The Trouble with Jesus
by Constance Hastings
A Losing Life
December 17, 2019
Love God, Love Losers
How Not to Change the World would be a good title for Jesus’ autobiography. Or maybe, How to Take Good Ideas and Get Killed for It. Or, Love God, Love Losers. If Jesus came to change the world, he was his own worst enemy as he went about it. Common sense just wasn’t his forte.
Leaders with idealistic platforms are wonderful to read about, but everyone knows that doesn’t get votes. Practical policies that work the system to everyone’s benefit make the better headline. But no, he castigated those who could have helped him and buddied up with those of questionable repute. You’d think if he really wanted to change the world, he’d garner influence from those who ran things. It seemed not to be in his DNA.
What’s worse, he elevated the lowest of the low as the preeminent example of the character of faith. In short, he liked kids more than they were worth. Now, children ministries love to tell stories of how Jesus welcomed children. So sweet, wasn’t he? Bless these little ones. To be fair, it was genuine, but it’s used too much as a photo-op. Once again, The Son of God played for an impact that was beyond the surface.
Children in the first century were not always valued. In their early years, they required considerable care that had little return, for the death rate among the young was high. Why have emotional investment in those who could very well die before they could work and be profitable? Children were the least among the lesser ones of status. They could not speak, work, or carry any influence to further the cause. Beyond that, the Jews knew pagan cults were not beyond stealing children for slavery or sexual molestation, even child-sacrifice. Surviving childhood was almost a miracle. Don’t wrap your life around them.
It’s almost silly how one day his followers were arguing who would be the greatest in heaven. These guys were losers from the start, and now they pictured themselves in some kind of celestial hierarchy. Just goes to show what a crowd around your leader can do for you. But Jesus calls a child to his side, saying, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me…Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.” (Luke 9:46-48) Huh? These whining brats? Dear Lord, what are you getting at?
Yep, he chose losers, and were they ever a drag around his neck. A simple lesson that had to be repeated. Another time, parents were turned away when they tried to bring their kids near so Jesus could touch and bless them. His followers only saw that as a bother. Jesus noticed and wouldn’t have it. Hear the frustrated, measured anger in his voice: “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:16-17) Slammed again!
Losers were a drag around his neck all the time. Even so, you can tell he loved them by how he often called his followers. “Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven…” (Mark 10:24) “Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.” (John 12:36) “Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. (John 13:33) “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) “In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:45) He spoke and taught losers as children, and he loved them.
Jesus called children unto himself knowing they innately have the most simple, unadulterated trust which love requires as its basis. In effect, he loved then the unlovable. With another reversal that slams into the center of social and cultural values, he demonstrated that all persons who would be loved by God have that which makes them unlovable and certainly are not generally thought to be among the greatest.
But to be loved by this Son of God, one must become counted among the child-like losers.
The Trouble with Jesus is what he said about himself, where he came from, and for what reasons can make you feel like you’ve got no chance of getting anywhere near something in which to believe. Yet, if it was easy, would it mean anything, have any real significance?
The Trouble with Jesus is he wants to be a Lover in the fullest sense a soul could know.
They had no idea what they were getting into when he had recruited them for his purposes. Some say they weren’t the brightest bulbs on the street. The only attribute which spoke most for them was they were teachable…
The Trouble with Jesus is relationships take work, and the even the best, the closest will have rough spots. But the rough spots are the growth spots.
The Trouble with Jesus is he had this insightful and irritating knack of asking people ridiculous questions, questions that bury the real question.
Got to give it to you, Jesus. It’s your best line, perfect for pastoral memes and sticks well on car bumpers. “New commandment,” you said, “Love one another.” Why didn’t anyone else think of this? ... But to be real, for all the wonderful sentiment, it’s better known as the Hallmark of Hypocrisy, chief among them those who claim you as Christian. When it comes to divisiveness, angry labels, and best of all, judgmental attitudes, your people take the prize....
Jesus, just for the record, tell us again, are you who you say you are? Or maybe who some say you are? Give it to us straight, in plain words, no dodging the question like a politician in prime-time cable interviews.
Lord have mercy, the question never goes away. Jesus heard it face to face, answered it so many ways hoping to connect people’s heads to their souls. For some, it worked; for others, not so much.
The love Jesus required was a love that would leave everything behind again, to leave one’s net and all that is held vital in life. It was a God-consuming love that meant nothing could be in front of it, not one’s security and safety in life nor one’s understanding of all God meant nor even one’s right to oneself.
Could it be that faith is not actually a fully convinced mindset? Could it be that to truly have faith an element of doubt, perceptions that rest in possibly not as much as in possibly so, is necessary? Do faith and doubt exist not as opposites but as integral parts of each other?
How do you get out of bed in the morning when the day is still shrouded in darkness? How do you rise when grief, anger, and anxious fear sink deep into your soul? Why should you open your eyes to a pain that pierces whatever faith that is left? Somehow, they did.
