Meet Hipster Jesus.
Hipster Jesus has an iPhone 316, with his own personal angel to fill in for Siri. His phone is loaded with apps only the Son of God can access.
His jeans are definitely skinnier than your jeans. In fact, you probably shouldn’t even bother trying. You’re not going to win the skinny jean competition this time.
Horn rimmed glasses? That’s so yesterday. Hipster Jesus rocks Shofar rimmed glasses.
You think your patterns in your expresso are cool? Meh. Hipster Jesus parts that expresso just like the Red Sea, just for fun.
Instagram? Hipster Jesus posts to Yestergram, Instagram AND Futuregram.
Hipster Jesus is probably a Beatles fan too. His favorite song? You guessed it – “All You Need is Love”. Why this song, you might ask. Good question. Hipster Jesus is all about love.
He’d rather not say anything that would make anyone feel the least bit uncomfortable. That would definitely not be cool. Oh, but he will stick it to those crazy religious people. Those guys are wackos. They’re haters. They’re really out of touch. They just don’t get it.
So if he’s dealing out harsh words, it’s only for them, because they don’t get his love message.
Hipster Jesus sounds pretty awesome, except not.
See, here’s the thing, as much as we might not like to admit it – we’re all sinners. That might sound harsh. Maybe that sounds judgmental, maybe it sounds however you think it sounds, but it’s true. You can dance your way around it all you want, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
I think real Jesus will back me up on that one. Romans 3:23 tells us, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In case you missed it, that’s all of us.
And here’s the thing, it really doesn’t matter what your particular sin of choice is. Maybe you lust. Maybe you have a problem with pornography. Maybe you have hatred in your heart toward someone else. Maybe…maybe…maybe.
So, now that we’ve established we’re all sinners, here’s the good news.
Ready?
Jesus came for all of us. No matter what kind of sin we’re down with. He loves us all. Awesome news, right?
Right.
But, here’s the thing. Just because Jesus loves us and died for us in our place, that doesn’t mean He didn’t point out sin where He saw it. Now I know, I know, most people say, “Jesus directed most of his harsh criticism to the religious leaders of the day.” I’ve heard this said a couple different ways lately, to almost imply Jesus certainly wouldn’t like today’s Christians. While we’re all certainly far from perfect, I think that’s stretching it a bit.
Jesus gave “criticism” to other people as well. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a couple examples.
John 8:1-11 is the famous encounter between Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Many times we focus on Jesus reprimanding the religious leaders and rescuing the woman. However, the last thing Jesus says is, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Yikes. Jesus said the “s” word. And not just, “hey don’t do this.” Leave your life of sin.
In Matthew 16:23 Jesus responds to Peter’s misconstrued idea of setting up tents on the mount of transfiguration. How does He respond? Oh, pretty harshly. “Get behind me Satan…” Satan. Wow. I’ve been mad at people before, but I’m fairly certain I haven’t called them Satan. Ouch. And this was to one of Jesus’ closest followers.
During the sermon on the mount, Jesus comes down pretty harshly on the topic of lust. I think it’s fairly safe to assume there were people who weren’t followers of Jesus present in the crowd as He preached.
I’ve seen it said on blogs and Facebook (oh, lovely, lovely Facebook) lately a saying that goes something like the following “by taking a stand on an issue, we’re alienating people from Jesus.”
I’ll have to respectfully and strongly disagree there. Yeah, I’ll take a stand on issues. Ask me about abortion, I’ll tell you what I think. Ask me about 50 Shades of Gray, I’ll tell it to you straight also. I’m not judging you, but I’ll give you my feeling on the issue.
What I’m certainly not saying when I give you my opinion is, “oh you like 50 Shades of Gray? You’re going to hell. Hope you enjoyed your book.”
I know, I know. There are “Christian” groups out there who do nothing more than throw hate at people in Jesus’ name. If you think that’s what I’m doing by stating an opinion, well, you’re wrong. I love you and want Jesus’s best for you, but I’m not going to hide my beliefs to somehow make Jesus more attractive and comfortable to you.
Here’s a secret. I’m just as messed up as you are. We all are. But I’d like to think the power of Jesus in my life is transforming me into a better person.
My hope is that my life helps point people to Jesus, not away from him. I know I won’t always succeed at that goal, but I won’t stop trying.
Well said, as usual:) so nice you have a talent for writing. I imagine fitzy will too as it is cultivated and nutured by his family:) i remember trying to do rhat with someone 🙂
Jared, good words. We tend to want to make Jesus say what we feel he should have said, or at least that he really meant what we want him to have meant. Trouble is it’s not just what Jesus said. We believe in the inspiration or scripture which means that what Paul says in Romans is absolutely as important as anything Jesus says in scripture. That the hard thing. We live in culture so out of touch with Jesus’ culture. I find a lot more resonance with our African and Asian contexts and Jesus’ culture than this navel gazing love me for who and what I am or at least let me pursue MY dreams goals, etc. Jesus culture loves everyone as they are and as Jesus would help them to be… if only we would all listen. We have lost the ability to speak words of constructive criticism to one another. We have not given others to speak those words to us. Break me. Shape me. Mold me. It’s not about happiness and comfort and affirmation. It’s about obedience and faithfulness and the joy which comes from knowing whose we are. It’s about understanding our citizenship in the Kingdom… Sorry, too much… gotta preach… need Sunday.
Clarifying my bad englesh…
Jared, good words. We tend to want to make Jesus say what we feel he should have said, or at least insist that he really meant what we want him to have meant. Trouble is that it is not just what Jesus said that we have to be concerned with. We believe in the inspiration of scripture which means that what Paul says in Romans is absolutely as important as anything Jesus says in scripture. That is the hard thing. We live in culture so out of touch with Jesus’ culture. I find a lot more resonance with our African and Asian contexts intersection with Jesus’ culture than this navel gazing love me for who and what I am or at least let me pursue MY dreams goals, prosperity, etc. American culture. Jesus culture would love everyone as they are and as Jesus would help them become… if only we would all listen. We have lost the ability to speak words of constructive criticism to one another. We have not given others permission to speak those critical words to us. Break me. Shape me. Mold me. It’s not about happiness and comfort and affirmation. It’s about obedience and faithfulness and the joy which comes from knowing whose we are. It’s about understanding our citizenship is in the Kingdom not here on earth… Sorry, too much… gotta preach… need Sunday.
Mom, yes you did push me to write. See, it paid off, just a little bit late 🙂
Glen, thank you so much for your insight! Great, great stuff!