The number of migrants seeking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has divided Congress and communities alike, leaving no clear path forward on immigration. But as a largely Christian nation, it’s reasonable that Americans should turn to the ultimate moral authority to solve this issue: Jesus Christ. Here’s how Jesus would handle the crisis at the border, according to Christians.
“I assume he’d immediately disregard the border, fly to the United Kingdom, and execute that heathen Eric Idle for spitting in the face of God in the ’70s.”
“I don’t pretend to know the Lord’s mind. But I’ll tell you what Satan would do: Provide them with food and water and give them shelter in our country.”
PROJECT SHIFT • Dec 19, 2022 Portrait of a Radical focuses on the revolutionary nature of what has been described as the Jesus Movement. It was a truly radical movement that threatened the power structure of his time – from the temple establishment to the Roman occupiers themselves. Many do not know of the revolutionary nature of His mission and ministry. Likely because it threatens very similar power structures to this day. This film aims to expose a side of an historical figure who forever changed the world. For many the better, while for others, his radical message continues to be a threat. Portrait of a Radical is one in a four-part series that was released in 2000 entitled A Crisis of Faith. The award winning series aired on PBS, Hallmark and Discover Canada as well as being featured at over 60 film festivals around the world. The subjects addressed are the inherent dangers of capitalism in A Crisis of Faith, the revolutionary and radical nature of Jesus in Portrait of a Radical, Racism in State of the Union, and the western spiritual journey in Quest for the Holy Grail. Some of the country’s top philosophers, academics, activists, poets, religious scholars and story tellers were brought in to challenge, provoke and inspire the viewer. Names such as Huston Smith, Richard Rohr, Calvin Butts, Sam Keen, Allen Dwight Callahan, Jean Houston and Kathleen Cleaver. And music by some of the greats – The Doors, Miles Davis, Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors, Gil Scott Heron, Jean Luc Ponti and more. The style of filmmaking was highly innovative for a documentary film in 2000, and has held up over time. The subject matter and the views of our great thinkers have more than held up and, in fact, proven truly prescient. Project Shift will be releasing the additional three films over the course of 2023 as well as some of the raw, uncut interviews that form the basis of this powerful series. So subscribe and stay tuned. To learn more about our other works, please visit our website at www.Project-Shift.com. This film was produced by Four Seasons Productions
Here’s a modern take on what is probably Jesus’ most famous parable:
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
A social justice activist happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side on his way to a march in support of Palestinian freedom.
So too, a conservative evangelical, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side on his way to a prayer meeting to pray for the peace of Israel.
But a Palestinian Muslim, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man in his own car, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out a pile of Israeli shekels and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
How does the above version of this parable make you feel? The way it makes you feel probably reveals your understanding of Jesus.
The more I consider the responses to not only what’s happening in the Middle East, but to what it means to be Christian, the more I’m convinced that Jesus is just too awkward and uncomfortable for many Christians to deal with.
We would kill him all over again if he came back today.
Recently, I was in a conversation with a Christian leader and I happened to mention how, for Jesus, everything boils down to the command to love our neighbor. His response to me was that that sounded more like ‘meta-Marxism’.
I was flabbergasted.
How is it that Christian leaders can be so lacking in understanding of who Jesus is and what he was about? I had to remind my friend that the one who said that the whole Law and Prophets is summed up in the command to do unto others wasn’t Karl Marx; it was Jesus of Nazareth.
I regularly find that it’s those who don’t claim to follow Christ who have a better understanding of who Jesus is than those who warm the pews on a Sunday.
Why are secular people often more caring than Christians? I wonder if it’s because they don’t have the same baggage as many Christians do, not so many rules or set ways of doing things.
It shows the distance that many Christians are from the Gospel of Jesus.
This is where the story of the Good Samaritan is an affront to many Christians. We like to see it as a nice story of helping others when they’re in need. Buts it’s confronting when it’s seen as Jesus meant it, making the hated enemy the hero of the story. Would we give credit to the Good Palestinian Muslim? He’s just like the Good Samaritan. Jews absolutely hated Samaritans, and vice versa. To Jews, Samaritans believed all the wrong things and were just bad people. It’s the same for the attitude of many Christians towards Muslims. Many of us think Muslims believe all the wrong things and are destined for hell. But Jesus said to his Jewish hearers, “go and be like the Samaritan”. To say it was offensive is a massive understatement.
