will the real Jesus please stand up?

"And those who believe that in the life and teaching of Jesus God has given a unique revelation of His character and purpose are committed by this belief, whether they like it or not, whether they admit it or not, to that quest. Without the Jesus of history the Christ of faith becomes a Docetic figure, a figment of pious imagination, who, like Alice's Cheshire cat, ultimately disappears from view."*

Jesus is definitely a popular figure, by those who seek either to dismiss him or to promote him. And, of course, all across our news channels we hear about battles in various parts of the country over what does and does not constitute a religious celebration and/or symbol. It's the whole pc thing, and I'm sick of it too - but that's for another time.

As one scholar recently stated, "Everyone wants Jesus to be on his or her side." Indeed, there are all sorts of people that try to make Jesus fit into their preconceived notions and ideologies: both fundamentalists and liberals, feminists and chauvinists, charismatics and presbyterians, poor and rich. In fact, New Age thinking throws up its hands and says Jesus is whatever anyone thinks he is. Even political groups and movements have used Jesus to promote themselves.

What's the deal? If this were just another teacher from Galilee there would not be such a ruckus. But there is such a ruckus, so there must be more.

All of these approaches and movements have a common failure: to let Jesus speak for himself. Why? Because it is easier to see what we want in Jesus than to let Jesus see through us. Even as we draw near to the Christmas story, our preachers get caught up in feel-good theology that misses the whole point expressed in the birth of Christ. The level at which we fail to focus on this child seems to suggest that we have grown too old for the story. As if there was not enough wonder and magic in this story to forever captivate our imaginations.

So, as with most everything, our failure to see Jesus starts at the beginning. His beginning. And in order for us to embark on this quest of finding him we must start looking. Perhaps we cannot draw near to his death and resurrection until we can draw near to his birth and his life.


*G. B. Caird, New Testament Theology (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 347.