The Image of Jesus in Society

As much as the culture of Christianity has desecrated the image of a loving Savior, Jesus remains popular. In spite of racism in the churches, scorn and self-righteousness spewing from sermon videos, and just general smugness—in spite of all this, the image of Jesus the Healer being tortured by government and religious leaders as he looks down on them with love touches us.

"You broke the bonds," says U2 singer Bono. "You loosed the chains, carried the cross of my shame." People fed up with religious hatred will say of former presidents (Jimmy Carter) and certain celebrities (Dolly Parton), "They act more like Jesus than these people preaching Christianity." If nothing else, people credit Jesus with being a saintly person on level with Buddha, Ghandi, MLK Jr., or Mother Teresa.

In literature, music, and film, the idea of a Savior whose love extends even to enemies continues to be part of the mythology of the West. And this in spite of the death of God in our culture. Crucifixion is a cultural and literary symbol of great power. "Love your enemies," "do for others," and "blessed are the poor" are sayings that reverberate among us.

All of this stands in opposition to the justification Gospel, that which is commonly communicated by Christians. "You know there is a God and that he must punish you to satisfy his own sense of Glory," says this false Gospel. "Only moral perfection could satisfy a Holy God." And outsiders look into the church and see the same struggles with addiction, greed, pride, anger, xenophobia, and hate that exist outside of the church. Moral perfection? Hardly.

But Christians armed with the Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road have a ready answer: we are forgiven, not saintly. According to justification theory, Christians are simply those people who correctly deduced that there is a God and a moral law and in response accepted a simplified contract from God: put your "faith in" Jesus and you will be absolved of sin. He lived a sinless life and therefore was a perfect, atoning sacrifice capable of washing away the sentence for your crimes against God.

The Jesus of the false Gospel isn't very loving. He is one and the same as the Angry God who tortures with fire, crueler than you or I would ever be. A great evangelist who became an atheist—Charles Bradley Templeton, 1915 – 2001—famously compared it to someone who would forcefully hold a child's finger over a candle and ignore their screams. Who of us would be so pitiless? And yet, popular belief is that God will throw your loved ones into an inferno where the pain never ceases. Clearly, the Angry God of justification theory is not the same as the Jesus of the Gospels and Paul.

Paul wrote (or transmitted at least) a song about Jesus. Early followers of Christ wrote hymns and songs to add to the Psalms and Jewish prayers, thus bringing the Gospel into their music. And Paul's depiction of Jesus in this song stands against modern Christianity in all its pretension and lovelessness:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, as He already existed in the form of God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant

and being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself

by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.

For this reason also God highly exalted Him,

and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,

of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

— Philippans 2:5-11 NASB

Far from being self-righteous, Jesus regarded his divine status as less important than the pressing need of human beings for liberation. He left behind a royal existence to become a pauper. He even took on the Adamic condition, being subject to death.

God came to die.

So he is now exalted. But for the right reasons. His exaltation is based on humility and sacrificial love, not grasping and ambition. "Whoever would save his life must lose it," Jesus said (my loose translation of Matthew 16:25). A verse from the prophet Habakkuk said, "The Righteous One will live by faith" (2:4). Jesus had the faith to go to the cross and by that faith he lives, because he was raised from the dead.

God has been on the journey through death to life. In the actual Gospel, human beings are included with Christ as having died and been resurrected. And these human beings did not deduce anything. It was revealed and given to them as a gift. Grace. Free. Unearned. Nothing to boast about. Everything to live for.

"While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly," says Paul (Romans 5:6 NASB). "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NASB).

The disparity between Jesus and the people who take his name is immeasurable. But Jesus has followers all over the place who yearn for the real Gospel. And for those of us who give credibility to the real Gospel, all the seeming hopelessness is being answered by God. Something better is unfolding, but it is unfolding so slowly, few can see it. The Now is being taken over by the Not Yet, death is being swallowed up.

Jesus still saves.