The Christianity of Jesus

I have several friends who no longer call themselves “Christian.”  It’s not that they’ve lost their faith or given up on God or something like that.  Instead, they don’t want to be associated with the narrow-minded, judgmental folks who present themselves as the “true Christians” of today.  (You know the ones I mean.  “True Christians” are the ones who want to boycott Disney for not representing their values and support electing pedophiles for public office because they are “pro-life.”)  They’ve grown tired of trying to explain that, “I’m not THAT kind of Christian.”  Some of them describe themselves as followers of Jesus.  Some others….well, they struggle for ways to describe themselves.

I understand their conflict.  But I claim the brand name:  I am a Christian.  I am progressive, pro-choice, contend that human rights for all people should be protected, support the regulation of firearms, understand unbridled capitalism as a social sin, and hold fast to a morality based on the common good rather than individual advantages.  I am most assuredly a Christian — a Progressive Christian who finds inspiration and wisdom in the great religious traditions of the world.  Yes, there are times when I am more comfortable in a Buddhist sangha or a Native American ceremony than in American Christian churches.

I’ve read the Bible carefully and since I was in high school have taken courses on the Bible.  I’m not a casual reader.  Here’s what I know for sure about Jesus and the Bible.  Jesus wanted followers, not believers.  Jesus never asked if anyone believed the right thing or even if they agreed with him.  He invited — yes, invited — people to follow the way he lived.  What Jesus taught was a way of life and not beliefs and doctrines.

Jesus was a Jew.  He surely didn’t care if anyone went to church.  He also didn’t establish a church.  He had a group of followers who learned lessons about life.  Those followers were also Jewish.  They went to synagogue and temple as the customs of their era prescribed.  Later, we know a guy named Saul had a transformation and changed his name to Paul as a sign of that transformation.  Following that transformative experience, he spent years learning about the way of life Jesus taught.  Paul then went to Gentiles (people who weren’t Jews) and taught them the life lessons that were Jesus’ way.  The brand name, Christian, was first used to describe one of Paul’s communities:  the group in Antioch.  Why were they called Christian?  Because of the way they lived.  They were known to love each other, to care for each other, to make sure no one was in need.  If anyone wants to be Biblical and call themselves “Christian,” then they should be trying to live the way Jesus taught.  Jesus had a brother named James.  He wrote a letter that’s included in the Bible.  James was clear:  faith without works is dead.  In other words, if all someone does is say, “I believe,” but their life doesn’t demonstrate care and compassion for others, then they aren’t a follower of Jesus.

Of everything Jesus taught, there’s something very important that we generally miss.  Jesus wasn’t concerned about our belief in a powerful God in the heavens.  Instead, Jesus taught people to experience God inside them and around them.  Throughout the gospels, Jesus kept saying, “The realm of God is in you” and “The realm of God here.”

The teaching of Jesus is simple, but it’s challenging.  He summed it up by saying, “Love one another as I have loved you.”  He went so far as to say, “Others will know that you’re my followers because of your love for each other.”  The challenge then is to love, to act with compassion, even when our tendency is to judge, to criticize, to make fun of, to take advantage of, or to hurt another person.  When we put our own interest and gain in front of others (that’s greed), then we aren’t following the teaching of Jesus.

There are many people today who attempt to use, abuse, and generally control others in the name of Christianity.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s trademark infringement.  They might as well be bottling sludge and selling it as pure spring water.  Unfortunately, the hatred and vitriol they peddle is a product that feels right to many people because it’s aligned with their own prejudices.

Ultimately, Jesus didn’t expect his followers to all be the same.  There were Jews and Samaritans, common laborers and artisans, Roman soldiers and religious officials, even the hated tax collectors and prostitutes.  Jesus didn’t teach them to be the same.  He taught them to love each other, to trust that they were lovable, and to realize that the Divine was already in them.  That’s the Christianity of Jesus. That’s the moral teaching that inspires my life.

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