The Real Jesus

I Peter 2:23-25 has a word to say about Jesus.  "When He was abused, He did not return abuse; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly.  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.  For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls."   There are so many words and images in this passage that are offensive to our modern day religious culture that has sanitized Jesus into a gentle loving character whose heart is always empty of judgment.  This passage speaks of divine judgment, a sacrificial death on the cross, our being sinful, our needing someone to free us from something that does not really exist, and the assumption that we are in need of a caretaker and protector.  It does not set well with our present culture.  

The ancients lived with hand crafted wooden images and stone carvings of gods who existed only in the minds of the carpenter or the stone mason.   We are too sophisticated for such foolishness.  The gods we worship are mostly the invisible ones such as instant gratification, political expediency, and self sufficiency.  We do not need a sacrificial Lamb to save us, we can save ourselves.   If there is something which needs fixing, we can fix it.  If there is some mystery which defies understanding, we can figure it out.  If there is social dysfunction, we can create a program to solve it.    

It is easy to see how Jesus gets pushed into a dark closet where things from the past are stored and finally thrown away.  For so many around us and for so many churches, Jesus has lost His power.  Actually, He has not lost it, but our culture has simply declared Him to be powerless to really effect change in the hearts of people and our world.  The Christ of culture may be a sanitized One, but the Christ of the cross still has power to transform even the most confused and lost among us.  The message of the cross is messy, mysterious, and full of grace which is why there is such need for the real Jesus to be turned loose once again in our midst.