Scandalous Jesus

The more I study who Jesus is the more I find myself drawn to Him.

Now here is a man who is absolutely holy and yet the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the swindlers, the thieves, and the underbelly of Israel loved being around Him. In fact, the only ones who seemed to have a problem with Jesus were the religious of the day.

I don’t know about you, but I find this quite disturbing.

Because you see, when I look at my life and ask the question, “Who would have been more comfortable around me – the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the swindlers, and thieves or the religious of today – there’s no question. The religious people would be far more comfortable around me.

And if the truth be told, I am not very comfortable around the underbelly of our society. I would much rather hang out with other religious people.

And the thing that frightens me most about that is that the religious people were the ones who crucified Jesus. And I can’t help but wonder if Jesus were walking the earth today, if I might not find myself in the same camp as the religious of His day.

Instead of going out into the world with the hope and the message of Jesus Christ, we prefer insulating ourselves in our little cocoons in order to keep the very people whom Jesus sends us out, out!

Instead of infiltrating the public school system with Christian children and Christian teachers, we create Christian schools.

Instead of infiltrating our neighborhoods with the love and hospitality of Jesus Christ, we hand pick our friends.

Instead of tackling the needs of the underprivileged in our world, we move out to the suburbs so that we don’t have to look at the poor.

And if the truth be told, I don’t think that’s how Jesus would have lived His life. And I don’t think that’s who Jesus is calling us to be.