Everyone wants Jesus on their side, and understandably so. Is there anyone more popular than Jesus of Nazareth? Despite His popularity, there are very few historical documents that describe what He did and what He said. We have the four Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, and the Gospel of John, which were written after His death. From these, we can ascertain a clear picture of what Jesus believed about Himself, the role of government, and morality.
Which brings me to a meme that’s popped up a couple times in my Facebook newsfeed:
A few of these I agree with, most of them I do not. Let me address these one by one.
He was a Jew. I agree.
He was a Palestinian. This is an anachronism. The name “Palestine” did not exist until the second century, over 50 years after Jesus’s death and resurrection. Dr. Michael Brown addresses this more here.
He was brown. Most likely, yes, but we have no way of knowing since there were no pictures drawn of him nor has there ever been a description given of His physical appearance that come from sources contemporaneous with Him.
He was anti-colonialism. Jesus was virtually silent about what human government ought to do and ought not to do. He never spoke against the Roman empire as an entity nor did He ever address the issue of the Roman empire conquering other nations. One of the few statements in which Jesus spoke about the Roman government direct was “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17 ESV). If the person who made the meme is saying that Jesus was against anti-colonialism as a whole, I would be inclined to know how he/she would interpret verses that talk about Jesus conquering nations (Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16) but if they’re saying that Jesus would implore human nations not to rob militarily weaker human nations, I would agree.
He was anti-cultural appropriation. If this were true, I do not think Jesus would have declared that all food is clean and therefore do away with the kosher dietary laws (Mark 7:19). Being anti-cultural appropriation would seem like an impediment to commanding His disciples to preach his message to the world (Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:8).
He taught socialism and sharing. Sharing, yes. Jesus assumed that his audience gave to the needy (Matthew 6:3). Socialism, no. Jesus never commanded his disciples to give everything they own to the Romans and entrust the Romans to take care of them. He didn’t even command all his disciples to give up everything they own. He taught that He must be the chief desire of His followers (Luke 14:16), but that is a far cry from commanding his followers to fully submit to a human government. It would seem unlikely that He would want His disciples to be completely obedient to the government and social atmosphere that crucified Him and would kill His disciples.
He called the people who listened to his Sermon on the Mount “evil” (Matthew 7:11). Does it make sense for Him to turn around and command his disciples to join them?
He loved sinners, etc. etc. That may be true, but he never condoned their actions. In fact, he affirmed their sinfulness (Matthew 5:46-47) and called them to repentance (John 8:11). It’s not as though Jesus had no opinion about their actions.
Some of the people he respected and loves the most were women. I agree.
He was for racial equality. I agree.
He was NOT apple pie, white, blonde. I agree
Capitalistic. He certainly wasn’t anti-capitalistic either, as evidenced by the fact that His followers had varying levels of wealth (Act 2:46) and as evidenced by the fact that his apostles would rather work and earn their keep than take hand-outs (1 Thessalonians 2:9).
Meninist. Meninism is not a true social movement. Meninism is a satire of feminism by means of men complaining in the way they feel like feminists, particularly third-wave feminists complain online. While it is therefore true that Jesus would not be meninist, He would certainly not be the type of third-wave feminist that meninism mocks.
Anti-immigrant. I agree, but on a side note, I don’t think the people this meme is targeted at are anti-immigrant.
Shaming. Jesus did quite a lot of shaming, as has been pointed out already (Matthew 5:46-47, 7:11). He insulted people a few times, such as in Matthew 17:17 and Matthew 23:15. Lets not forget the time Jesus drove people out of the Jewish temple with a whip and turned over tables, all the while insulting them (John 2:15-16, Matthew 21:12-13).
Anti-Semitic. I agree, although on another side note, I don’t think the people this meme is targeted toward are anti-Semitic. In fact, they’re probably very strong supporters of Israel, which liberals tend not to be.
Racist. I agree, but once again, I don’t think the people this meme is targeted toward are racist. At this point, it just seems like you’re attacking a stereotype.
Gay-bashing. As long as you don’t think that the belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman, as Jesus did, (Matthew 19:5-7) is homophobic, then I agree that Jesus did not go out of His way to bash gay people. This may be shocking to you, but outside of the Westboro Baptist Church, there isn’t anybody I know who goes out of their way to bash gay people. Plus, if this meme is targeted toward the general spectrum of the political right, as I assume by the last part of the post, then you’re talking to a group of people who have a gay person as one of their most popular spokesmen.
Or a fan of basically anything Donald Trump. I agree. I haven’t looked into Donald Trump’s personal beliefs or practices, but I assume that because he is a lifelong Democrat until his sudden and untimely change of political banners, he and Jesus may not have very much in common.
I’m not saying that Jesus would therefore be a Republican. I’m a conservative, so I’m much less comfortable being identified with the same party that nominated the leftist Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. It’s problematic trying to fit Jesus into either the political left or right because of their separation from Him in time and culture.
To my fellow Christians, we should try not to try and fit Him into our political parties, but aspire to be more like Him in what we believe and what we do. If that makes us inconsistent, then so be it.
For the rest of you, I took the liberty of correcting the meme. You're welcome:
#STOP SJWIZING.
JESUS.
He prayed publicly.
He claimed to be God.
He believed the Old Testament was literal history.
He believed life began at conception.
He believed marriage was between one man and one woman.
He called people to turn away from their sins, not embrace and enjoy them.
He believed in a literal Heaven and Hell and that much fewer people would make it to Heaven than Hell.
He believed in organized religion, namely His own.
He believed in spreading His religion.
He was NOT blonde, constantly smiling, a private spiritualist, a third-wave feminist, postmodernist, statist, communist, loved by all, a social worker, a universalist, or a fan of basically anything from the political elites of the United States of America.
