel, to offend the world with the mighty hammer of truth?
Or does he want you to see the positive in people, to receive them for what they are, to embrace them, to wrap them not just in tolerance, but in full charity and acceptance?
If you’re a faithful follower, you’ve likely read what the Good Book says about Jesus, how it describes him, what he did, how he fulfilled his earthly mission. But then, what is yours?
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) "The Sermon on the Mount," by Harry Anderson.
Some of the so-called modern-day faithful glom onto the Jesus who was forgiving, the Jesus who showed empathy for and to the woman caught in adultery who was about to be stoned for her indiscretions before he interceded on her behalf. Others focus more on him telling her to go and sin no more.
Some underscore and then pattern themselves after the Jesus who taught the biblical Beatitudes, who blessed the poor in spirit, and those who mourn, and the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the merciful, and the pure in heart, and the peacemakers and the persecuted.
Others can’t get enough of the Jesus who called folks hypocrites, the one who overturned tables and chucked the money changers out of the temple. They want to emulate that Jesus. These folks say they are fed up with so many of the namby-pamby individuals these days who worship the “soft” Jesus.
(Salt Lake Tribune archives) Artist Carl Bloch depicts Jesus cleansing the temple
Point of thought here is, Christians, followers of Jesus, whatever their allegiance, from Lutheran to Latter-day Saint, from Catholic to Coptic, from Episcopalian to everything in between, have to decide for themselves which Jesus resonates with them. The truth may not be relative, but the form of it in the Prince of Peace is decided upon within the mind and soul of all believers. And if they bail out by saying both, then the deciphering gets more complicated, not less. You can read scripture all day and come to a different leaning and meaning, different bits of enlightenment, or whatever the opposite of enlightenment is.
Have at it, and good luck. You’ll need it.