Jesus is not a Nice Guy.- an article
The title probably shocks you, but it’s true. I am not saying that he’s mean, or sadistic, or tyrannical. But neither is Jesus like Mr. Rogers, Fred Penner, or Barney the Dinosaur- those guys are what we would call nice guys. Now, it’s true that Jesus loves children, and he bears with his disciples as they struggle to understand his teachings, and that he forgives prostitutes, tax collectors and even the Romans who tortured and crucified him. These examples and more don’t prove that he’s a nice guy- they demonstrate the traits of love, compassion, grace, mercy and long-suffering.
What is nice guy anyways? A nice guy is a peace-lover, some one who is non-confrontational, who always agrees with the demands of those around him, and who listens to non-angry music- like Yanni or Bette Midler. Does that sound like the Jesus you know? Does it sound like the kind of Jesus you would want to know? My hope is that you would say no. See, while Jesus is loving, compassionate, gracious, merciful and long-suffering he is so much more than that.
Look at the gospel story- every time the Pharisees approached him did he become all complacent and non-confrontational? Quite the opposite- he challenged them, he gave them a verbal licking and sent them packing to tend their wounded pride and self-righteousness. He got righteously indignant and threw tables when the merchants set up shop in the temple. He drove out demons- how could a demon be afraid of a nice guy? He fought Satan and his schemes of ruin for our souls when he died on the cross. Look elsewhere, like Revelation, where he is described as a fierce rider with his robe dipped in blood. Does that sound more like Mr. Rogers or William Wallace? The prophecy in Genesis about Eve’s seed crushing the serpent’s head referred to Christ- would a nice guy kill a snake by stomping his brains out? Not likely.
That’s my whole point here- Christ is not a nice guy. He is a hero- a man who will defend his Bride, the church. How does one defend someone else? Do you sit around a conference table telling your enemies that you want to avoid a conflict- knowing full well that they have already determined in their mind to attack? You do if you’re a nice softie of a guy. But Jesus was not soft- he was firm, stern, steeled in his mind about his mission to save our souls and win our hearts as his Bride. He bled for us; he suffered valiantly and still came out on top- just like a hero would. I am not reducing Jesus to merely a hero here- because heroism implies that he died for someone worthwhile- but that he was more than a nice guy. We were sinners when Christ died for us. More than that because we weren’t even born yet- he died for the thought of us being sinners in this day and age.
Sadly many of us as Christians have come to adopt this view of Jesus as a really nice guy, and we as sinners aren’t really that bad. The result has been a complacency of our hearts and our mission as Christ’s ambassadors to take the gospel to the world. We are called to reflect Christ, and Christ is a determined, fierce Lion of Judah. It’s just like in C.S. Lewis’ classic Chronicles of Narnia- Christ is paralleled by the great Lion Aslan. Aslan is compassionate and tender to the children that wend their way into his world, and sacrifices himself in place of Edmund. Is that where it ends? No way. He comes back and kills that heartless, scheming Ice queen Jadis, and restores Narnia to its former glory. When Lucy asks the beavers if Aslan is a safe lion, Mr. Beaver says, “Safe. Of course he’s not safe- but he’s good.” How true.
So why do we picture Christ, the lion of Judah as a tame, house cat? The reason is because we have been fooling ourselves into thinking Jesus plays things safe- when really he is the opposite: he took the ultimate risk by becoming human, and donning for eternity a human body. He took a risk not just coming into the flesh, but giving us free will to choose him as our savior, hero, lover and Bridegroom- for we can always choose to reject him. The choice as his children is to reclaim the adventure that he has called us to live. Will we remain “nice guy (or girl)” Christians, trying to negotiate a truce around a desk with an enemy determined to bring us down? Or will we be like the warrior poet Scots who charge the fields of Bannock burn to reach our fallen brothers and sisters in the P.O.W. camp in enemy territory? The choice to pick up the sword is there- we need to determine if we will rely on the Lion of Judah’s strength to help us wield the sword, or turn and run like nice guys and remain weaklings forever.
What is nice guy anyways? A nice guy is a peace-lover, some one who is non-confrontational, who always agrees with the demands of those around him, and who listens to non-angry music- like Yanni or Bette Midler. Does that sound like the Jesus you know? Does it sound like the kind of Jesus you would want to know? My hope is that you would say no. See, while Jesus is loving, compassionate, gracious, merciful and long-suffering he is so much more than that.
Look at the gospel story- every time the Pharisees approached him did he become all complacent and non-confrontational? Quite the opposite- he challenged them, he gave them a verbal licking and sent them packing to tend their wounded pride and self-righteousness. He got righteously indignant and threw tables when the merchants set up shop in the temple. He drove out demons- how could a demon be afraid of a nice guy? He fought Satan and his schemes of ruin for our souls when he died on the cross. Look elsewhere, like Revelation, where he is described as a fierce rider with his robe dipped in blood. Does that sound more like Mr. Rogers or William Wallace? The prophecy in Genesis about Eve’s seed crushing the serpent’s head referred to Christ- would a nice guy kill a snake by stomping his brains out? Not likely.
That’s my whole point here- Christ is not a nice guy. He is a hero- a man who will defend his Bride, the church. How does one defend someone else? Do you sit around a conference table telling your enemies that you want to avoid a conflict- knowing full well that they have already determined in their mind to attack? You do if you’re a nice softie of a guy. But Jesus was not soft- he was firm, stern, steeled in his mind about his mission to save our souls and win our hearts as his Bride. He bled for us; he suffered valiantly and still came out on top- just like a hero would. I am not reducing Jesus to merely a hero here- because heroism implies that he died for someone worthwhile- but that he was more than a nice guy. We were sinners when Christ died for us. More than that because we weren’t even born yet- he died for the thought of us being sinners in this day and age.
Sadly many of us as Christians have come to adopt this view of Jesus as a really nice guy, and we as sinners aren’t really that bad. The result has been a complacency of our hearts and our mission as Christ’s ambassadors to take the gospel to the world. We are called to reflect Christ, and Christ is a determined, fierce Lion of Judah. It’s just like in C.S. Lewis’ classic Chronicles of Narnia- Christ is paralleled by the great Lion Aslan. Aslan is compassionate and tender to the children that wend their way into his world, and sacrifices himself in place of Edmund. Is that where it ends? No way. He comes back and kills that heartless, scheming Ice queen Jadis, and restores Narnia to its former glory. When Lucy asks the beavers if Aslan is a safe lion, Mr. Beaver says, “Safe. Of course he’s not safe- but he’s good.” How true.
So why do we picture Christ, the lion of Judah as a tame, house cat? The reason is because we have been fooling ourselves into thinking Jesus plays things safe- when really he is the opposite: he took the ultimate risk by becoming human, and donning for eternity a human body. He took a risk not just coming into the flesh, but giving us free will to choose him as our savior, hero, lover and Bridegroom- for we can always choose to reject him. The choice as his children is to reclaim the adventure that he has called us to live. Will we remain “nice guy (or girl)” Christians, trying to negotiate a truce around a desk with an enemy determined to bring us down? Or will we be like the warrior poet Scots who charge the fields of Bannock burn to reach our fallen brothers and sisters in the P.O.W. camp in enemy territory? The choice to pick up the sword is there- we need to determine if we will rely on the Lion of Judah’s strength to help us wield the sword, or turn and run like nice guys and remain weaklings forever.
posted by Aaron "Philly" Redditt at 10:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home