The Domestic Jesus

"When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” - Luke 7:20 (NIV)

When you think of Jesus, who are you expecting?  John the Baptist had the history and sacred stories of a whole people that shaped who he was expecting when he thought of the Messiah (literally, anointed one) to come - the role he thought Jesus had come to fulfill.  What shapes your expectations of Jesus?  Do you ever, like John, have moments of doubt when the reality of this Jesus clashes with your hopes?

Priest and sociologist Andrew Greeley describes the way we try to make Jesus fit our own needs this way: “Once you domesticate Jesus, he isn’t there any more.  The domestic Jesus may be an interesting fellow, a good friend, a loyal companion, a helpful business associate, a guarantor of the justice of your wars.  But one thing he is certainly not: the Jesus of the New Testament.  Once Jesus comforts your agenda, he’s not Jesus anymore.” - quoted in Jesus Mean and Wild

Take a few minutes to talk over and even grieve with Jesus the distance you sometimes feel between what you want and who he is.