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Do You Know Jesus?

Writer's picture: Rev. Dr. Ben HuelskampRev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp

July 22, 2024 - #mondaymoment #Jesus #art


Happy Monday, my friends! You’ve probably seen a billboard, flyer, social ad, or some other item with the question: “Do you know Jesus?” For any of us raised and educated in the church we might not give that question another thought. Yes, we know Jesus. We’ve known him our entire lives. Yet, if we give that question even a second more thought we would probably realize that Jesus has been different people for us throughout our lives. Growing up in Catholic schools, we were introduced to the quiet, pastoral Jesus in kindergarten, but by second grade—the year that Catholic children traditionally make their first Confession and take their First Communion—our teachers had to introduce us to the Jesus who underwent terrible suffering to die on the cross for our sins. To their credit they situated much of that discussion in terms of how much Jesus loved us. As we got older our perspectives of Jesus changed with our beliefs, experiences, education, and the circumstances of our lives.


A depiction of what Jesus might have looked like based on when and where he lived.

Johnny Cash sang, “Your own, personal, Jesus/ Someone to hear your prayers/ Someone who cares.” As Christians, many of us live in the tension of the Jesus we encounter in scripture and the Jesus we have experienced in our lives. For some of us that latter Jesus is a personal Jesus; a manifestation of the Jesus we found in scripture and the Jesus we experienced at various moments of our lives. That doesn’t mean we’ve made our own Jesus, it means that Jesus is dynamic and magnificent that he would show up different to different people in different circumstances. Following the death of his father, my father found solace in the poem “Footprints in the Sand.” In thee poem, the speaker watches their life flash before them, often seeing Jesus’ footprints walking next to theirs. But in the moments of great struggle there were only one set of footprints leading the person to ask Jesus, “I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.” Quietly, Jesus responds, “My precious child, I love you and will never leave you/ Never, ever, during your trials and testings./ When you saw only one set of footprints,/ It was then that I carried you.”

There is a new Jesus making appearances across the United States. He’s been around for a while, but used to contain himself to a small number of clearly fringe churches. Now he’s slowly working his way toward mainstream exposure. This is the Christian nationalist Jesus. He’s white, bulky, smiles with a slight hint of a tougher side, he often carries a pistol at his waist and sometimes slings an AR-15 over his shoulder, sometimes he sports a red baseball cap with white lettering. He’s tough, virile, militaristic. He chooses to spend his time with white evangelical Christians with whom his political and moral ideology is perfectly aligned. He’s here to lead the full force of a Christian army to reclaim the United States for his own.   

The Christian Nationalist Jesus


I imagine many of you join me in being unhappy if not shocked by this depiction of Jesus. This is the Jesus created and promoted by Christian nationalists. In a 2023 interview with NPR, Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today said, “And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response [from members of their congregation] would not be, ‘I apologize,’” Moore recounted. “The response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.’” Jesus, once the peaceful savior who conquered sin and death, is now “weak” because he isn’t armed, militant, and preparing crowds to storm the Roman garrison.


Ultimately, the problem is not that a group have created their own version of Jesus. The problem is that the group is teaching, preaching, and utilizing their version of Jesus to capture political power, erode democratic institutions, and dismantle the human and civil rights of marginalized communities.


Who is Jesus to you? How can you counter the narrative of the Christian nationalist Jesus?


Let us pray: God, your son came to earth to show us a new way of being. He suffered and died at the hands of the state. When he rose from the dead he became our liberator. Now people wish to recreate him in their own image and make what he was not and is not. Help us restore your true son. Help us respond peacefully to the assaults on our faith, our democracy, and our rights. Give us the grace that even in our frustration and anger we may respond with love rather than violence. Amen.


Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.


Faithfully,


Ben

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