Jesus would say to us today, “go and be like the Good Palestinian Muslim”. Or the Good Secular Atheist. Or the Good Vladimir Putin. Or the Good Trans Woman.
We have much to learn from our non-Christian brothers and sisters. Christians don’t have a monopoly on truth. Truth can be expressed by anyone. All truth is God’s truth, whether it’s expressed by a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist or an agnostic. True Christlike humility means listening and being open to being changed. It isn’t being afraid of truth, whoever proclaims it.
The problem with many Christians is that our motives for doing good are all skewed. We think it’s about getting a reward in heaven when we die when it’s not about that at all. Is the atheist who does good things with no thought of an afterlife reward more moral than the person in church on a Sunday who does good things because of promise of reward when they die?
This is the problem with having our ultimate hope and destiny in an after-death reward. Often for the faithful church-goer, it’s not about love, but about what I will get. Another crown in heaven. Is the atheist’s motive more pure and therefore more Christlike?
This also raises the old question of whether you can be good without God. I think it’s a moot point. I think everyone is made in the image of God, whether they’re a Christian, Muslim, atheist or whatever. We all have the fingerprint of the God of love, justice, compassion and mercy on us. That’s how God has made all of us. So, yes, you can be good without belief in God and committing your life to God. It’s just that I’m convinced that no one is without God. As St Paul said in Acts 17, God is not far from any one of us.
We often think it’s all about right belief, but for Jesus it’s about right action. We think that if you say the sinner’s prayer and ask Jesus into your heart as your Savior and Lord, you’re going straight to heaven when you die. But Jesus said almost 100 times in the gospels, “follow me” and he taught us to pray for heaven to come to earth.
I’m currently listening to the updated version of Philip Yancey’s classic book, What’s So Amazing About Grace? He laments the fact that there is so much of what he calls ungrace in the church. The Australian pastor, Rowland Croucher, used to tell a story of when he was preaching to a church congregation and said that the Pharisees were all Bible-believing, tithing, good people who regularly went to synagogue. As he said this, people in the congregation started squirming in their seats. Rowland asked one of them what was wrong. The person told him, “that’s us!”.
The Pharisees were well respected people in Jewish society. But Jesus called them sons of hell. What would he say to today’s church?
Having said all this, I believe that intentionally following Jesus is the best way to be good. But so many people are intentionally committed to living a way of love without consciously doing it out of a desire to emulate Jesus.
I remember the Australian Christian leader, Dave Andrews, telling a story once of a Hindu woman in India who was regularly beaten up by her husband. This poor woman would pray every night to a god of love to comfort her. When she told Dave that, he said, “that’s the God of Jesus”. The woman replied, “is that his name?”. She was praying to Jesus and surrendering to him but she just wasn’t consciously aware of it. We need to be open to seeing Christlikeness in those who don’t claim to follow Christ.
The U2 singer, Bono, once said that religion is what you have left when the Spirit has left the building. Jesus didn’t come to give us a new religion. He came to bring the reign of God, of love, justice, and peace, from heaven to earth. He calls us to love our neighbor, including our enemy.
For Jesus, for God, it’s all about love. Loving God is loving our neighbor. The two can’t be separated. The entire Law and the Prophets is about doing for others what we would want them to do for us. The Golden Rule. And if you prefer to get your theology from Paul instead of Jesus, then read Galatians 5:14.
Is Jesus too awkward for you? If he is, that might not be a bad thing. I heard it said once that everywhere Jesus went, he caused a crisis. He caused a crisis in the lives of the disciples, in those he called to follow him, and in the religious leaders. May he cause a crisis in our lives, and may we respond in full surrender to him.
New to Medium? Click here to become a Medium member and get access to all of my articles and thousands of others.
The Backyard Church is not just a blog. It’s a real online community for people who have faith but can’t, don’t, or won’t go to church. Join today.
I am a writer from Melbourne, Australia with a passion for showing how I believe Christian faith is relevant to life. Connect at https://linktr.ee/nilsvonkalm
The Gospel of Thomas is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture. Wikipedia
Growing up in the evangelical Church, I was taught that Jesus provided the answers to all of life’s questions.
But, it turns out that Jesus provided hardly any answers.
In fact, in the Bible, Jesus only answered 3 of the 183 questions others asked him. If you were looking for answers, Jesus should be the last person you go to. In fact, reading through the Gospels, you will notice that Jesus rarely answers a direct question. Most of the time, he would respond by telling a story or by asking a question of His own.
