Beyond the infant Jesus, many look at him like a nice guy. This Jesus is viewed selectively as the one who would never be mean to anyone and only had nice things to say.
Jesus is stripped of his divinity in many aspects when viewed this way. He is omnipresent (always with us) but mostly as a friend. He is there for us to talk to and he cares but in so far as actively working in the world to advance His Kingdom or bring justice and mercy, he is mostly inactive.
Far from what we find in the Scriptures, this Jesus is the champion of a modern version of Love. This version says “Jesus loves everyone, so whatever you want is ok.” Whenever a difficult situation with behavior arises, people invoke this Jesus. “Jesus would never do that, he would never support that policy or he would never like that person.” This Jesus is the moral high-ground for every argument or difficulty presented by today's context. For the adherents of this Jesus, he only taught about love and acceptance and called his followers to do the same.
With this understanding, Jesus can be linked and in some cases, enmeshed with other great teachers. Buddha, Gandhi, Oprah and whoever else is quoted on a Facebook page. Jesus melts into the ethereal backdrop of lives as a guiding principle but not someone to follow, especially to the Cross.
Have you ever seen this Jesus?
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