What is Jesus really like?

Is he Jesus ‘meek and mild’, wrapped up in cotton wool?
Is he Jesus the wrathful, about to pull some old testament vengeance if he returns?
Is he Jesus the irrelevant, who ‘sets and forgets’, expecting us to sort out our own life?

All these ideas are unhelpful. So what is Jesus actually like? I think the New Testament actually portrays Jesus as the ultimate badass.

Badass #1: Jesus lays the smackdown onto religion

Just like the modern church, ancient Judaism was also tainted with hypocrisy. Religion had become a bureaucracy between man and God. Religious tradition was upheld to the detriment of people. Added rules and regulations did nothing to make anyone righteous. And Jesus was not having a bar of it.

The Bible tells a story where Jesus flips over some tables in the temple, flipping religious hierarchy in the process:

John 2:14-17
Jesus found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!”

This is classic badass Jesus. Making a whip and pushing over tables isn’t exactly the ‘meek and mild’ Jesus portrayed at Christmas time. And there’s plenty of tables in the modern Christian church which Jesus wants to overturn.

Badass #2: Jesus isn’t dictated to by society, and forgives anyone he damn well wants

Again, ancient religion had many of the same problems as modern religion. Nearly every church I’ve stepped into is filled with privileged Christians who do a good job of hiding their sin.

Some churches are harder to join than getting into heaven! But Jesus has no business with an exclusive church. So Jesus goes around forgiving the sin of practically everyone. Prostitutes, tax collectors, religious minorities, the crippled and the poor were all befriended by Jesus. A terrorist was literally counted among the 12 disciples [Simon the zealot]. Now that’s some juicy sin.

So much for Jesus the wrathful – Jesus shamelessly loves people. The church can’t dictate to Jesus whom he ought to forgive.

Badass #3: Jesus slaughters sin and Satan

Sin isn’t a list of fun things we need to stop doing. Sin isn’t about breaking a list of rules, but goes far deeper than that.

Sin is when we choose to turn away from God. Sin is when we decide that God ought to have no part of our lives. Sin is when we flip God off. Sin is when we determine our own morality – but this flawed morality only serves ourselves and damages others.

We were created to be friends with God, but in our sin we break this friendship. Sin makes us lost and broken. Sin is far from an empowering pleasure that it claims to be, instead it assaults us and makes us its bitch. Sin promises to satisfy our desires – but we are left hungrier as we go back for more; it can never satiate.

We got ourselves into this mess, but we are unable to get ourselves out.

But it’s badass Jesus to the rescue. And in the ultimate badass move, he defeats sin and Satan as he dies upon a cross.

I’m not sure what Satan thought he was doing as he orchestrated the death of Jesus.

But in an act of irony, sin and death are defeated in this moment.

Jesus was punished of behalf of all sinners. Sinners who were deserving of punishment can now be forgiven.
Jesus was given death. But sinners deserving of death can be given eternal life.
God doesn’t ignore the wretched sin of humanity, but he pays for it himself. In an act of injustice, justice is served.

Sin and death are ultimately defeated. Satan is crushed. And only Jesus could achieve it all in one total badass move.

So much for “Jesus the irrelevant”. Jesus is so connected to his creation that he enters it himself to reconcile humanity to himself.

If you decide you wanna be on team badass, this isn’t achieved by being ‘good’ or attempting to be a badass yourself. But believe in Jesus, and you will be saved- this is the promise found in Acts 16:30-31

It’s 3am, again. But I cannot sleep. I feel like I’m spiritually drowning.

A whirlpool of water spins me round, and I struggle for a breath of air.

“Lord, give me clarity,” I mutter, as the waves pull me deeper and I shake.

“Reveal your will to me”. But I can barely breathe.

Gasping, I sit up, I squint into the darkness looking for God, expecting an answer. But only silence.

I am angry at my church. I am angry at the church. And I am angry at myself.

I thrust about. I feel my open Bible next to me, and I toss it to the floor after what feels like an irrelevant passage.

“Why won’t you answer me, Lord?” but the silence pangs against my soul.

The church is hypocritical. 
But I am hypocritical.

The church lacks graciousness. 
But I lack graciousness.

The church causes hurt, confusion, and sorrow. 
But so do I.

My anger swells up, a blazing redness all around me. My pride screams, “But the church fails to tell the Gospel faithfully!” 
This time I am crushed, I weep reflecting on my own failures.

I want to leave the church. But I am the church.

I remain unsure if my internal dialogue satisfies my internal torment. But I go back to bed, this time pondering whether my God is as silent as I claim.