by Rev. Gina Johnson
We're continuing in our series Jesus, the Man, the Myth, the Legend. And today as we go into Jesus, the Myth, I want to ask how many of you all have ever played that game called Two Truths and a Lie? I never knew about that game until I'm sure it had to be a youth group or my kids or some activity where I was with other youth where they taught that game. And I remember I would have so much fun with it because I have quite the colorful past. I could throw three statements out there and really picking out which one doesn't fit would be very difficult to do. Well, I know that at one point in time when I thought about myths, I thought a lot about mythology and I thought about medieval times and these stories that were just like, gosh, are they true? Are they not true?
They're legends. They're myths. We're unsure about them. And then over time, the more and more that I would see things about different myths being debunked and then hearing different things in the religious world, especially the world of Christianity, I thought, you know, in some way myths are almost like fancy lies. Fancy ways to tell lies. I mean, it's fun to have a myth that you speculate on like, oh, you know, the Loch Ness Monster. Is that a myth? Is that true? Or, you know, Bigfoot. You know, is that a myth or is that true?
But a lot of times when I'm going through studying items, I notice that some of the myths are being used to really cause separation. There are myths that exist out there that we're using as ways to put another border between us and the truth. So I want to start off by looking at some of the myths that are out there when it comes to Jesus.
Now remember, these are things that I've found and that I'm sharing with you from my beliefs. I'm never telling you what to believe or how to believe as much as I hope to challenge you to really dive into what you believe and why you believe it.
One of the first myths out there is Jesus was born on December 25th. Now I'm going to tread very lightly here because a lot of people are like, “What? You're going to take away the association of Jesus and Christmas?” No, no, this is just for fun and for a little bit of education. If you know from reading in Luke chapter 2 verses 8 through 14, the shepherds were tending their flocks at night, which usually would indicate the flocks were being tended in a spring or fall birth.
So again, nothing to lose any sleep over, but there's a lot of evidence out there that December 25th, in the middle of the snow while we waited for Santa, was not exactly when Jesus was born. But that's okay.
Another one is Jesus' perfection made him passive. Recognize that there was never anything indicated that to be angry is a sin, to be angry is wrong, to be angry is that illusion of separation from God. It's what you do with that anger.
Jesus had his moments of anger. He wasn't happy when he saw that the enlightened home, a place of study, a place of prayer and communion, had become a place of money changers and gambling and a place of sales.
He wasn't very happy when he saw that the Pharisees were taking some of the teachings that were set out to help people and using them more to condemn people or to hold people to a standard. Jesus was not passive just because he knew how to express himself and how to move towards change without being violent. There's nothing wrong with anger.
Another myth is that Jesus only preached to the Jews. If you remember, he ministered to a Samaritan woman, a Canaanite woman. He helped heal 10 lepers and among them was also a Samaritan.
Another myth is that Jesus' message was mainly about going to heaven. If you look closely at Jesus' teachings, he actually taught you exactly where the kingdom of heaven was and is and it's within us.
Sometimes we hear the myth that he was only divine and not human. Jesus too had to deal with the temptations and the opportunities that any one of us would have to face in our childhood and our teenage years, our adult years. Jesus just had a more enlightened understanding and was able to overcome some of the obstacles that we may not do the same.
There's a myth that Jesus condemned all sinners. When you look throughout the Bible, Jesus showed compassion to an adulterous woman. He forgave and ate with the tax collectors and those who'd be classified as sinners.
And there’s a myth that Jesus and the Bible condemned homosexuality. Actually Jesus does not speak of homosexuality within the Bible. His messages were more focused on compassion and acceptance.
Some of the other common myths that we talk about when it comes to Jesus have a lot to do with how Jesus looked. A lot of people get caught up in their details.
They'll say, “Well, he had long, flowy hair. He had a beard. He was tall and thin. He had piercing blue eyes. He had European features.” When actually he likely just wore a simple tunic and sandals, which would have been common attire for ancient Palestinians.
He may have had a simple trim beard which was common among Jewish men. His hair was probably short to medium length, which is often depicted in Christian art. But the truth is when it comes to the specifics of his height or weight, his eye color, none of that is mentioned in the Bible.
