The Real Jesus

I don’t know exactly when it was that I looked at the picture behind the preacher on Sunday morning and said to myself “That picture is a fake!” but I do remember saying it in Sunday School class. It didn’t earn any gold stars.

Maybe it was after reading Paul’s statement that “nature itself teaches you that long hair on a man is a disgrace.” (1 Cor. 11:14 GNB) I couldn’t envision the Apostle Paul saying that if Jesus had had long hair.

Nor was he handsome. In fact Isaiah’s description of the Messiah says “there was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him.” (Isaiah 53:2 GNB)

It could have been when I first realized that any man who had grown up working in construction during the 1^st Century A.D. would of necessity be a brawny guy. The picture just didn’t look very tough.

The picture on the wall did not look like the Christ who will return to the earth to make war described in Revelation 19:11-16.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns…

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses…

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

The typical picture of Jesus often overlooks the account of Jesus throwing out the moneychangers from the temple. (Matt. 21:12) How many moneychangers where there? The Bible doesn’t say. But it was a large area so one could reasonably expect it to be several, maybe a score or more. No wimpy man could physically throw out that many men and turn over their means of doing business. That was my kind of guy.

There is the Jesus that painted a verbal picture of carnality and said “for after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” (Matt. 6:32 KJV) Jesus was too strong to be confined by politically correct speech. As in the time when he called the political and religious leaders of his day a bunch of snakes the children of snakes and asked how they could escape hell. (Matt. 23:33) That’s the kind of statement that makes the heart of an Irishman beat strong.

It’s also the kind of statement that makes me think something has been lost from mainstream Christianity.

The other day some news analysts were discussing the recent revelation of the sins of Tiger Woods, the golf phenom. It’s hard to pass a check out counter at the super market without reading about his loss of income and speculation about an impending divorce. So someone asked if Tiger can make an emotional recovery from the sins of the past. Brit Hume replied:

"The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

The reaction to Hume’s statement was predictable. A writer for the Washington Post demanded that Hume apologize because he had offended about half a billion Buddhists. Funny, there are over two billion Christians on the earth and multiple thousands being persecuted, some martyred almost on a daily basis around the world by Buddhists, Hindi’s and Muslims yet the American press seems strangely unconcerned about the offense caused to Christians.

Maybe the reason is that mainstream Christians resemble more the picture on the wall at the front of church than they do the man who stood alone against a mob intent on stoning a woman taken in adultery.

Maybe Christianity needs an infusion of the real Jesus, not the picture on the wall.

Until next time,