If Jesus Were Here...

Where is Jesus?

We’ve all heard it… I’m pretty sure I’ve even said it…

“If Jesus were alive today…”

If Jesus were alive/here today He wouldn’t be found in the church…

If Jesus were alive/here today He’d be “out there” in the streets,

If Jesus were alive/here today He’d be hanging out with prostitutes and sinners…

If Jesus were alive/here today He’d be hanging out in bars and strip clubs…

If Jesus were alive/here today He’d be out with the soccer moms and the hockey dads…

I’m not sure who popularized it but it reveals, at best, an astounding (How do I say this politely?)…immaturity… at worst it’s heresy.

“if Jesus were alive today…”? 

THEO- Jesus is alive today!  That’s Discipleship 101!

TROY- You know what I mean!  If Jesus were physically alive today…

THEO- You mean like in bodily form?  You mean like, if we could see the Body of Christ…?

TROY- Yeah!

THEO- I thought the Church was the Body of Christ?

TROY- !?!?!?

THEO- If that’s true Christ is not just “here” in some abstract sense,  He is here in reality.  Alive!  Present!  Visible!

TROY- Well… He wouldn’t… like.. you know… go to church…

THEO- so you’re saying Jesus was lying when He said, “Whenever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there!”

TROY- You’re twisting my words!  You know what I mean!

THEO- Never mind your words.  What do you think Jesus meant?  Do you really believe that Jesus, contrary to His word, wouldn’t be present with His body gathered?

Ironically, the point seems to be that church is filled with broken, self-centred people who look nothing like the perfect, holy saints we think should populate churches.  In other words, churches are made up of the kinds of people Jesus came to hang out with… sinners. 

So…Jesus is here, and is doing what He has always done…  hanging out with folks who “need a physician”.

Perhaps our problem is not that the church is filled with righteous folks who should be “out there” but that the church is filled with sinners who we don’t like to see “in here” with us… and Jesus.

...just sayin'

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For the record, “THEO” and “TROY” were names selected entirely at random and do not represent any THEO or TROY that may attend your church.