{"id":2595,"date":"2021-01-13T08:01:22","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/allsetfree\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2021-01-13T08:01:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T14:01:22","slug":"jesus-wasnt-always-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/allsetfree\/2021\/01\/jesus-wasnt-always-nice\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Wasn’t Always Nice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
By Giotto di Bondone \u2013 Unknown source, Public Domain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There seems to be a recent movement among some Christians who think that Jesus played nice. They\u2019ll see what I write on Patheos<\/a> or on social media<\/a>, bristle at the words, and then conclude that I am not very Christlike (recently labelled \u201cself-righteous\u201d) because in their minds, Jesus was all about love, was all about meeting people where they are at, all about listening and not judging others. And look, to some extent, Jesus was<\/em>\u00a0all about those things. Sometimes. And in some contexts. But he was also a rabble-rouser. He wasn\u2019t always nice. And I\u2019m guessing he wasn\u2019t all that liked by a large group of his contemporaries.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, that time he had no interest in listening as he laid into a group of Pharisees and \u201cteachers of the law.\u201d It\u2019s not so nice. Go ahead and read Matthew 23<\/a> for yourself. All of it. It\u2019s not pretty. He calls religious leaders \u2013 those who in today\u2019s world would be pastors, celebrity Christians, televangelists, prosperity preachers \u2013 hypocrites. He calls them a \u201cbrood of vipers.\u201d Whitewashed tombs. He basically says they are all fake and care for nothing except how they look in front of the crowds. He also says they are \u201cblind fools.\u201d Blind fools! Not nice. Not likeable. Not \u201cjust love each other, maaaan!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Luke 11. In this chapter, Jesus is quite insulting. In fact, one of the lawyers in the crowd tells him so. To his face! What does Jesus do? He doubles down. He charges them with all the blood of the prophets since the foundation of the world. All the blood! Since the foundation of the world! Got-dyamn, Jesus! Where\u2019s all that hippie love? Where\u2019s that \u201cIt\u2019s all about meeting people where they are at\u201d stuff? Nowhere! Instead, it\u2019s go time. Mano a mano.<\/p>\n

Of course, who could forget the time he flipped over a bunch of tables in protest of the sacrificial system that was at the center of his religion? Apparently a bunch of people who think it\u2019s \u201cself-righteous\u201d to criticize and critique one\u2019s faith tradition. And look, I don\u2019t think Jesus was being violent in that situation, even though that story is used to justify a violent depiction of Jesus by many a conservative Evangelical. But, in typical prophetic fashion, he was<\/em> being dramatic. He was making a scene. He wasn\u2019t meeting people where they were at. He had had it. And people were gonna know it.<\/p>\n

Now listen, I\u2019m not saying this should give us license to be total assholes. But sometimes you gotta call things like you see them. You gotta call out systems of oppression wherever you see it. Sometimes the Jesus thing to do is stand your ground and stand up for the truth, even if it\u2019s not gonna make you very popular among either the so-called religious leaders of your day or even the \u201cwoke\u201d crowd with an obvious axe to grind. Sometimes calling shit out\u00a0is<\/em> the loving thing to do.<\/p>\n

Think about it: How can you claim to love others if you aren\u2019t willing to challenge the very systems that oppresses those \u201cothers?\u201d How can you \u201cplay nice\u201d when people are starving in the streets, when governments are bombing city streets, or when black folks are being killed by those who are supposedly there to protect our streets? You can\u2019t! So don\u2019t you dare tell me to play nice and meet people somewhere in the middle when somewhere in the middle is still somewhere in hell. And God almighty, stop playing the Jesus card as if Jesus wasn\u2019t stirring shit up, politically, ethically, and theologically. Or, continue to do so, if that makes you feel better about things.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, we all sort of believe in the Jesus we want. If we want a violent Jesus who\u2019s gonna turn up at the End of Days to lay waste to everyone who isn\u2019t on our team, then that\u2019s what we\u2019re gonna see in the Bible. If we want a \u201960s hippie Jesus who smokes pot and listens to the Grateful Dead, then we\u2019ll probably see that Jesus in the text. I, for one, see a Jesus who was part Jewish mystic, part healer, part socio-political agitator, part wisdom teacher, and part movement founder. And Marcus Borg<\/a> agrees with me. Let me rephrase: I would agree with Borg because who the hell am I? He was the man! I\u2019m just a dude with a blog.<\/p>\n

So, have your Jesus. Just know that if you play the Jesus card, so can I. Jesus was a complex fella, one who was tough to pigeonhole, and who also learned a lot as he went through life. He didn\u2019t always play nice, and that\u2019s okay. It\u2019s okay to also not play nice, and it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not Christlike or that you\u2019re \u201cself-righteous.\u201d Plus, doesn\u2019t it take a bit of self-righteousness to flippantly fling around that term at people you don\u2019t really know personally? Oh, but I digress.<\/p>\n

Peace. Until next time.<\/p>\n

\n

If you wanna get to know me better, please follow me on social media. I\u2019m pretty active on all platforms:<\/p>\n

Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

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Also, if you\u2019ve been digging my work on here, and want to see me be able to continue writing as close to full-time as humanly possible, please take a look at my Patreon page at\u00a0www.patreon.com\/mjdistefano<\/a>. Even\u00a0$1 a month helps bigly!!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There seems to be a recent movement among some Christians who think that Jesus played nice. 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