What Would Jesus Do?

I’m not a Christian…at least not in the way that most are. I don’t worship Jesus. He never asked us to. I don’t believe he’s the son of any god. I don’t believe he died for my sins. I don’t believe that the laws of nature were suspended to allow for a resurrection that no one witnessed.

But I’m a big fan of his philosophy and his approach to living life fully. The way he loved and taught was remarkable. I deeply admire the man and his commitment to challenge authority on behalf of those in need. His message of love and compassion in action remains relevant today.

The problem with Christianity, especially American Christianity is that most Christians focus on the “belief” part while dismissing the “compassion in action” part.

If you consider yourself a Christian, you probably go to church and selectively follow your church’s teachings. You consider yourself to be a good person. It’s likely that you come from a Christian family and that all of your friends are also Christians.

But you probably don’t act like Jesus did. Not even close. I’ve met enough of you to know. You use your Christianity as moral camouflage to do terrible, hideous things, all justified by your ethically flexible faith. Over the last decade, it’s become increasingly easier to distinguish Christians from those who truly follow Jesus.

My son sent me a video link of a moving sermon given by James Talarico, challenging Christians to honestly assess their faith by asking the age old question, “What would Jesus do?” It gave me pause. Here is the link to the video: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSXx6PdT/

This phrase was never meant to comfort.

It was meant to confront.

What would Jesus actually do?

This phrase should be unsettling.

It should disturb us, upend our certainty, and force us to look in the mirror.

If your Jesus is white, supports the NRA and believes that putting the Ten Commandments in public schools is more important than feeding hungry children at schools, this essay is for you.

If the color of someone’s skin determines their value in your eyes…or if the number of zeros in your retirement account is the determining factor in how you vote, please stop calling yourself Christian. You’re not.

Because here’s the truth: if Jesus walked into America today, he wouldn’t be welcome. He’d be turned away at the border. Profiled. Dismissed. Detained and caged by people waving flags and Bibles. They would imprison him in his own name.

Jesus wouldn’t be silent in the face of suffering. He wouldn’t offer “thoughts and prayers” as a substitute for justice. He wouldn’t light a candle after another school shooting and then argue about how guns aren’t the problem. He wouldn’t tweet condolences while voting to gut mental health care or Medicaid for the poor.

 

Nope. He’d flip the damn tables.

He’d call you out.

Thoughts and prayers have become the most disgusting kind of political theater; empty words whispered at the funerals of children to avoid responsibility. A way to seem holy while doing nothing.

If Jesus were here today, he wouldn’t just pray; he’d act. He’d run toward the broken. He’d protect the children. He’d confront the systems that let them die again and again and again. And he’d ask us, “Why do you pretend to mourn what you refuse to stop?”

He wouldn’t be at fundraisers with the wealthy. He’d be in the hospitals we’re defunding, in the classrooms we’re abandoning, on the border we’ve turned into a graveyard. He’d be with the addicts, the outcasts, the poor, the queer, the hungry, the criminalized. And he’d be asking us, Where the hell are you?

Because if we dare to claim his name…if we even whisper that question, What would Jesus do?…we already know what’s required of us.

So here’s today’s message:

This is not a time for “thoughts and prayers.” It’s a time for faith that moves its damn feet and gets things done for those in need.