Is Jesus Relevant?

Folks,

Even though i am not preaching on Sunday, i am wrestling with an incredibly tough question, and i am sure i have wrestled with it before in previous blogs, but since i dont seem to have an adequate answer, my sense is that i will continue to struggle with this question. What is this nagging question? Is Jesus relevant?

I know we all love Jesus, at least we profess to loving Jesus, we proclaim our devotion to Jesus, and we adamantly defend our Jesus as our Savior. But does that make Jesus relevant or just popular? Some things can be outdated, and we relegate those items to the antique store or the throw back jersey or the retro room. We rarely bring those items forward, expecting and demanding they reveal some truth or power out of their own context. So again, i ask, is Jesus relevant?

If Jesus means anything to us, at all, then how do we show it? If Jesus is real and authoritative, then how do we surrender our lives, our wishes, and our beings to Him? If Jesus is relevant how is He impacting the culture today? If we say no to his impact, if we suggest that our lives do not reveal Jesus' authority in our lives, and if we do not live in such a way that illuminates how important Jesus is to us, then Jesus has become irrelevant. Simply has.

Many will jump all over this statement and proclaim, proudly, Jesus is my LORD and Savior, and i am going to heaven because He died for me, and He rose again. GREAT! That's awesome. I'm happy for you. But in the existence we call life, does looking to heaven really do any good? Arent Christians supposed to do something about this world, now? Arent we supposed to usher in God's Kingdom, in the here and in the now? Aren't we supposed to live in such a way that people will know we are Christians, and no folks not by the moral purity we exude, but by the power of love that we share. If we only look to the heavens; Jesus is not only irrelevant, but He becomes impotent.

However, if we choose to live in such a way that honors Jesus' story and His teaching, we rescue Jesus from the oppressive past and transform Him from a memory to a powerful reality. We must do this. We must act and live in such a way that Jesus comes first, second, and last. Our relationships anchored in Jesus. How we treat those in our Church Communities must show Jesus' hand in our lives. Reaching out to minister to those outside the doors of the church will reveal Jesus' heart in us. And our ability to go against the grain to welcome the other, stand up for the oppressed, struggle for justice, throw off the shackles of prejudice will illumine Jesus real presense in our being. We cannot follow and believe and claim to love Jesus if we do not live as He did.

Jesus is more than a cross and an empty tomb; He is the footsteps planted in soil of broken hearts and souls, creating spaces for healing and restoration. And in His physical absence, Jesus' disciples, which we claim to be, take up the cross and do all that He did. This alone will make Jesus relevant and real again. And this alone will usher in a new day, a new dawn for the church. We will go from a dead instituion to a living, breathing, vibrant community full of God's Amazing Spirit, and the walls WILL come tumbling down. Amen..


Shalom,
Salaam,
Peace,
jerry