Epiphany Part Two -- What Did Jesus Do?

 WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

 What Would Jesus Do?  Did you ever have a WWJD bracelet? The phrase "What would Jesus do?" (often abbreviated to WWJD) became popular in the 1990s and as a personal motto to evangelical Christians.  It was (and still should be) a reminder to act in a manner that would demonstrate the love of Jesus through the actions of Christians.

The Bible calls on followers of Jesus to imitate Jesus.  In Ephesians 5:1-2.we read  “ ¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

This precept should influence how we act, since we are ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20).  We are commanded to live by the rule of love in the Gospels and in the epistles.  It is the rule that permeates the New Testament.” It is the royal law spoken of in James 2:8 “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.”

It is the great mandate of Jesus on Maundy Thursday, in John 13:34-35: “³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Everything we do or say needs to be filtered through the prism of love.  Our very interpretation of all of the Scriptures must be tempered by this overarching truth, so great is it valued by the great, full story of the Bible itself.

WWDD -- What Did Jesus DO?

We know one thing Jesus did not do is say anything against homosexuality that is recorded in the Holy Scriptures. Not one such word can be found in the Gospels, or anywhere else. There are hundreds of explanations for this glaring absebce that have been maufactured by Pharasaic folks who want to condemn homosexuality as the sin above all sins, but they still cannot find a word that that Lord and Savior said about the subject, and that is an interesting, and many think revealing, fact.

But beyond what he did not do, just what did Jesus do in his human interactions in his earthly ministry?  Well, one thing is cvident -- Jesus associated with the outcasts of society!  He pointed out the great errors of the proud Pharisees, the most “religious” people of the day and he hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. 

Oh, my!  Oh, my indeed – and just as men for hundreds of years ignored the high treatment of women by Jesus, so too there has also been an ignorance of who Jesus chose to show outrageous love and compasstion.

Jesus broke religious laws to help outcasts. Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath and broke the laws against working by making clay and by healing.  The rest of John 9 after the first 5 verses is the stormy story of conflict over legalistic religion.  

The issues in this story are amazingly contemporary: incurable illness, family rejection, conflicts over religion, fear of authority, ignorant and heartless religious leaders, misplaced judgment, and the determination of Jesus to cut through all of the confusion to accept and encourage the man when he was cast out as a sinner!  Jesus accepts us when religion doesn't, and we all should be thankful for that!

The parents of the one born blind avoided defending their own child for fear of offending judgmental religious leaders.  Sometimes the greatest pain in life is rejection and abandonment by family and friends.  Religious leaders rebuked the rebel and threw him out.  Jesus searched for the religious reject, found and encouraged him.  Rejected people need someone to care.  All of us need encouragement, and Jesus was, and is, the Great Encourager.

Jesus did not waste time trying to decide who is to blame for sickness and pain.  Jesus was motivated by compassion and love and calls us to follow him and do the same.  When we help people, when we extend the love of Jesus into situations, when we are simply "being there" with others, we truly are following Jesus.

Throughout the ministry of Jesus, His actions were consistently aimed at including the people that religion had left out.  Jesus included women, children, foreigners, sinners, the "unclean", outcasts, the sick and even outlaws and murderers (thief on the cross) at a time when the basic thrust of  religion was to divide people into "insiders" and "outsiders", the clean and the unclean.  But Jesus turned no one away.

I want to be that kind of Christian.  May God help me imitate Jesus.  They will know we are Christians by our love – not our laws, not by our lines we humans draw in the sand (that will get washed away in Showers of Blessing anyway), but by our love.  Our love that Jesus gives us to share with others.

The love is the key, no matter how many contemporary Pharisees harangue about people they brand as unworthy, and no matter how much they spread condemnation and hate and division, our God reigns and His love is the supreme force of the universe.

We cannot help but cry tears of sadness for the brokenness of humanity. May we all be born again and revived anew with a fresh abundance of love from above. 

It will happen, it will come, because the tide of God's love is rising, and no matter how hard Satan tries to bring about darkness and division in the Christ's church, his efforts of deceit are doomed in the long run of God's time.  It is totally impossible to hide forever the overwhelming power of the overcoming love of Jesus Christ!

Amen. Amen!

Epiphany, Part 2 of 6, S. Glenn Wilson, 2011