WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

by Steve

I am just about finished with Peter Gomes’ latest book, The Scandalous gospel of Jesus.  I will heartily recommend it to you.  Gomes, as many of you know, is a best-selling author, as well as being professor of Christian morals at Harvard and minister of the Memorial Church there.  Many things struck me as I read, but none more than this:  “What would Jesus do?” remains a problematic question because it implies that Jesus’ role is to enter into our world and become the solution to our problems, when we are meant to live as bravely and fully in our world and time as Jesus lived in his.”  Since we cannot live in Jesus’ world, nor he in ours, the correct question then would be, “What would Jesus have ME do?”  That question we can answer.

Our priority as followers of Jesus was put forth by Jesus himself, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.”  Easy to say…but what does it really mean?  I think that we love God by loving the things that God loves.  Think of just a few, and it won’t take long to discover just how difficult loving God can be: 

1.  God loves his enemies, thus we are to love ours.  When I preached at Friendship UMC a week ago, I was so impressed that Vaughn Sprinkle, in his pastoral prayer, remembered to pray for “those who oppose us.”  If we love God, we have no other choice.

2.  God loves the unlovely.  Jesus left no doubt about God’s special concern for the poor, the outcast, the “untouchables” of our society.  Loving God, then, means that we must faithfully re-present him to those we’d really prefer to ignore.

3.  God loves mercy.  We, on the other hand, desire vengeance, wanting to make sure the bad guys get what’s coming to ‘em.  An eye for an eye….  Loving God means acting like God, being slow to anger, merciful, and compassionate.  If most of our ugly judgments and actions were preceded by the realization,”there, but for the grace of God, go I” the huge majority of them would be nipped in the bud.

So…to ask what Jesus would do is to miss the point.  Let’s ask, instead, “What would Jesus have ME do?”  We can get somewhere with that, because doing what Jesus would have us do makes us into the person he wants us to be.

(References from The Scandalous gospel of Jesus, by Peter Gomes.  HarperOne Press, 2007)

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday

32 Responses to “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?”

  1. Debra, on February 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pm Said:

    Steve,

    Capitalize the G in Gospel!!
    What a great, great, looking……(you thought I was going to say guy didn’t you?) Webpage…I love the blog – you are so Spong…! Love it – Love it – can’t wait to read it all! Great job!

  2. Steve, on February 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pm Said:

    Debra…the “g” in the title of the book is lowercase. I knew somebody (knitpicker) would point this out! sk

  3. Jane, on February 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pm Said:

    It’s OK Steve……calm down. No calling names, now!! Debra gets paid for being a knitpicker!! It’s part of her job description!

  4. June H., on February 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm Said:

    I thought it was “nit picker.”
    June

  5. Steve, on February 12th, 2008 at 5:00 pm Said:

    depends on what you’re picking!

  6. Steve, on February 12th, 2008 at 5:59 pm Said:

    You know, I didn’t even think about that when I wrote it! I stand corrected! Anyway, Debra got the point!

  7. MIke, on February 12th, 2008 at 8:16 pm Said:

    Since we are now past the Knit or Nit pickking, let’s go on to the point. “What would Jesus have me do?” is the question my Dad, the Baptist minister said several years ago and the question I have been trying to get across ever since he enlightened me. The part about Baptist is just to let people know that not all Baptists are so far “right” but are right(correct). He, Dad, said that for him he was not capable of knowing Jesus enough to “KNOW” what he would do but by studing his teachings we can all decide what he would have me(us) do. It is good to see that a Harvard man is smart enough to agree with my Father.

  8. Steve, on February 12th, 2008 at 9:43 pm Said:

    Mike…this flowed from my remembering your telling me that your dad had said that! Gomes just confirmed it! Tell Ron he was quoted by a Methodist.

  9. Suzanna, on February 12th, 2008 at 9:49 pm Said:

    Before reading the comments I was concerned that I would not be able to comment on the intellectual level that might be required…However, I think after reading these comments I can safely say…Yes, I say nit picker and to know Jesus well enough to decide what we are to do is the goal of the journey. Impressive website. Looks great!

