WWJD

It's the bracelet that folks were wearing for a while, maybe they still are.  WWJD?  What would Jesus do?  The idea is similar to the rings that the Mormons wear, the 'choose the right.' one.  And the bracelet with WWJD was quite popular when I was in high school.  A bunch of folks were rocking it out.  And the question that you're supposed to ask yourself before you undertake any type of decision is, what would Jesus do in this situation?  Any time you're about to do a thing, you think to yourself, 'is this what Jesus would do?'  If yes, then do it.  If not, then steer clear.

That's good right?  A sensible way of approaching the world around you.  It should be simple enough, that you should only do the stuff that Jesus would do.  Easy decision to make, right?

Okay, sure.  You know this.  And honestly, it shouldn't be too hard to work out what Jesus would do.  There's a man who has been blind from birth that you happen to run into on your way home from work.  WWJD? Probably miraculously heal him.  You're out and about, maybe having a bit of a stroll, and ten guys affected with horrible disfiguring illnesses call out. WWJD?  Make them all better.

Okay, I'm being a bit facetious, because those are all things you can't do, even if you wanted to.  Even if you really had in mind to go out and heal everyone with miraculous powers, there's another problem locked deeply under the surface. Anyone rocking the WWJD bracelet, anyone rocking the CTR ring, anyone telling themselves that your Christian faith is a matter of choosing the right things, being a good person, being a fine apstanding citizen, has forgotten something.  You can weigh your decisions all day, feeling as though you just can't do what Jesus does, so therefore what's the use in trying, but Jesus has something to say to us all.  Those of us, at least, who are of the position or ability to read this on a computer (or tablet, or smartphone, or whatever), really have to keep bearing one particular Biblical story in mind, one we'd rather forget.  You can find it in Luke 18.

¹⁸ A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’^[a]”

²¹ “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶ Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁷ Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

Well, this doesn't seem too hard at all!

Luke's Gospel talks specifically about someone who is rich, and who thinks that he keeps all the commandments.  Someone who asks, like a child who feels as though he has done his homework, what he should do now.  What is there possibly left to do?  And Jesus tells him to go and sell what he has and give it to the poor, and to go follow him.  Yay Jesus!  Stick it to the rich guys.  The rich guys like, um.......

you.

You want to run down the list of WWJD, this is one of those times where you don't have to ask what Jesus would do, or what he would have you do.  He's pretty obvious about it.  If you were a rich girl, what would Jesus have you do? Well, probably sell everything you have, and give it all to the poor.  It's a good think you're not wealthy, right?  It's a good thing that this only applies to the Gates family, and the Getty family, the British Royals, and the Zuckerbergs of the world.

Oh dear.

In thinking that the words of Jesus Christ only convict those whom we would see as being super rich, we forget quite easily how rich we are.  Oh sure, it would be easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, so thank goodness we're not rich!  But we are.  That whole time spent thinking about the 1% during the occupy movement failed to realize that we are the 1%.  Well, that's not a scientific measurement of GDP or anything, but there are very few people globally who live as well as we do.  Canada has no wars, no major calamities, high standard of living, government supplied health care, welfare, and libraries that will rent DVDs to you.  We have clean streets, very little crime, and we're not ruled over by cartels or militias.  We elect our leaders, and the vast majority of us have disposable income that is honestly more than the entire incomes of an awful lot of people all over the world.  If Jesus is talking to rich people, saying they should sell their belongings, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow him, that applies to us, too.

But there's another part to WWJD.  Because there's something that Jesus would never EVER do, but that you should.  Nay, that you need to do.  And when you ask yourself what would Jesus do, it will never include this particular item. But this should be part of your daily life: repentance.  The rich young ruler who comes up to Jesus asks him what HE has to do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus tells him about the commandments, and the ruler says that he's kept all those commandments since he was a child.  Of course.  But when pressed into something else, something that gets to the core of who he is, and most importantly something he'd rather not do, he leaves angry.  If this guy can't make it, someone wealthy, well thought of, someone who at least believes that he's kept the commandments all his life, if HE can't get into the kingdom of God, then what hope is there for anyone else either?

Perhaps it's not WWJD, but WDJD....what did Jesus do?  He laid down his life for your sins, yours and mine.  And in doing so, he took away our need to be as perfect as him to get to him.  You weren't going to do that anyway, he knows that.  Were you going to be perfect?  Highly doubtful.  He took the sins of everyone, rich and poor, and took them upon himself, giving his perfection to us.  Yes, it's impossible for us to earn our way to heaven, but with God all things are possible.  The one thing that leaps out to me through all of the Bible is that God doesn't just sit back and wait for folks to choose the right thing, to be like him, in order to give them the time of day.  He seeks them out. He finds them where they are.  You, you horrible, profligate sinner, you're the one that he comes to find.  He loves you too much to wait for you to be perfect.  He love you enough to make you perfect, by forgiving you of everything, commission, omission, both.  In this is real love, not that we loved him, but that he loved us, and gave himself up for us.

PJ.