All of us will worship this coming Sunday. Music will play,
songs will be sung, warm fuzzies will be felt, but will we worship the real
Jesus? This Friday should be a sobering reminder to us that even at our best we
can be fickle, ignorant and selfish with our adoration. Without even realizing
it we shape Jesus into who we want him to be and worship our self-made son
instead of the genuine article.
Many of us smugly
review the Passion story this time of year, patting ourselves on the back
because we would never be like the fickle crowds who shouted “Hosanna!” one day
and “Crucify Him!” the next. We are proud of ourselves for not having a taste
for blood when it comes to unmet expectations and unwittingly think that this
somehow means we are on the right track when it comes to Jesus. The truth for
far too many of us however, is that instead of having a taste for blood, we
have a taste for candy.
When the real
Jesus isn’t exactly what we want him to be we replace him with what I like to
call the Santa Jesus, the Rock Star Jesus, or simply the universal Plastic
Jesus. The Santa Jesus is the one who only wants to give us the things that we
want. When we pray to Santa Jesus about the girl or boy we’re dating he always
tells us that we should do what makes us happy. We should by that car, take
that vacation, or perhaps even divorce our spouse because they no longer make
us happy. This Jesus, conveniently always tells us what we want to hear.
Rock Star
Jesus works hard to keep us entertained at all costs. This becomes the most
important feature in the churches we choose and even weather we are part of a
church at all. Rock Star Jesus lets us party, go to sporting events, or stay
home for march madness because he understands the importance of feeling good
and having fun above all else.
Plastic
Jesus is kind of the catch-all for everything else we would like Jesus to be.
Maybe we need Jesus to be our boyfriend, or to tell us that our choices don’t have
consequences or any number of other pseudo-realities.
As we
worship this Sunday, let look into ourselves while also looking into God’s word
and ask him to help us see and worship the true Jesus. May we seek to follow
the real Jesus. May we be conformed into his likeness instead of conforming him
into ours.
