Oust the current Jesus

I guess the first question I must answer as a spokeman of the 'Obama for Jesus' campaign is, "Why not just reelect the incumbent?" Sadly, most American's have become complacent when it comes to Jesus politics and prefer accepting the status quo to engaging in what they see as a hopeless struggle. It seems that the common American has given up on electing a new Jesus in the face of the suffocating power of interest groups such as The Christian Coalition, The Liberty Alliance, and Focus on the Family. I say that we cannot allow these lobbyists to dictate again and again who gets to be Jesus. It is a travesty of our faith that anything but the power of the people and good, old fashioned truth would decide that. We need a Jesus like the Jesus of our forefathers and foremothers, back when our religion was new and pure, and its ideals prevailed in their truest form; we need a Jesus like the original Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth.

The current Jesus is out of touch with the past, incompetent in the present, and reckless with the future. Like a President who seems nice for having a beer with, the current Jesus deceives us with a comforting image of security. He plays to our greatest weakness: our desire to feel self-righteous; and in doing so condemns us to a perilous future. The current Jesus diverts us from truly worthy callings like living simply, fighting oppression, making peace, and turning water into wine, by giving us a handful of token movements (of dubious merit) to support like the pro-life and anti gay-marriage movement. How easy is it for the middle-class born Christian who was married at 19 and enjoys a natural desire to have sex with their spouse of the opposite sex to vote once a year for the candidate who supports these interests?

We don't need a feel-good Jesus who caters to the self-interest of a lucky few. We need a Jesus who challenges us at our very core, a Jesus who upends all those conceptions of righteousness that have given us the comfort of an easy salvation. Cannot God raise up from the stones children of Abraham? And yet still with great pretent we try to claim Abraham as our ancestor. We need a Jesus who befriends the leper, the fisherman, the tax collector and the prostitute alike; one who sees beyond what's before him and unveils the dark Powers that rule systemically over us, causing individuals to fall into sin. We need a Jesus who loves unconditionally even as he ruthlessly unmasks the sins of the powerful. Yes, indeed, we need a Jesus like we once had long ago. Perhaps, even, it is time for Jesus to be black again.

Barack Obama is the candidate who can bring the needed change to the office of Jesus. Here he comes, riding on a donkey, preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven is near, that our hope is stronger than our fears. He invites us to come freely to him. And yet he has acquired his enemies; they feel threatened by him; they spread lies to turn the people against him; they will surely use their power to crush him. But how will he respond? How will we respond? Only time will tell.

Until then may we pray humbly for God's wisdom and rest soundly in God's grace; amen.