W.W.J.D.2.D

As a pastor I hear “WWJD” all the time. I know lots of people who wear the wrist bands. And you would not believe the mail offers I get with the WWJD theme printed on everything from hats to flashlights!

Yes, the church has its own ideas about marketing! And don’t be fooled. Unfortunately, Christianity can be lucrative. But “What Would Jesus Do?” How would he react to our interpretation of him? I think we’d be surprised.

Many years ago, I read an article about how Jesus would react to current society. I’ve never forgotten it and often wonder, literally, what he would say if he came back and walked among us again in the flesh. If Jesus were physically here among us for a while, I believe:

He would weep at the graves of little Michaela Watkins and Wesley Dylan Mullins. He would shed tears for all abused and battered children and wonder how we can be so cruel to his true messengers on this earth. However, he would visit the prison and offer forgiveness and grace to the ones who murdered them but decline to appear on CNN, Fox News or Maury to describe the meeting. He would not pray at the opening of a UK basketball game. He would be blackballed for membership at most country and social clubs. He would be dumbfounded by some of the things started and built in His name.

He would spend the night with some of the men and women housed at the Ark of Mercy. He would say “no thank you” to visiting the White House and decline any celebrity or political photo opportunities. He would spend the summer following migrant workers through the Kentucky harvest and then would exhort us into ending their exploitation. He would be disappointed in the level of modern quality in his old craft, carpentry. He would not endorse any version of the Bible and be amazed at how his words have been misquoted. He would refuse any book offers to “tell his story.”

He would feel no need to explain his theology to Nancy Grace, Larry King or Bill O’Reilly. He would visit city and county governments and urge them to set firm and fair regulations on the condition of rental housing in Clark County. He would visit the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation and empty the bedpans of the elderly. He would ask Christian denominations to cease their war with each other. He would thank the Gideons for enriching every hotel room in America. He would lead a drug march through Winchester and would not only walk us through downtown, but also through some of our “most respectable” neighborhoods. He would hold the hands of homosexuals, invite them to worship in our churches and offer each church member the opportunity to cast the first stone.

Because he is the only perfect human who ever lived, he and he only would reserve the right to say, “Go and sin no more.” If in the mood for miracles, he would switch the skins of all black and white people. He would offer a special blessing to the mentally ill and urge us to love them in spite their unreasonable actions. He would have breakfast in the woods behind the Holiday Inn Express or “Hobo Hill” with the invisible homeless in our town. He would encourage us, even when we know we’re being taken advantage of, to offer help to those who lie and deceive just to get a “free handout.” In doing so, we’d be reminded that but for the grace of God, we are that person. He would spend Saturday night at The Playhouse building relationships, shooting pool and trying to understand why better friendships are formed there than “his house.”

He would have a meal at the Clark County jail with prostitutes and drug users. He would visit the area’s abortion clinics and embrace those with unwanted pregnancies while asking the medical professionals who present abortion as a reasonable and viable option, “How could you?” He would visit the AAA Pregnancy Care Center and simply say, “Thanks.” He would visit Clark County Community Services and People Helping People and commend them for their hearts and urge them to work together to share his name. He would ask why we waste so much food. He would want to know how we plan to follow his advice on beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. He would stop by Jane Burnam’s house and ask her to sing gospel songs. He would spend a few hours at Rapha Ministries’ free health clinic and bless them for remembering “the least of these” in Clark County. He would walk the halls of the Clark County Courthouse and talk with the accused about a better way while sharing the often forgotten verse, John 3:17, “God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him.”

He would have deep concerns as to why a country such as ours employs a chaplain for the Senate, prints “In God We Trust” on its coins and asks God to have mercy on the Supreme Court but refuses to leave Christ in Christmas.