Party Jesus


Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected--a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

Boy, I thought this might just be a Facebook spoof on evangelical goofiness by skeptics but it is for real. It had a ton of likes by the faithful.

While it is true that Jesus brings joy, peace, meaning, and salvation, having him wink, point, and giving a thumb's up "It's Party Time,"  is truly pathetic, like Jesus is some mascot or religious cartoonish Barney. Life as a Christian ain't no cartoon...more like a documentary. A work of fact not fiction, in all of the gritty reality of life. A Party? Not quite. Raw footage.

When Christians cast Jesus in this light, we need to be aware of how this looks to those that we are supposed to witness to; it makes Jesus look unreal and unrelated to the world we live in. There is danger in portraying Jesus beyond what the Scriptures do, and I am pretty sure that the rah-rah infomercial image is off.

I made comment the other day on Facebook how songs of lamentation are no longer a part of the Christian music playlist. Too much of a downer and depressing I am sure according to the Marketing reps. Yet, when people are down, they rarely benefit from a rah pep talk. Would it be wise to hand a non-Christian or even a believer a card like this when they find out their child has cancer? How profoundly  insensitive. We would deserve to be smacked, several times.

How about presenting the Christ who took on our humanity...beaten and forsaken by both a sinful world and His Father, redeeming it with his shed blood and broken body. Hope overcoming horror? That is a message that changes the world as it is.

 

        

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