“Conservative Jesus” is white. Like, super-white. And he wants his guns, and his bacon cheeseburgers, and his sweet tea, and you can’t tell him no. Throw an extra espresso shot in that $9 coffee, barista! Heck, make it two! He is a hard worker, and he knows that poor people wouldn’t be poor if they would just stop feeling sorry for themselves and get a grip on their lives. He loves when you’re charitable, as long as that charity stays on American soil. His robe is star-spangled and his sandals were made in the United States. He is all truth, and no grace.
“Liberal Jesus” has a passing resemblance to Bob Marley. He smells vaguely of patchouli and clove cigarettes. He may or may not shower regularly, but you know what? You do you, he chuckles. He only eats organic food – actually, let’s be honest, man, he probably grew it himself – shops at thrift stores, and doesn’t believe in rules. Laws are too restrictive. Freedom is where it’s at. He embraces all, for exactly who they are, and doesn’t expect anyone to change, because that would be inauthentic. He is the realest real, man. His cargo shorts pockets are full of granola. He is all grace, and no truth.
At which altar do you worship? The red or the blue?
We as a nation have politicized Jesus.
As the Roman soldiers shamelessly, cruelly stripped Him of his actual clothing, we are stripping Him again – this time, of truth.
We fold His words carefully around our political ideals so we can justify every decision we make.
He is a political icon, yes, but not the one we have made Him out to be. He ignited a rebellion against self-centered living, against complacency, against the status quo, and when we refuse to acknowledge that – when we want to use Him merely to drum up votes or appeal to a certain demographic, we have reduced Him to a flag, a mascot, a puppet.
What I know is that Jesus never rejected anyone – regardless of gender, race, income, status, or background – who came to him with genuine need and an open heart.
He helped women in need (Luke 8, John 4).
He healed the physically sick (Matthew 15).
He embraced the outcasts (Matthew 9).
He ministered to the mentally unstable (Mark 5).
He raised the dead (John 11, Mark 5).
He fed the hungry (Matthew 14, Mark 8).
He celebrated marriage (John 2).
I don’t want to wave the banner of the Red Jesus or the Blue Jesus. I want to use my hands and my words to be instruments of the Real Jesus.