Don’t Despise Him

I recently saw an obviously homemade sign stuck to a fence near the offramp of the freeway I travel frequently that simply read in big, bold letters on cardboard, “JESUS.”  Just a simple reminder to passersby of the one who gave his life so others could live eternally.  Not offensive to me for any reason, but to the contrary, I whispered in agreement out loud as I drove past and said, “Yes.  Thank you, Lord.”  I’m more grateful for Jesus and what he did for me than ANYTHING in the world. 

I drove by the same sign a few days later and someone had used gray duct tape to completely cover over his name.  WTH?

Can you imagine?  I mean, that takes a little forethought.  One would have to purposefully find your roll of duct tape, go to the sign, rip off several long measures of tape and install it to very intentionally block out the name of the King of Kings written by a faithful follower on a piece of cardboard.  I can imagine the person that did it completing his anti-graffiti task, stepping back and with a great sense of pride, saying to themselves, “There.  Take that, Jesus!”  Or something worse.

What makes some people so hatefully offended by Jesus?  What did Jesus himself ever do to someone to make them so angry, resentful and hate-filled?  He simply came to love us.  With his own words he told his followers, “I have come to give you life and that life abundantly.” (John 10:10) and in another passage, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45).  Jesus’ followers recognized this phenomenon of hating Jesus also, not long after his death and resurrection.  Peter attests to this early “Jesus hate” in his letter to the faithful when he says, “To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word— and to this they were appointed.” (I Peter 2:7-8)  Jesus has been causing people like these to stumble for a long time.  But still, it baffles me. How can people be SO UPSET about a man that came to sacrifice for them so that they could receive the free gift of abundant, eternal life? 

HERE’S WHAT I THINK

Here’s my hypothesis: people that despise Jesus do so primarily because of the harmful things his followers have done to hurt them personally or to misrepresent him to the world.  It would be impossible to count the number of things “Christians” have done to others in the name of Jesus that have been ultimately disappointing, hurtful and painful.  Just because someone has a JESUS SAVES sticker or a FISH on the back of their car won’t keep them from cutting you off and maybe even flipping you off as they speed by on the freeway.  I’ve seen it happen.  As a matter of fact, in my worst moments, I confess I’ve done the exact same thing.  And that’s just a small example of how people that claim Christ can hurt others.  Think of the countless Christian leaders that have been ousted because of sexual sin or financial imprudence.  Or the child sex abuse scandal of the Catholic church.  Even Christ followers are capable of horrendous deeds hidden behind the label of “Christian.”  Christians are still sinners, even AFTER they’ve made a commitment to follow Jesus.  That’s because there is a difference between salvation (the transaction of receiving Jesus’ gift of eternal life) and sanctification (the process of turning my will and life over to the care of God).  Those are two TOTALLY different events.

If you are one of those that are just mildly…or even seriously offended by the name of Jesus…so offended that even the scrawling of his name on a cardboard sign causes your flesh to recoil and reach for the nearest roll of duct tape, may I invite you to consider the following.  Is it possible that Jesus’ true character has been co-opted by a minority of bad actors?  I’m not trying to minimize ANY pain, disappointment or confusion anyone has experienced at the hand of someone that calls themselves a Christian – to the contrary, I want to VALIDATE that those injuries can be real and substantial.  But remember this:  Jesus came to save sick people, broken people.  And the manner in which he saves them often involves a long journey of healing and recovery – learning to live life in a way that is in alignment with the way Jesus himself lived while he was here on earth.  During that process, ALL of us Christians are immensely capable of hurting other children of God, our friends, our families, our brothers and sisters.  And sadly, we do hurt others – A LOT.  This is why so much of the New Testament centers around our improving our behavior and how we should treat others.  We have to daily be willing to LEARN how to live like Jesus.  It is a process we must willingly insert ourselves into every day.  That is what spiritual formation…sanctification is all about.

I would also say that for every Christian that has hurt someone deeply in the name of Jesus there are multiple others waiting in the wings ready to care for the wounded and see them through that hurt, no matter how messy.  So may I propose to the Jesus haters, instead of hating Jesus because of what some of his followers have done in his name, consider this:  What if God the Father, who wants desperately to have a close, intimate relationship with his children (namely, YOU) is actually UNAPPROACHABLE because of his own perfect character?  What if he is SO perfectly right and just that it is just IMPOSSIBLE for his estranged children to be in his presence and live.  This is what God was getting at when Moses asked for God to reveal himself… 

“Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:18-20)

And if God the Father is that unapproachable, so that just being in his presence would cause a man to die, wouldn’t it be the greatest gift in history for someone to make a way for this impossible thing to become possible?  Wouldn’t it be the greatest gift that mankind finally had a way to know, be known and be blessed by the one that created us?  THIS is what Jesus came to do.  THIS is why he said of himself, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)  So many people are offended by this statement, as if Jesus is arrogantly proclaiming superiority over every other religion.  Don’t we all HATE to be told our way is wrong?  But on the other side of trusting in Jesus, I’ve learned that this isn’t a statement of proud exclusivity on Jesus’ behalf designed to keep us from considering other religions.  This is simply the Son of God leading us to the secret passage-way into his Father’s house that no one else knows about – the only way possible.   He is giving us the alarm code to his dad’s kingdom.  Wow. 

There will ALWAYS be haters, those that disagree with anything Jesus has done or said.  Their deluded hate doesn’t for one minute lessen or cheapen the sacrifice Jesus has made or is unmatchable love for us.  Personally, I see Jesus as the one who gave me the greatest gift ever…one that I am incapable of giving to myself.  And he continues to give and give and give gifts to me in my daily life…maybe lesser in value than eternal life, but no less beautiful…gifts of doing for me what I cannot do for myself in my life today.  All because I chose NOT to be offended when I was first offered his gift of life back when I was a teenager. 

So, if you’ve been offended by his name, put your duct tape away, whisper a prayer of gratitude to his name from your lips and ask God to help you change your perspective.   And remember, Jesus has a word for the haters – those offended by his great sacrificial gift.  Read Matthew 7:24-27 and see for yourself what that word is.  And then go and don’t be one of them.