okay, so im reading this book right now called, ‘searching for god knows what.’ of course its by donald miller, which im sure most of you have heard of him and/or that book. well, so far its been a pretty interesting book, but i havent found anything in it that has drastically changed my thinking or my life. that is until i came upon this little page, with a very interesting story. this story still has me thinking about it, even hours later, which i know from that must have totally rocked me. because if you know me, i dont get too moved by many books. so it was a nice surprise that it did. i would like to share this story with you, and hope it somehow impacts you like it did me.
okay so this story is actually taken from another book that donald was reading (and yes i can just call him donald, because we are b.f.f.s) called ‘lies and the lying liars who tell them’ by al franken. okay, i dont know if you know who al franken is, but he is someone who usually goes ‘after’ conservative christians and that sort of thing. but dont judge and dont stop reading, because it is very interesting that someone like al, can recognize when our current world is in dire need of change. anyways here is the story:
this is a comic strip about a man named supply-side jesus. in the strip, supply-side jesus walks through the streets of jerusalem stating that people should start businesses so they can employ the poor and should purchase exotic and expensive clothes and jewelry, so their money will trickle into the economy and, eventually, bring bread to the mouths of the starving. in the comic, the disciples come to supply-side jesus and say they want to feed the poor directly, but supply-side jesus says no, that if you give money or food or water directly to the poor, you are only helping them in their laziness and increasing the welfare state. eventually, rome catches up with supply-side jesus and, before an angry mob, pontius pilate asks the masses which man they want to crucify, supply-side jesus or another man who, in the comic, stands beside pilate humbly, a disheveled and shadowy figure. the crowd chants they want to free supply-side jesus because they like his philosophies, and they want to crucify this other man, the shadowy figure standing next to pilate. pilate tells the crowd this other man is innocent, that he has done no wrong, but the crowd refuses to listen and instead chants, ‘crucify him, crucify him.’ pilate then lets supply-side jesus go free, and orders the innocent man, whose name was jesus of nazareth, to be crucified.
one jesus is understood through conservative economic theory, the other through the gospels.
so this really made me think, of course, which jesus am i in love with?
is it the jesus who finds ‘answers’ for every solution instead of finding the answers in his father
is it the jesus who loves everyone and finds all solutions through his father
and so it made me think how i have grown up knowing supply-side jesus. how must people view jesus as someone who didnt eat with drunks or prostitutes or love those who are caught in constant sin. we view jesus as someone who had great wealth or great looks. we think of him as someone who had this great plan on how to fix problems and fix everyone. when in reality it was the faith of the followers who actually fixed the problems and themselves.
i always knew this type of jesus was wrong, but for some reason it felt as if i was the only one who knew this. everyone else around me acted as if this was the only answer. the only answer to life. but no, it couldnt be, it just couldnt be. thats what i would tell myself every time something bothered me about that system.
this trip has really taught me who the true jesus of nazareth is and will always be. it has taught me to re-look at the gospels and how jesus was and how he truly acted. he was not the person we have made him out to be in modern society. he is opposite of that little bubble we like to put him in.
he is that shadowy person hidden from modern world and its our job to find him. we must look for him in places we would never dare to go or even dream of, because his love is pouring out to those people whom society has deemed unworthy.
but always remember we are all unworthy in the eyes of the lord…..
so who are we to say is worthy and unworthy, because jesus of nazareth never said anyone was worthy or unworthy, but supply-side jesus said people were unworthy….
and so i shall end on what jesus of nazareth told us to do: first, love the lord with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength and second of course to love all your neighbors.
