Jesus and Political Correctness

This past week, I was reading Luke's Gospel in preparation for Palm Sunday. An episode especially impressed me: "Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said, 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple'" (Luke 14:25-27). I wrote in the margin of my Bible, "Jesus was not user-friendly."

A little later in his journey to Jerusalem, he met "a certain ruler" who asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). We know this man as the "rich young ruler." Jesus reminded him of several commandments, to which he replied, "All of these I have kept since I was a boy" (v. 21). If a person of such means, influence and spiritual zeal were to approach most ministers, we would be delighted to welcome them into our church or organization. In Jesus' day, wealth was equated with God's favor. Surprisingly, Jesus told him to "sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (v. 22). When the man heard this, "he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth" (v. 23).

Soon our Lord would enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Luke 19:28-38), where refusal to be politically correct would lead to his crucifixion. Our risen Lord is just as honest and omniscient today as he was then. As David said to God, "You perceive my thoughts from afar" (Psalm 139:2). Yet our all-honest God is also our all-loving Father. He knows all about our past failures and even sees the future sins we don't yet know we'll commit. And yet he loves us unconditionally and likes us as we are.

When last did you thank him for such grace?

EASTER 2013

Some thoughts on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Easter is for everyone, but it is not about bunnies or brightly colored eggs. It is about Jesus, and it is specifically about Jesus crucified and risen again from the dead. And, it was...

A hard day for the disciples
There was no question about it. Christ had died. If the crucifixion hadn’t killed him, certainly the spear of the Roman soldier would have. The disciples thought it was over. They thought death had finished it.

If they would have thought back, they would have remembered this was the same Lord who had raised people from the dead. He raised the daughter of Jairus. He raised Lazarus after he already was in the process of decomposition.

And, if they would have thought back, they would have remembered that on the day that Lazarus was raised, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25 NKJV).

But it is hard to see through eyes that have been blinded by tears. So the disciples were shocked to find an angel waiting for them with the good news: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him” (Mark 16:6 NKJV).

They thought He was dead. But He was alive again

Hope for us
Because Jesus has died and has risen again, it means that we as believers do not have to be afraid of death. As 1 Corinthians 15:20 tells us, “But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again” (NLT). Jesus has gone to the other side, He has returned, and He has the keys to death and hell (see Revelation 1:18).

It’s hard for us to accept that our bodies are wearing out. Yet the Bible says we will have new bodies one day: “We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:23 NLT).

You see, my body is not the real me. The real me is my soul, my spirit. This body will die. But my soul will live on.

One day, you may open up the newspaper and read that Tom Holland has died. But don’t you believe a word of it, because at the moment you read that I have died, I will be more alive than I have ever been before–in the presence of God. And the same can be said for every believer.

He is the resurrection and the life, and if we believe in Him, though we were dead, yet shall we live.