Jesus, the oddball subcontractor

Jesus' story is often retrofitted by Christians today to look cool, sound cool, and be cool so that people will like him and want to fit in with him. It's just how we do business. Like any other group in culture, we want to look good and be popular, so we accentuate the positives.   But Jesus wasn't "cool" just because we want him to be - if we're talking about him in his own context.

He was born under questionable circumstances - his mom pregnant with him before dad married her. They scattered from Israel to Egypt when he was still very young so as to avoid a religious/military death squad. When they came back, Jesus scared his parents to death when he stayed behind in a trip to Jerusalem and didn't bother telling them. And as he grew, he worked with his "dad" as a stone mason and woodworker - essentially a subcontractor in today's words.

As he got older and the time was right, he went out to the river and his somewhat crazy "cousin" John baptized him and said he was "the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" and that people ought to follow him.  People didn't just "take to" Jesus immediately.  Even though he did miracles, some people were very confused/put off - "Isn't this the boy of Joseph and Mary? Who does he think he is?"

Don't get me wrong, Jesus is Lord.  He IS awesome.  He is God in the flesh.  He IS cool, looking back through the lens of time created by people who thought he was cool and taught us to think like them.  But he wasn't when he got here.  And he expected it.  And planned for it.  And everything was wrapped around the idea that "his people" would reject him and kill him.  Do we forget this?

On purpose, he didn't come as a king or royal person.  He didn't come as a religious leader inside the religious system that was relevant.  He didn't even come as a popular hero stereotype, rejecting the notion that he'd come to overthrow the Romans.  He came to do the unexpected - to let everyone know they really COULD NOT follow the Law and that something better was coming.  And then he left.  He left!

And then he sent his spirit to live in us who would believe the unexpected message that all sin was forgiven, past, present, and future and that a relationship with God apart of law following was available by faith, not by merit.  It's hard to put into words how much his message jacked up people's idea of what God was and is supposed to be doing.  And it's still true today.  Most Christians have never grasped Galatians.

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We like things because they're popular.  If left to our own devices and without outside interference, we'd likely choose things other than what is presented to us in our culture. But the way things are set up, we usually only look at what the culture offers us and remain oblivious and suspicious of anything offered from outside "the norm".

Think about it - why isn't Polka popular in the US?  Why do Hispanic people like music with a tuba featured prominently?  Why do some cultures eat bugs as a normal part of their diet and we don't?  Why do we shame people who engage in some behaviors that other cultures find as normal and acceptable?  Why will your descendants look back on some of your behaviors in shame?

All that's true because we interact with, do, and engage life through what our culture presents to us as normal and acceptable.  We have seen in the past twenty years how quickly the political and cultural landscape can shift and people find themselves "on the wrong side of history", just by standing still - even though they thought *they* were on the cutting edge of things, just a few years earlier.

We live at such a pace in life that we don't often consider what's going on until we feel like we're getting left behind or we're outside the crowd for some reason.  And it's not just the pace, it's also the crowd.  We're encouraged to be a good citizen and follow the crowd - don't make waves, don't be an oddball, go along to get along - invest in the system.  And if you don't, we will ostracize and/or crucify you.

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For me, God stands inside and outside of many things where we have created the inside and the outside.  In other words, he doesn't respect our boundaries.  He's not trying to be offensive or mean, he just does his own thing, which includes having his own "boundaries" or lack thereof.  So, as an example, God can be right at home inside a "church", but also right at home inside a believer who doesn't "go to church".

A believer, to God, is someone who trusts and depends on him, encourages other believers and serves people.  It might be in a building on a Sunday, but it also might be at a Taco Bell on a Wednesday during lunch rush.  It might be that a believer meets with other believers on a Friday AM once a week or only a couple times a month because that's the only time their work schedules match.  

I think I used to see God as respecting our created boundaries that we said he created, but, after looking through history, I'll have to acknowledge we've made a lot of our own and are continuing to make new ones for God with each generation.  I'm still having him shape some of my vision on all this because I know that entropy calls for me to shut this down sooner than later.  And he's in no hurry so I'm not either.

For me, I can acknowledge that Jesus wasn't likely as popular as we'd like to make him - the how the series The Chosen does. Sure, people liked crafty teachings, his jabs at hard religious leaders, his miracles and free stuff, but they turned on him as soon as he stopped providing the free stuff and the universal healthcare.  Isaiah said he wasn't "good looking".  But we like to ignore scripture and create our hero.

He was and is someone who came to clarify God and humanity's relationship. He did it in his own way and on his own timetable and still is.  He came to show us a way of life - not the Jewish way of life, but one led by his spirit.  He didn't come to renovate Judaism or "start churches" as we think of them.  He came to be with us and for us to be with him, now and forever - and not just in a building on Sunday.

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What does that look like?  Coming soon.  Still unpacking it and rephrasing it and relooking at it all again and again and again.  And I'm beginning to think that is a primary part of this interaction with God - that there's always something amazing about him to learn, know and unpack and that he delights in us delighting in him.

I hope you delight in him today.  He delights in you.

Grace and peace.