Hello – I’m not Jason. I’m Andy, and Jason is my brother-in-law. Jason asked me to contribute a few posts here and there to this blog, so here I am! I won’t go into a tremendous introduction here – if you would like more understanding of my context and the way I approach life (including scripture) you can visit my blog at Thoughts On Life. I figured a good place to start would be with the title of this blog – Taking Jesus out of the Box. But to do that, we have to figure out what box we put him in.
Jesus is my CEO: A CEO’s job is to maximize profits, and to be honest, Jesus does not exist to maximize much of anything really. Jesus isn’t particularly concerned with getting the most followers – See Mark 10 for at least one example of someone that Jesus “let get away.” Jesus seems to speak in a deliberately confusing way in order to drive at least a few people away. Jesus never shows interest in money or political power for himself or for his “organization.” All in all, Jesus would be fired as a CEO in today’s business world.
To get Jesus out of this box, we have to stop allowing the world to set our goals and metrics. Success in the eyes of Jesus is not measured by how efficiently we can send out church invitations; it is not found in the number of seats used on Sunday morning; and it can’t be found in counting our tithes. Success, in the eyes of Jesus, is found in glorification of His name.
Jesus is my Santa Claus: This seems to be the idea in some churches which preach a prosperity gospel – that Jesus exists to bring gifts (hopefully more than once a year!) But only if you’re nice and not naughty. Actually, Jesus doesn’t always give much in the way of traditional gifts or wealth, does he? His best friend is called from a life as a poor fisherman to a life as a … poor preacher who is crucified upside down. That’s a great gift, isn’t it?
We must begin to realize that Jesus doesn’t exist to bring us gifts – we exist to bring Him gifts. Jesus isn’t around to make sure that we have summer homes and nice cars and no cancer. We may end up with those things through God’s blessing, but we aren’t to use those for only our enjoyment. In fact, the only reason that Jesus gives us anything is for us to give to others – look at the story of Abraham, who is blessed “in order to be a blessing to all nations.” So to remove Jesus from this box, we have to stop thinking of my stuff and start thinking of Jesus’ stuff.
Jesus is my Superman: Superman swoops down and saves the day at the last minute, against all odds. Superman is known as the Big Blue Boy Scout – he rescues people again and again, even if they’re evil and suffering the consequence of their own mistake. But Jesus seems to be more willing to let people make their choices and take the consequences – Jesus gives Judas some three years to see his ministry, but never seems to take the temptation away or rescue Judas. He lets Judas make his choice and grieves Judas’ decision.
Jesus is in this particular box because of the choices we make that put us in situations that need rescue. In order for us to remove Jesus from this box, we need to remove the need for a box – we must stop putting ourselves in situations where we need a Superman. Rather than expecting Jesus to rescue us from crippling debt, we need to make decisions that don’t put us there. Instead of expecting Jesus to pull us out of crushing materialism, we need to start giving in small ways. You get the point.
I’ll return in a couple of days with a few more “boxes” that we put Jesus in… In the meantime, if you have questions/comments/concerns/ideas, let me know and comment!
Andy is a freelance thinker, writer, and giver-of-opinions. Read more of his work at: http://andyszymas.blogspot.com
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