Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up!

So, you want to follow Jesus. Great! Which one? First, there’s the popular and ubiquitous “Fabio” Jesus—the supermodel Jesus who walks around like he’s floating on air. Rippling blond hair cascading to his shoulders, blue eyes aglow with an inner holy light, muted halo floating above his perfect head—barely brushing that fabulous hair—he stands aloof and apart from us and the messiness of human life. He’s totally ethereal and totally unapproachable. In sharp contrast to the “Fabio” Jesus, there’s the “Burn in Hell” Jesus—dark, stormy eyes ablaze with righteous indignation, arm extended, finger pointing in judgment of you and the rest of humanity. Standing there, he mouths the words, “Are you going to heaven or to hell?” He’s totally serious and totally scary. Most people don’t like this Jesus. So, as a result, we have the “Everything’s Cool” Jesus. This is the “I got this,” “life is good,” Jesus who goes along with just about everything and doesn’t really care what we humans do or don’t do as long as everybody’s chill. Finally, we have the “Churchy” Jesus. This is the Jesus who came to earth to die for our sins so we can go to heaven.

There may be other versions of Jesus out there but these are the big four and you may have seen, heard about, or experienced one or more of these versions. Here’s the truth. Even though all four versions have at least a grain of truth in them, none of them captures the full Jesus because none of them considers Jesus within the context of God’s Story, all of God’s story. So, let’s go—Will the Real Jesus please stand up!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Youtube Music | RSS | More