The folks over at Internet Monk have reposted a classic blog post from the late and sadly missed Michael Spencer on what Jesus was really like. A taste:
The movement Jesus left behind was made up of the last, the lost, the least, the losers and the recently dead. The world would never recognize this Jesus shaped collection of nobodies as successful.
Jesus treated women, sexual sinners and notoriously scandalous sinners with inexplicable acceptance.
Jesus taught the message, power and presence of the Kingdom. He did not teach how to be rich, how to improve yourself, how to be a good person or how to be successful.
Jesus didn’t teach principles. He taught the presence of a whole new world where God reigns and all things are made right.
Jesus rejected the claims of organized religion to have an exclusive franchise on God, and embodied the proof that God was in the world by his Son and through his Spirit to whomever has faith in Jesus.
Jesus practised radical acceptance in a way that was dangerous, upsetting and world-changing.
We have become so used to and so convinced of our neatly packaged notions of Jesus – which often conveniently resemble ourselves and the lifestyles and values we espouse – that I wonder whether we would even recognise Him if He walked into our street or our church in the flesh. I suspect we might find that this Jesus, whom we love to cosy up to, would offend our sensibilities.
