What Would Jesus Do? (TWGT2)
For my second examination of biblical characters, I’m gonna go for the big guns and choose Jesus.
We’re always trying to emulate Jesus. The entire WWJD campaign which was so popular during my elementary school years proves that. And of course, there’s nobody who would be a better choice as a role model. He was perfect, meaning he never did anything wrong, sin-wise. He was fully God and fully man. Does this prove that the authors of the Bible can’t do math, or is there more at work here?
Fully God
OK, this is the hard one. Nobody in the world can truthfully boast that they are even .01% God (though many have tried), but Jesus did a few better than that. He never sinned. That means he never killed, stole or had sex. That means he was never jealous, lustful, untruthful or idolatrous. That’s quite some shoes to fill. I’d bet my life on the fact that everyone reading this sentence can’t boast those credentials. If there’s someone that we should try to be, shouldn’t we shoot for the very top? When learn to hit a ball, it’s much better to try to be a Babe Ruth or a Sammy Sosa than some obscure guy who lives across the street.
Fully Man
OK, this is the part that we can relate to. We’re all pretty good at being human, unfortunately. Like all of us, Jesus was tempted. He was offered land and kingdoms as far as he could see. But he turned it down. Lets say I would (and could) offer you the entire nation of Canada China, and all you had to do was steal something – or no, lets take it a notch further – you had to tell a simple lie. A small white lie and you get trillions of dollars of wealth and unimaginable power. What would you do? What would did Jesus do? It’s something to think about: this is what we’re truly saying when we attempt to be like Jesus.
And you also have to consider his sacrifice. It’s easy to say that we would give our life to save someone else’s. But let’s take it a notch further. A terrible man is about to be given the electric chair for the purposeful murder of an entire family. You could confess to the murder that you had nothing to do with and spare the man’s life. You know you will be killed unmercifully. Do you do it? Now I’m not suggesting that you do something like that… but that is ultimately what Jesus did. Something to consider.
200%
It’s very important that I stress the word Fully. This means 100%. Why is it so important that the bible be mathematically illogical? Because that’s the reason that Jesus means anything. Nobody set within the bounds of 1/1 would be good enough. Without being fully god, his sacrifice would have meant nothing, he would have been a nice looking lamb with a shining coat and strong legs, but he wouldn’t have been perfect and spotless. That’s what it takes. He also needs to be fully man so that he could relate to us. Jesus came to earth to bridge the gap between us and God. Take a look at the slogan for this blog. There’s a huge difference between what we are and what we should be. Without being fully human, he couldn’t have truly related to us. 50% just wouldn’t have been good enough. You want to argue math with God?
What this means to us
It’s hard to emulate someone who’s never done anything wrong. Bam, we’re already out of the running. It’s impossible for us to do everything Jesus did. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. One of his roles on this planet was to be a role model. Something to shoot for. Sure, you’re going to sin. Sure, you’re not going to do miracles or be sacrificed. But his actions show a perfect example for how we’re going to live.
I wrote that in 3 separate sections, I hope it made sense.
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