Jesus, a Wimp?!

In The Quest for the Historical Jesus, 19th-century writer Albert Schweitzer influenced by David Strauss’s Life of Jesus, concluded that Jesus was an idealist—a noble example but wholly human. They portrayed an untouchable Jesus surrounded by myth and fable who sought to build the Kingdom of God, but who in the end, was a failure, dying in confusion and frustration. Half of Western Christendom has bought this Jesus.

When the 20th-century media got done with Jesus, it left us with a wimp. In George Stevens’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, a slender, frail Jesus quietly slips through the Judean countryside, subject to His circumstances, at the mercy of men, meekly on the way to His destiny where He softly whispers, “It is finished.” Sweet Jesus, meek and mild, is the great evangelical distortion.

As we race out of the 20th century, a new Jesus is being presented—the Cosmic Jesus! The New Age does not want to be left out. The Cosmic Jesus is that Christ spirit that is in all of us—and in animals, in stars, in rocks! Ha, finally a connection between Christianity and paganism! The cycle is completed. We can worship the creation rather than the creator and do it in the name of Christ. Now as we move into the 21st century, Jesus is a distorter according to the neo-modernist. After all, Jesus, you know there’s really no ultimate truth.

But will the real Jesus please stand up? Surprise! He’s not the historical Jesus of Schweitzer. He’s not the milquetoast weakling made in the USA, nor is He the cosmic spirit. He is the biblical Jesus. He’s the God-man who controls nature with the sound of His voice. Storms stop. The lame walk. Dead rise. He’s the forgiver of sins! He’s God! He died on the cross, conquered death and lives again. He is a man’s man. A true righteous Indiana Jones, who drove profiteers from the sanctuary with the sting of a whip. He blasted hypocrites, liars, and distorters of the truth. “You’re whitewashed tombs! You’re dead men’s bones.” He criticized an obstinate follower, “Get behind Me, Satan.” Subject to no man or circumstance was He. “No man takes my life. I have the power to lay it down; I have the power to take it up again.” He was compassionate to women, children, and the unsophisticated sinner. He forgave those who did not know what they did but yelled from the cross for all writers to hear, “It is finished!” as He was about to pay for the sins of the believing world.

No wimp is He, no cosmic spirit either. Real, alive, wholly God, wholly human—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The ultimate hero for every boy, girl, man, and woman. The sanctified sultan of swat! He came into the world He created like a lamb. He roared like a lion. He will storm back with justice and vengeance, and with salvation for believers. That is the biblical Jesus. Vincit Omnia Veritas – The truth conquers everything.

Please email me with comments, questions or thoughts at coach@chapelfield.org

W.H. (Coach) Spanjer

Solo Christo gloria

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