Yes, Jesus was more concerned with asking the right question than giving the right answer. He only answered three questions, but he asked 307.
That’s one answer for every 100-plus questions.
You might conclude that Jesus didn’t come to provide answers at all but to provide questions. Perhaps Jesus understood that asking the right question is extremely powerful. It can expose a person’s true motives, defuse a heated situation, and lead the asker to their own conclusions; it can even cause a breakthrough in someone’s life.
There is a reason why Google gets 47 billion hits every month. It’s because we are addicted to answers. Jesus doesn’t give answers; he asks questions. Here are eight questions that he asked that are still relevant today.
What do you want me to do for you?
If Jesus had a favorite question, this was it. He asked it more than once. Jesus asked it of a blind man who was sitting beside the road begging for Jesus to “have mercy” on him.
It’s a strange question to ask a blind man, don’t you think? I mean, isn’t it obvious what the blind man wants from Jesus? And yet, Jesus asks the question. Perhaps, he wanted the blind man to speak it out loud for himself. Perhaps the blind man’s blindness had become such a part of his identity that Jesus was checking to see if he really was ready to have his life completely changed.
Who knows.
But for one reason or the other, Jesus asked the blind man the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” I wonder, would you have an answer if Jesus asked you that question? Imagine Jesus walked into the room where you are right now and put his hand on your shoulder, and said, “Hey, what do you want me to do for you?” What would you say? What is it that you would want Jesus to do for you? Maybe the answer to that question is more vital than you realize for you to grow, change, and see as you’ve never seen before.
There’s another thing that stands out about this question. Here was Jesus, supposedly the one-and-only son of God, creator of the universe, asking one of his created beings, “How can I serve you?”
Think about that for a moment.
What does that tell you about what God is like?
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye yet fail to perceive the wooden beam in your own?
Here is a question that Jesus asked that surely resonates down through the ages and still speaks to us today — all of us. This question punctuates Jesus’s ultimate statement on judging others, found in Matthew 7:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”
Sometimes the things that Jesus says are a bit obtuse or abstract and require interpretation. But, on this matter, I think Jesus couldn’t be more clear.
DO NOT JUDGE.
It’s a bit of an irony that Jesus tells us, in no uncertain terms, not to judge others, and yet Christians have become renowned for it. When we catch ourselves judging others, this question from Jesus should punctuate and deflate our self-congratulatory fault-finding.
Who touched me?
Picture this:
Jesus is in a crowded place, where people are brushing up against him on all sides. A woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhaging illness for many years sneaks up to Jesus and touches the hem of his cloak, hoping that this alone may cure her.
Her vaginal bleeding problem embarrasses her, so she tries to be discrete. She assumes that in the crowd of people, Jesus won’t even notice someone touching the corner of his robe.
But he does.
Amongst the bodies brushing up against him, he somehow senses the woman’s light touch and asks, “Who touched me?”
In Mark 5:33, we read, “Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.”
What is so profound and wonderful about the fact that Jesus knew this woman had reached out and touched him amongst the many hands and bodies? Let me explain it like this: I was in a crowded shopping mall the other day. The place was packed with hundreds — perhaps even thousands of people. I remember thinking, “God, how could you notice all of these people? How could you know them all? How could you distinguish their prayers one from another?”
But in this story, we see that Jesus recognized the slightest touch from one woman in the crowd. This question from Jesus reveals to us that those who reach for Jesus do not go unnoticed by him.
Here is a truth: Your ability to help a person is limited by the extent to which they wish to be helped. Some people have found their identity in a kind of learned victimhood to which they have become so addicted that they don’t actually want to get better.
Of course, such people often say the right things — like, “I wish I were better” — but their actions betray the truth.
Once, Jesus came across a guy who had been stuck dealing with illness for a staggering 38 years. This poor fellow was hanging out by a pool in Jerusalem. Word on the street was that every once in a while, an angel would swing by and give the pool a bit of a stir. Tradition held that the first person to jump in, right after the water got all riled up, would be cured of whatever ailment was bothering them.
“When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Imagine lying around for 38 years hoping that a superstitious legend might deliver you from your affliction and doing nothing in the meantime. Is it any wonder that Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”
Jesus refuses to tolerate the man’s learned victimhood. He tells him to take action. Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” The man was cured at once; he picked up his mat and walked.”
