"When It Comes to Jesus"
Scripture Reading: Acts 5:27-32; John 20:19-31
Rev. Ross A. Aalgaard
Sermon on Sunday, April 18, 2004

The week of Easter Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ returned to number one at the theater box offices. It has become one of the top ten moneymaking movies of all times. Some of you have seen the picture and others of you have no intent in viewing it. Personally, I have seen the movie twice. I may end up seeing it again while it’s still in the theaters.

Do I like the movie? Not necessarily. I can’t say I despise it either. My review of the film is that the actress who played Jesus’ mother did an excellent job. The actor who portrayed Jesus was very good and, as an aside, extremely good-looking, when he wasn’t beaten and mutilated, that is. I thought the way Herod was depicted was degrading and inaccurate. I thought there were some historical inaccuracies, but more often then not movies take artistic license in that area anyway. Although I enjoy independent foreign films, I was annoyed by the use of dead languages to communicate throughout the entire film. The glorification of the beatings was troubling for me, but more troubling was the Satan figure. I found Satan comical and unnecessary and the demons were insulting to me. I’m unwilling to recommend the movie to others, but I am also unwilling to discourage anyone from seeing it. In fact, if someone would ask me to attend with him or her, I would arrange to join in viewing it again.

So, what is my fascination with this movie? I’m not entirely sure. Part of my interest is centered on the pop culture phenomena of it for our time. I’m also intrigued by the Catholic practice of the Stations of the Cross being boldly placed on the silver screen and swarms of people being drawn to view an ancient tradition that they would not have taken the time to see if it had been anywhere else. But most amazing to me is how a small segment of Jesus’ life and story can be put into a movie and people see it as a complete picture of the One who brought good news and introduced the realm of God to the world. After a private viewing of the movie, the Pope declared, "It is as it was." And Mr. Gibson himself has said that those who are critics of his work have a "problem with the four Gospels," not with his film. It frightens me a bit that Gibson’s movie has become an absolute picture of the real Jesus for so many and has not been recognized for what it really is: A picture of the Jesus of Mel Gibson’s faith.

Mel Gibson isn’t the only one declaring that he knows the real Jesus. The best-selling book The Da Vinci Code presents the account of the real Jesus who fathered a child with Mary Magdalene among other things that we don’t know about due to a vast cover up conspiracy by the Vatican. Just about everyone from Christians to non-Christians, believers to unbelievers, and academics to the uneducated lay claim to the real Jesus. Everyone seems to know the authentic Jesus: They have all seen him.

Chris Sullentrop of the online newsmagazine Slate wrote an article posted on Good Friday, April 9 entitled "Choose Your Own Savior." In it he answers the question how everyone can "lay claim to knowledge of the real Jesus". He writes:

Because there are so many of him. The New Testament itself presents multiple Jesuses, not just among the four competing Gospel accounts but within each Gospel as well: Baby Jesus, Teacher Jesus, Miracle Worker Jesus, to name only three. Just over the course of [an Easter weekend], Christians will move from honoring one Jesus, the suffering and dying Jesus of Good Friday, to revering another one, the Risen Lord of Easter Sunday. The old theological conundrum has a new twist: How many Jesuses can dance on the head of a pin?

Sullentrop goes on to present numerous Jesuses which people see:

One is the Manly Messiah Jesus who is "a macho savior [unaffected] by pain or torment; a ripped, muscular Jesus" who is always victorious. The Manly Messiah may also be known as the Apocalyptic Jesus of Revelation and the Warrior Jesus.

A second is the Rocky Jesus who merges the suffering human Jesus with the more macho Christ. Though affected, he is able to endure unimaginable pain and still go the distance. He falls, but in the end stands tall.

Another is the Blue-State Jesus who is the One so many us have come to love. He is "a pacifist Democrat who drives a hybrid vehicle while advising people to cheerfully render their taxes unto Caesar. Blue-State Jesus is an antiauthoritarian hippie who judges not lest he be judged."

We can’t forget the Party Jesus who "turns water into wine just to keep the night rockin’."