  10. Steve, on February 12th, 2008 at 9:58 pm Said:

    Suzanna…thanks. I thought Knit made sense! And I’d put your intellectual level up with the best. Thanks for tuning in!

  11. MIke, on February 12th, 2008 at 10:20 pm Said:

    THe only concern i would have with Suzanna would be raising my intellectual level up to hers. Thanks for the complement to Ron(Dad). I’ll let him know.

  12. Debra, on February 13th, 2008 at 1:28 pm Said:

    WOW! Thanks to the ladies for defending me! So, I looked it up…it is “nitpicker.” Let us give Steve a break – he went to Duke…shall I say more? And, Mike, Steve has spoken highly of your Dad to me. I can’t believe he is Baptist…wish there were more like him!

  13. Скеч, on September 6th, 2008 at 5:19 am Said:

    Очень забавные мысли, хорошо рассказано, все разложено по полкам :)

  14. Немец, on September 15th, 2008 at 12:08 pm Said:

    Круто написано, но как говорится, для общей картины нужно как минимум три источника :)

  15. Кроватин, on October 1st, 2008 at 3:26 am Said:

    Можно и по этому вопросу, ведь только в споре может зародиться истина. :)

  16. джaн, on October 28th, 2008 at 5:32 am Said:

    Информация интересная. Спасибо. Хотелось бы только апдейтов почаще

  17. LanseloT, on October 28th, 2008 at 3:28 pm Said:

    Статья оставила сложное, даже в какой-то степени неоднозначное, впечатление… Даже не знаю, что сказать… Нужно время, чтобы обдумать прочитанное.

  18. Бежен, on November 28th, 2008 at 7:29 pm Said:

    У меня что-то сегодня с утра Ваш сайт недоступен был. У всех все нормально было?

  19. Филипп, on December 1st, 2008 at 4:10 pm Said:

    Да, такой блог стопудово надо раскручивать как только можно – что б как можно больше читателей о нем узнали! :)

  20. Антон, on December 2nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm Said:

    Хм… А мне вот сдается, что минусы прилично превосходят плюсы.

  21. RedEye, on December 25th, 2008 at 2:01 am Said:

    Познавательно! Хотелось бы побольше точно таких же заниматльных постов

  22. Бежен, on December 26th, 2008 at 9:51 pm Said:

    Вопрос к автору блога, а вот у вас время у каждой статьи и в комментах пишется… Это какое? Московское? Заранее спасибочки за ответ.

  23. Вилор, on December 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am Said:

    Да уж Мне кажется, минусы намного превосходят плюсы. Думаю, не стоит заморачиваться.

  24. Руслан, on December 27th, 2008 at 11:13 pm Said:

    Вообще я люблю написать какую-нибудь скабрезную критику, но тут ни к чему не придраться! :)

  25. Илья, on January 1st, 2009 at 11:31 am Said:

    Я тоже так раньше думал, пока не прочитал несколько подобных статей по этой же теме.

  26. Борис, on January 27th, 2009 at 9:28 am Said:

    Хорошая статья, как и все предыдущие. Буду теперь и в дальнейшем следить .

  27. Гавриил, on February 1st, 2009 at 12:36 pm Said:

    Любопытно. Автору, как говорится, респект и уважуха.

  28. Василий, on February 4th, 2009 at 5:25 am Said:

    А в чем смысл добавлять свой блог на Фид бернер? Траф это увеличит или что? (извините: за оффтопик) :)

  29. Евгений, on February 4th, 2009 at 6:20 am Said:

    Да уж… :) Вы бы знали что про Вас пишут в других блогах :)

  30. WARLOCK, on February 6th, 2009 at 12:54 pm Said:

    В общем-то согласен :) Для меня это как раз очень актуально :)

  31. Вениамин, on February 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm Said:

    Хорошо написано. А это все на основе личного опыта?Позвольте полюбопытствовать :)

  32. alikos, on February 25th, 2009 at 5:58 pm Said:

    Увлекательно написанно, я наверное бы так не смог.

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