WWWW.Jesus

Our culture is fascinated with Jesus but doesn't want to get too close to Jesus. We don't live like Jesus but we will wear t-shirts or bracelets that say "WWJD" ("What Would Jesus Do?"). When people don't live their daily lives like Jesus, how in the world can someone do what is right on the spur of the moment by simply trying to follow "WWJD?" I want to challenge people to WWWW.Jesus (Who Will Walk With Jesus?" Now some people will be thrilled to walk with the Sunday school Jesus who was like Mr. Rogers and a very really nice sort of guy. But is that the Jesus of the Gospels? Some people may even like the fire-breathing Hell talking Jesus the preacher as long as they have their own safe asbestos suits on to keep from getting burned themselves.

Can we get real? The Jesus of the Bible is very dangerous person to be around. His disciples disputed among themselves about Jesus and were repeatedly rebuked by him. If the truth be known, the Jesus of the gospels is quite scandalous. He was a lawbreaker, hung out with the rift raft, and was known on different occasions to get into knock-down drag out verbal fights with the established religious leaders of his day. People sought to kill Jesus, stone him to death, push him off a cliff, throw the crazy false leader into prison. Is this the guy you really want to hang around for too long?

A little over a decade ago, I got to spend a weekend at a conference that Clark Pinnock was the lead speaker. Clark and I hit if off and I loved being with the guy.  His humility and boldness for the gospel was contagious. But Clark would say the most extreme things and never back down. Even when the whole crowd was against him and all you want to do is disappear into the crowd and wonder how you got mixed up with this guy in the first place left me very bewildered and upset by the whole ordeal.

It took me several days to realize that being around Clark Pinnock for a weekend was both thrilling and exhausting, fascinating and scary. It took me several days to reflect on the whole encounter and suddenly realize that this is how it must of felt to be like one of his disciples or followers of Jesus. Why does Jesus have to be so radical and disruptive?  Why does Jesus demand everything and won't leave some things that should be better left alone and won't let it go?

So forget WWJD and think more about the meaning and implications of WWWW.Jesus. Maybe then we better think twice before we say we would really like to just hangout with Jesus because Jesus often does the unexpected and puts us in positions we might later think we would rather really not be in if we had thought about it more in-depth at the beginning.