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I recall what a student once asked a cynical professor. "What would people do with Jesus today
if He were on earth and talked and acted like He did while He was here?"
The professor replied, "Why, they would kill Him, of course." Anyhow, they did! I was reminded of this question by a remark dropped by another person. His idea was that if Jesus were here, as He once was, in the midst of conditions as they now are, religious people, His professed followers, would cause Him no end of trouble. Asked why he thought so, he replied, "Well, it was the church crowd that hounded Him to the cross, wasn't it? Even Pilate, the governor, wanted to turn Him loose, but the church folks put the pressure on him and demanded His crucifixion." "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell?" (Matt. 23:29-33 ASV). After all, what evidence do we have that Jesus would be more welcome now in high places than He was then? Human nature does not change much. Much of the homage paid Jesus Christ today is in the spirit of those who built the sepulchres of the prophets and garnished the tombs of the righteous. They pay eloquent lip service to Jesus while they largely ignore His teaching. To such, he said, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Lk. 6:46). They inscribe His name on masterpieces of architecture and ascribe to Him the loftiest praise that music and art can express, while they ignore His plainest commands and desecrate His holy sanctuary by every human innovation. With many, Jesus Christ is a convenient symbol very much as a bedecked idol is to a pagan devotee; but as for being subject to His living words, they simply are not. They say, "Lord, Lord, but do nothing about it. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21 ASV). It is true that many of the common people received Him gladly. He had a balm for their hurt. He healed their sick. He filled their stomachs, and some followed Him for the loaves and fishes. He turned the floodlights of hope into many a despairing heart. There were noble souls who loved Him for His own dear sake, as did Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Yet out of ten lepers that He healed, only one stranger returned to give Him thanks. The clergy of the nation, the cream of intelligence and piety, appraised Him with calculating eyes. He was measured by their schemes and ambitions. They had even tortured the prophetic writings into an endorsement of selfish plans. Even Messiah must fit a man-made standard. It is absurd to contend that Jesus offered them what they were expecting and that they turned Him down. A hearty reception of Jesus would have toppled their cherished dreams into ruins. The only use they had for Jesus was to see how far they could use Him. They hated Him as soon as they understood and recognized that He had enough power to be feared. Caiaphas voiced this point of view when he said that "it was expedient that one man should die for the people" (Jn. 18:14). Selfish religious leadership was against Jesus and He was against them. The cross was a symbol of the irreconcilable differences between Him and them. At the time Jesus appeared, the Jews had not perverted the law and the prophets much more than modern religious leaders have perverted the gospel and the church. They have done about everything else but "hold the pattern of sound words." Jewish perversion had crystallized into a system involving pride, influence, and wealth. They had to give up too much to follow Jesus. His insistence that they must take up the cross, deny themselves, and follow Him angered them immeasurably. A quick return to the teaching of Jesus as it is found in the New Testament and a restoration of the church as it is found in Acts of Apostles would result in the wreck and dissolution of vast denominational systems. Creeds, confessions of faith, prayer books, disciplines, and manuals would light bonfires as did the magical art books in Ephesus (Acts 19:19). Human churches and human doctrines have grown up this side of the New Testament. They express a spirit of lawlessness that was already at work in Paul's day that Christians were warned against in the New Testament. It is inconceivable that Jesus, in view of His expressed teaching, would endorse them if He were on earth today. He would not reverse Himself. When He comes again, He will judge the world by the teaching that He left (Jn. 12:48) and all these plants of human planting will be rooted up (Matt. 15:13). What would happen if He were on earth in the flesh, condemning selfishness, privilege, perversion, and hypocrisy as He did when He was here? Would the proud and entrenched leaders of modern religion and philosophy pay Him any more mind than did the Sanhedrin? Would they cry, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord?" or would they shout, "Away with him. Let him be crucified?" To say the least of it, many leaders in organized religion would face a crisis comparable to that of the rich young ruler who thought he was willing to pay the price of eternal life. He was asked to sell all he had, give to the poor and follow Jesus. He decided to keep his wealth and leave Jesus, although he departed with sorrow. Many would depart with sorrow if following Jesus meant the surrender of a living salary or a position of influence that makes its appeal to pride. Paul touched a tender spot in his fight on idolatry in Ephesus when it became apparent that his success would bring "danger that this our trade come into disrepute" (Acts 19:27 ASV). Converted heathen would not call for silver shrines of Diana. The craftsmen would lose a source of wealth if Paul continued to make converts in such vast numbers. They were filled with wrath, and Paul was quickly threatened with mob violence. False religion today, including perverted forms of Christianity, has such ramifications that should its devotees and leaders turn to the Lord it might require as great a sacrifice as for Demetrius and his silversmiths to become Christians. If Jesus were on earth, it is not likely that religious people would treat Him any better than they now do His church and His gospel. At least it is something to think about and may be a help to some individuals to get closer to God. |