Whenever we read the Gospels there can be no doubt that Jesus is portrayed as consciously advancing a specific message and mission. Jesus lived and taught in his first century context with a purpose. But what would he have done if he had been faced with today’s reality, today’s enlightenment and sophistication, today’s plurality and politically correctness? Would his life and message be the same or would life in the end of the 21st century have revealed to us a different Jesus with a different message?
Although it would be irresponsible to collapse the cultural distances between Jesus’ world and our own, yet when we examine how Jesus acted in relationship to the cultural forces swirling around him, we gain insight into how Jesus would also behave today.
To the politically savvy Sadducees who couldn’t be fooled into the foolishness of believing in unseen angels and spirits much less the absurdity of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus bluntly announced that they neither understood the scriptures nor God’s power. He then proceeded to teach them about angels and the resurrection. Matthew 22:29-32; Acts 23:8
Within the boundaries of the Roman empire where to be a respected male involved the machoism of exerting one’s active dominance, Jesus not only washed his disciples feet but he instructed them to be servants not masters. John 13; Matthew 20:25-28
To the sophisticated Pilate who would skeptically question if anyone could know what truth is, Jesus announced that he had come to testify to the truth. John 18:37-38
As a man who lived in the pluralistic Greco-Roman matrix where various philosophies (ways of life) and gods competed for the allegiances of followers, Jesus did not blush in proclaiming that he was the only way to the Father. John 14:6
Yet, Jesus can not be reduced to simply being antiestablishment for he taught “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” His goal was neither to approve the status quo nor to simply be a rebel for the sake of tearing down. His path was not culturally motivated.
Would Jesus live and teach the same things today that He did then? Yes he would. For although time and culture have changed some of the cultural gift wrappings, the goal toward which Jesus marched was not embedded in culture - he marched toward the Father’s will irrespective of the cultural opinion. As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Knowing how Jesus would live today, makes me reflect on how I ought to live as his follower.
Other articles which might be of interest:
The Jesus Whom We Find Embarrassing
The Jesus Who Breaks the Status Quo To Care and Confront
Barry Newton, Copyright © 1998