History over the past two thousand years has painted many pictures of what Jesus looked liked and who he was. Many theologians and skeptics throughout the centuries have each had their idea of Jesus and the truth of the matter is, not a single one of them has done Jesus justice.  As I look back over my life, I have seen Jesus visualized as a stoic, serious figure and at other times as a  swinging zealot who liked to party. He has been written about more than anyone else in history, but history has not been a friendly judge to Jesus.

As a kid going to Sunday School in a Southern Baptist church, I remember Jesus as the man who had the lamb on his shoulders, or the guy in the “Jesus Loves Me” song or the Jesus in the picture that hung over the mantle whose eyes would move when you moved. I was taught that he was the Son of God  who could save me from sins and I would go to heaven to be with him for eternity.  To a kid, that sounded like an awful long time to be standing around with other people. That has lead me to examine the Jesus I know.

I did not say the Jesus I knew, because I know Jesus. As an adult I carried over the Jesus I knew from my childhood into my family and to my children. That Jesus saved me from my sins, but it wasn’t the Jesus that would lead me to a life that is filled with struggle in following him as I should.  The Jesus of my adult life has said to pick up my cross and follow him and he said it wouldn’t be easy. I never took time to examine Jesus the radical outcast who was shunned by his family, scorned by religious leaders, and shamed by his friends. I mean, I saw Jesus as the beneficent lover of mankind.  In seeing him this way, I have realized that I missed out getting to know the Jesus that was counted among the poor because he was poor.  The Jesus who would go to the bowels of hell for those he loved if it was required of him because he had been there and back. And the Jesus who was as human as I because he truly loves me.

The Jesus I have come to know and love is a different Jesus that what I remember growing up. He is the loving shepherd, but he is also the wild Lion of Judah. He is the lover of my soul, but he is also the condemner of sin. He is not the weak human portrayed by Hollywood and novelists, but the Creator of all.