This question from Jesus invites us out of our learned helplessness and instructs us to get up and do something about our afflictions, whether finding peace in a situation we cannot change or finding change.
Why does this generation seek a sign?
You can sense the frustration in Jesus’s voice when he says in Mark 8, “Why does this generation ask for a sign?”
After Jesus had miraculously fed four thousand people, the Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Just give us a sign from Heaven, and then we’ll believe.”
Jesus sighed.
The reality is that if Jesus had turned the chief priest into an armadillo, they still wouldn’t have believed. There’s a very simple reason for that. Belief requires faith which is belief in that which you cannot see. You will never get enough evidence from signs and wonders to cancel all elements of doubt. Therefore, belief requires a leap of faith in the end.
Some churches have such a profound focus on seeking the miraculous that they completely miss the miracle worker. To follow Jesus, you must follow Him for Him — not for what he can do. Since Jesus is no longer physically on earth, that requires faith.
That’s why Jesus said, “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” When Jesus asks, “Why does this generation seek a sign?” it is simultaneously an invitation to trust him when there are no signs to be found.
Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?
Oh… you didn’t know Jesus said that, did you?
Yes, believe it or not, in Luke 12, Jesus exhorts the listening crowd to exercise their own good judgment and brains. Here’s what it says:
He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?”
The title of this section of the Gospels is “Interpreting the Times.”
Growing up in the church, I was taught to banish my inner voice and not to trust my feelings and intuitions because I am inherently and hopelessly wicked. I was told to take every thought captive and measure it against the scale of righteousness.
Yet here is Jesus essentially saying, “Use your own brains to recognize the times and act accordingly.” It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “Trust your own judgment.”
So, the question from Jesus: “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?” is an invitation to listen to your inner voice, intuition, and feelings. After all, are you not guided by the Holy Spirit?
This question was asked not once but three times to the Apostle Peter by Jesus.
Why three times?
Well, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. It was symbolic. Peter had abandoned Jesus just like the rest when Jesus’s hour of need had come, after boasting, “Even if everyone else abandoned you, I will not!”
He had failed Jesus big time.
Jesus could have responded angrily to Peter. He could have written Peter off. He could have accused Peter of being a traitor. And Jesus would have been justified in all of those things.
But Jesus doesn’t demand an explanation. Jesus doesn’t expect Peter to grovel and wallow. Jesus doesn’t heap guilt and condemnation on Peter. Jesus does not treat him as you or I might!
But instead, through the power of asking a gentle but searching question, Jesus helps Peter see the enormity of his failure for himself and the magnitude of Christ’s forgiveness and reconciliation.
Do you love me?
It was a restorative question that communicates a beautiful truth: With Christ, a failure is an event, not a destiny. A failure is an event, not a person.
Who do you say that I am?
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples this question. Here is the story as it unfolds:
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
At the end of the day, your answer to this question will determine your regard for his life, his teaching, and his example. It’s a question that all people still need to answer. Was Jesus merely a good, wise, and benevolent teacher? Or was Jesus something more?
I can’t answer that question for you, but I’m sure that Jesus still asks it today.
Questions > Answers
When I was in high school, I would often ask my teachers during lessons, “Do I need to know this for the exam?”
I’m sure it would drive my teacher nuts. I was less interested in learning than I was in having the answers! Just give me the answers, dammit!
But, now, I see the power of questions. In fact, I’m convinced you can learn just as much — maybe even more — through a good question than a good answer.
And many of the questions that Jesus asked are still teaching their lessons to this day.
The Backyard Church is not just a blog. It’s a real online community for people who have faith but can’t, don’t, or won’t go to church. Join today.
For more articles on life, faith, and spirituality, Sign-up for my newsletter. Also, feel free to send questions and story ideas to thebackyardchurch@gmail.com
In this broad survey of the efforts to establish, amend, or deny the historical Jesus, Albert Schweitzer presents the history of a debate about what mattered most to millions of people: If God had entered human history, what could history tell about it? Throughout the course of this heated and prolonged dispute, one retelling of the life of Jesus followed another, enjoying — in Schweitzer’s phrase — “the immortality of revised editions.” Lesser writers might consider differences of opinion as signs of a hopeless enterprise, but Schweitzer instead finds immense value in the differences. Approaches and conclusions may differ, he concludes, but the quest for the historical Jesus has provided ample testimony to the importance of the effort and the rewards of the experience.
