13 September 2012

What WOULD Jesus Do?

I have never worn those W.W.J.D. bracelets. I have feared that I would be doing something that Jesus would certainly NOT do and someone would see me do it! That's a total testimony killer!
       But I have wondered the past couple of days what Jesus WOULD do in the midst of a horrible film depicting Mohammed, the violence in Egypt, Libya, and now Yemen, and hateful rhetoric on all sides: Jewish, Muslim, and Christian.
       I imagine Jesus entering the situation as he did in Luke 19 when he was approaching Jerusalem. He looked over the City of David, also called the city of PEACE, and he wept over it. (Luke 19:41). Why did he weep? He tells us:
"If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes."
       Jesus weeps at Jerusalem's defiance at receiving God's Kingdom, at receiving God's true SHALOM. He weeps at people building their own kingdoms and seeking their own "peace."
       I imagine that Jesus might show up on the wall of the American Embassy in Egypt and be in the midst of the people - Muslims as well as the Americans into the barricaded walls.
       I imagine that he might get incredibly angry - as he did when he entered the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers - because a small fragment of Jews have abused power and funded and created a terrible film which dehumanizes people.
       I imagine that he might confront the Muslim clerics who incited people to riot. I imagine that Jesus  would challenge them to seek His Kingdom before any other, and to live by the Sermon on the Mount.
       And I imagine that Jesus would weep with those who weep - the families of Christopher Stevens and the other people killed in the embassy, the mothers and fathers whose sons decided to riot and who hurt others or were hurt in the crowd.
      That's what I think Jesus might do today.
       Now how about you and me?

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