The Gospel: Part 3

Growing up, I occassionally heard about Jesus. The Southern Baptist Church my father grew up in, talked about him all the time. The pastor, who seemingly replaced his real first name with "pastor", always talked about getting to know Jesus. The reverend Bill Mason, who was always referred to with his full name, of the conservative United Methodist church I attended in high school talked alot about Jesus to. I had many sunday school teachers, who I'm thankful for, though I can't remember their names, who taught me about Jesus as well.
By the time I got to my late 20's the cumulative picture of Jesus I had was a bit warped.
Here's a bit of what I remember.

If you were to sit down and have lunch with Jesus, or invite him over to watch a football game one characteristic would likely stand out above the rest. That Jesus was a nice guy. Nothing radical, nothing crazy. Just a nice guy. Not rude. Jesus would politely ask for his buddy to pass the Nacho cheese Doritos and without being asked to he would likely get an extra RC Cola from the fridge so his thirsty friend wouldn't miss much of the game. Now that I think about it Jesus, was a lot like a male Martha Stewart, without the felonies.
Sure I knew a lot of facts about Jesus, but it seemed to me that Jesus' plan of changing the world, would simply be overwhelming us all with his niceness. Jesus was betrayed, fundementally because he was nice. Maybe too nice. Jesus was crucified, because he was nice.
Jesus rose from the dead because he was nice. Moreover, He is exalted about all others because of his niceness.
Now don't get me wrong, there was some theological thought going on here. I knew that Jesus was nice, because God was nice too. AND... for me to be a Christian, I was called to be nice as well. Just like Jesus.

As I look back, there are reasons why I thought this (and that would be an interesting post for another day.) However. I have come to some conclusions about Jesus now in my life. These reflections may simply be more reductionistic theological strawjesusmen, but they are what I hold today.

Jesus was not a nice guy and he doesn't want us to be nice either.
In fact the Gospel has nothing to do with niceness. The gospel is graphically real. It breaks violently into the world and sets broken things right. It has little to do with being nice.
the world needs less nice Christians. The kingdom of God will not be spread through politically correct niceities. To church needs less nice people and more activist and risk takers.

Of course I could be wrong, in which case go back to letting Jesus be your golf-buddy, or caddy.

Jesus came to save us from being nice. will you let him?

Jesus has saved us from being nice.


posted by riddle at 11:32 AM | |