And allow me to add the Black Jesus, the White Jesus, the Straight Jesus, the Gay Jesus, the Feminist Jesus and of course the Historical Jesus. So, which Jesus is the real Jesus? Well, Sullentrop answers that question by saying, "In a sense, they all are. But in another sense, none of them is the real Jesus. He remains a mystery."

Today we have heard readings from Acts 5 and John 20. These Lessons cause me to stop for a moment to determine what Jesus I see. I’m uncomfortable putting any of the Jesuses we have discussed so far into these Scriptures. The disciples, the early-infant church, and the authors who finally recorded the oral tradition that we read today would probably never come up with the Jesuses we have come to know. Still, there is a Jesus, a real Jesus, which we can know today and they knew back then. It is this Jesus which causes Christianity to continue to exist.

After the events we now commemorate with Easter, the disciples were locked in the house in fear. They figured they would never see Jesus again and they would be the next ones to be arrested by the political and religious leaders. They longed to see Jesus again, when to their amazement, the Crucified Jesus stood before them alive! But Thomas wasn’t there. His friends told him about the experience, how they saw the Crucified Jesus alive. Thomas needed proof. He needed to see Jesus for himself. And not just see Jesus, but touch him too! It’s wonderful that the Crucified Jesus returns for Thomas to touch and see. These experiences caused Thomas and his friends to believe.

But Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Was this Jesus’ way of chastising a doubter? I don’t think so. I think paraphrasing these words in this way helps me understand them, "You have believed because you see me. It’s great when people see me because they believe." I think these words are simply telling us that "seeing is believing" AND "believing is seeing."

So, when it comes to Jesus: Whom do you see? Now I know you won’t have Jesus stand before you. Nor will you be able to put your hands on him. But still, Jesus seems to be a figure we all see. I have a couple of friends who disregard Jesus; they have no interest in him. Yet those same two friends have told me that certain people that they know are like Jesus. Those certain people are how my friends would picture Jesus to be. They have also told me that some unbecoming behaviors were nothing like Jesus. So even in their eyes they see some sort of Jesus and know what he looks like. For some strange reason, this Jesus is nearly inescapable.

In our Lesson from the Gospel of John we see Thomas and the other disciples move from seeing the Crucified Jesus to knowing the Living Jesus, the Risen Christ. It is this Living Jesus, the Risen Christ, who substantiates all that has been taught by Jesus during his earthly ministry: The good news, the compassion, the love, the healing, and the new ethic. It is the Risen Christ who validates the coming kingdom of God, which is God’s realm in the world that turns our lives and the world upside down. It is the Risen Christ who breaks down barriers and eliminates divisions. It is the Risen Christ who brings about personal, moral, economic, and political transformation. It is the Risen Christ who strengthens the weak and repairs the broken. It is the Risen Christ who gives us peace.

It is this same Risen Christ who empowers Peter and the apostles of the early-infant church to march to a the beat of a different drummer, to go against the party line and speak the truth, to possess courage and boldness in the midst of pressure from those in power. It is seeing and knowing the Risen Christ that causes Peter to declare, "We must obey God rather than any human authority. And we are witnesses who have the Holy Spirit with us."

But it doesn’t stop there. We gather today in the name of the Risen Christ. It is the same Risen Christ who empowers us to stand up against racism, poverty, sexism, elitism, homophobia, and all injustice. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit who empowers us for the ministries of peace and justice.

It is the Risen Christ who empowers us to speak out for those who are persecuted or maligned. It is the Risen Christ who we see when we are afraid to change. It is the Risen Christ who causes us to act for justice regardless of the consequences. It is the Risen Christ that causes us to hold high values and value things of lasting worth rather than temporary gain. It is the Risen Christ who causes us to stand against the violence in our community. It is the Risen Christ who makes us speak against the injustice in our American Baptist region. It is the Risen Christ that causes us to eliminate hate. It is the Risen Christ who helps us help others. It is the Risen Christ that causes us to love.

Where do we see this Jesus? In community. Right here at Judson. With others who see the Risen Christ. We can still keep our own personal Jesuses; there isn’t a need to discard them from our sight. But the Jesus we have in common with one another and the Church of all ages is the Living Jesus, the Risen Christ!

So, when it comes to Jesus: Whom do you see? May it be the Risen Christ! Amen.

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