What would Jesus do?

RELIGION TODAY - Published Saturday June 14th, 2008

It seems like a bit of an inane question; but it has caught the attention of the Christian world over the last few years.

You can buy bracelets that put the acronym WWJD front and centre on your wrist, hoping to force you to consider this most serious of questions as you reach across the counter with your debit card. There has even been a whole rash of spin off questions -- what would Jesus drive? What would Jesus eat?

When you stop and think about it, these are nonsensical questions. Jesus would have driven, at best, a donkey. Jesus would have eaten some fish, some pita, a few olives and wine. Jesus would have walked around a lot and asked questions.

In the first place, this is called context; historical context to be exact. Jesus was a Jewish peasant raised in a backwater Jewish town who had Jewish disciples and went to the Jewish synagogue. Three generations later when someone decided to record the story of his life, it was a Jew who wrote the book of Mark, and it was written for other Jews to read.

The best answer you could hope for if you were literally asking the questions I started with is this: Jesus would have interpreted what he saw and the questions he was asked from the point of view of Torah, of Jewish faith, and he would have tried to make his listeners understand the very Jewish principle of God being actively present in the lives of the faithful.

The Apostle Paul, in all of his writings, only tells us three things about Jesus: he was crucified, he celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples, and he was buried and raised by God from the dead. Everything else is interpretation that was written some 30-70 years after Jesus walked the face of the earth.

So much for the literal answer to our question; luckily that is not where the power of the question lies. "What would Jesus do?" is in the end not really a question about the Jesus of history, it is a question about the faith response of the people who continue to follow his teachings.

I have the very distinct honour to be at a convention this week in Truro -- The Atlantic Seminar in Theological Education. I am here with lay and clergy from the United, Baptist, Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches to listen to and interact with two essential interpreters of Biblical faith: John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal bishop and author of any number of books challenging us to see our tradition the way it was meant to be seen; and Ched Myers, a scholar, author and social activist who wants to bring ancient wisdom back to life in our modern context.

And this is what we are about -- reclaiming the real answers to the question: What would Jesus, the Jewish, religious, political activist from rural Palestine, have us do?

And believe it or not there is a quick answer. In Luke 10 the rich young ruler comes and asks Jesus point blank "Okay, what do I have to do?" And Jesus answers: "What does the Bible say? How do you interpret it." And we end up with the golden rule of faith, love your neighbour. As much as this guy tries to wriggle out of it, Jesus keeps him coming back to the realization that it really is that simple.

Love will change the world. Even if your neighbour were a liberal, or a fundamentalist, or a French speaker, or an Iraqi -- which is, by the way, the very literal definition of Samaritan -- if you love them, and love everything God loves; which includes the entire world, every plant animal -- even you; then you will be on the right track.

That is a fundamental faith decision; and not an easy one to make when on average we are bombarded by 1800 radio, print and television ads every day telling us just the opposite. But if we are ever going to get it together -- this will do it. Love.