And when we look beyond that, we have to take into account the location, where he grew up, what was the culture around him, how were young Jewish boys who were learning meant to be upkept during that time. Did they get beards? Did they have long hair? And when we look at those things, we recognize that there's a lot of different depictions out there of Jesus, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's anything for us to get stuck and caught up on. If you're having debates over, my Jesus is white, my Jesus is black, my Jesus has long hair, my Jesus has short hair, you're definitely getting lost and you're getting confused over what this should all be about.
A friend of mine said the other day how their mom would say, “Don't miss the message because you're so focused on the teacher.”
How many times can we get caught up in these myths around Jesus and the debates around Jesus and the places where we're splitting hairs over Jesus instead of listening to his teachings? And that's what I want to talk to you about as we wrap up these myths. I want to talk to you about one of the most common misconceptions and that is that Jesus came to earth solely to provide us a way to heaven.
When we look at the gospel of Jesus as the “ticket to heaven gospel,” there's so much that we're missing out on. I was raised that it was, if you pray the sinner's prayer, then you'll have salvation. That meant that all you have to do is pray this prayer that you are a sinner and that you believe Jesus is the son of God who came and died for your sins and then, once you pray that prayer, you now have salvation. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that idea to believe that Jesus came here to show us the way to eternal life, to believe that Jesus' teachings did help tear the veil so there'd be no more separation between us and the father, to believe that that's all you have to do on your part, to believe Jesus is the son of God, just like it says in John 3:16, so that's it. One and done. I have salvation. I'm good to go.
That sure does take a lot of Jesus' teaching, of his work, of his mission, the healing, the time he spent with his disciples, the time he spent with strangers trying to show them a new way and throw it out the window. If all we have to do is say, “You know what, Jesus lived he died, he was crucified and resurrected. You believe that story and you have salvation.” Well, then, done and done. That's what the teachings of Jesus have been watered down to.
Jesus' teachings and his resurrection demonstrated that there was more to life than just looking upon him as a ticket to heaven. He took the time to show us that we can overcome fear. We can overcome sin and separation. We can overcome even death if we would just believe in the limitlessness, the full realization or should I say spiritualization of who we are.
Jesus came to show us that through love and forgiveness and having a true understanding of who you are as a child of God means that, not only would you do the works that he did, but you would do greater things than Jesus. When we focus solely on Jesus being a way to heaven, we are missing the most important part of that message, which is that we are an extension of the Father.
Jesus says “Father is in me and I am in the Father.” So, then us being in Jesus and Jesus being in us, then we are at one with the Father, as well. It's just so easy to let go of what we're here to embrace and what we're here to embrace is that fullness of Jesus' teachings. We're here to discover the liberating truth that we can transcend death and we can live a life of purpose and love and unity. It's really easy to go to church every Sunday to give our tithes, to volunteer, to read our Bible, say our prayers, sing a hymn or two and think that we've checked all the boxes and all is well, but as you are in this place and you are in connection with the Spirit I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to look beyond just the message of the cross and listen to what Jesus was teaching. Listen to what he was saying. Come into a full realization of who you are because of what Jesus Christ demonstrated for us.
I think when we think about Jesus and his death on the cross it's really easy to get caught up in the way it's been told to us year after year after year, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but when Jesus came to this earth, he knew that it was going to take more than him just going around giving the teachings. He spent years with his disciples teaching and healing and feeding and clothing and releasing the captives and still they were unable to get the fullness of his message, so he went to the cross. He obeyed the mission that was put out before him and he showed us that in life and death that there is no separation from God. There is no separation from the love of God and even we have the ability to die as he died and to resurrect and live with him in eternal life.
Please pray with me. Our most gracious and loving God, there's so much information out there, Lord, when it comes to who we are, when it comes to our mission as your children, when it comes to the paths that we walk on, so, God, we are leaning into You. We are trusting in Your Spirit that lives in each and every one of us to help us see clearly, to help us discern the way. We are looking towards Jesus and we are stripping away the stories. We are stripping away the illusions and we are gleaning the teachings. We are gleaning his message of love and grace and truth for everyone. We are gleaning his message of unity and so, God, as we go from this place today, may your spirit boldly remind us that we, too, as followers of Jesus, can walk in the resurrection, can bring the kingdom here, can embrace the newness of life that comes through salvation. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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