Will the Real Messiah Please Stand Up

(from the Teaser)…Thanks to our brother Jesus the Christ, when humanity’s brief chapter of the cosmic story ends, Love reigns supreme. For love to one day reign supreme in our world, those of us who believe in Jesus as the Prince of Peace, need to stand up and make our voices heard…

(Part 2, the hope—clean off our glasses)

To be crystal clear, an authentic examination of the teachings of Jesus should not be muddied by the moral decay of our culture. Our world desperately needs to clean off the lenes of our glasses before opening up the Gospels for study. When viewing the teachings of Jesus, the Jewish Rabbi, our vision needs to be clear of pride and prejudice. While we are seeing more folks wise up and take off the rose-colored glasses of the false ‘prosperity Gospel,’ many Christians in America continue to read the Gospels exclusively through white, red and blue glasses.

It would do us good to re-read the prophetic visions of powerful Cornelius and hungry Peter; Acts 10 and 11. Reading these two chapters wipes off any muddy favoritism from one’s glasses; the Gospel is opened up to the Gentiles (anyone who was not Jewish), and people of all nations. Peter’s vision of ‘unclean’ animals on a sheet from heaven teaches him that; “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Isreal, preaching peace by Jesus Christ- he is Lord of all.” (Acts 10:34-36). The inclusive focus is only strengthened when Peter must defend baptizing Cornelius’ house of ‘unclean’ Italian soldiers.

The narrative culminates in Antioch. Diversity and inclusion are foundational to the forming of the church at Antioch; “among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 11:20) It is in this diverse context that “it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” (Acts 11:26). Therefore, within the origin of the word ‘Christians’ is the calling to be inclusive. So, White Christian Nationalism is an oxymoron. To put any geographical and/or racial limitations on the term Christian is to take the name in vain. Furthermore, if we genuinely believe that Jesus died for all people, then the terminology and the teachings that exude White Christian Nationalism are blasphemy, full stop, 100%.

Another vital factor to be mindful of, to be called Christian was to be labeled a criminal. It was illegal to be found a follower of the ‘false king’ of Jesus, this was a punishment with a potential death sentence. Self-sacrifice to the point of being willing to be martyred was the level of commitment one made when becoming known as a Christian. It is all too easy to forget that this is still the case in some parts of the world. Which puts into humble perspective: what am I willing to risk for my faith? Although the very concept of martyrdom has been exploited, altruism is the farthest ideal from everything White Christian Nationalism stands for.

After a vigorous wiping-off of our lens, any residue of partiality is cleansed away. Although it is impossible to remove all cultural biases, with the mud of our culture no longer caked on our spectacles we can see Jesus more in focus. Born a refugee whose life was threatened by the Empire from day one (Matthew 2:13-15), a poor Jewish dark-skinned baby boy, whose pre-teen unmarried mother Mary knew her son would turn the world on its’ head (Luke 1:46-55), Jesus who brought dignity to the disenfranchised, restored wholeness to the crippled and reconciliation within his community, went out to the outcasts and in the tombs, treated mental illness with empathy, saved the one accused of adultery from shame, treated women as equal, elevated the value of children, hated by the religious holy rollers and a wanted man by the authoritarian government, was accused of blasphemy, preached love for the least of these, and promoted inclusion of eunuchs in His Kin-dom. (Matt 19:12: “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”)

Jesus of that ghetto, backwater, wrong-side-of-the-tracks, “can anything good come out of” Nazareth. (John 1:46). Coming from that ‘no-good’ town, He is the Redeemer who lives out the mission of Isaiah 61:1-2 and Luke 4:18; “bring good news to the poor…proclaim release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus an innocent man put to death by a corrupt legal system aided by a power hungry hypocritical religious authority. Compassionate Jesus, who as he is being arrested heals the ear of the slave of the high priest. (Luke 22: 49-51). Whom in death, “made captivity itself a captive…also descended into the lower parts of the earth?” (Eph 4:7-10) to offer liberation to even those lost souls in Hell. Would anyone else like to hear more of this Jesus who give voice to the muzzled? Now is the time to boldly proclaim the belief in this Jesus the Liberator!

In Part 3 we will explore some possibilities for the proclamation of the bold Gospel