Jesus was born to a couple of teenagers who couldn’t even stay with their family in Bethlehem, this may be because of the scandal of her pregnancy before their official marriage.
This is how God became one of us. This should incite passionate joy and excitement in us as followers of “The Way”. This is either the greatest thing to ever happen or the most ridiculous idea ever suggested. That God should become one of us.
Not only did Jesus’ birth turn everything upside down; so did his life and what he taught. You must die to live. You must lose to gain. Weakness is strength. Joy exists in the midst of suffering. Power is restraint. Love those who persecute you. Pray for those who hate you. It is not the strong or the wealthy who will inherit the earth, but the meek or not those who display their strength and or wealth.
Jesus Christ becoming one of us caused an Uprising. If you follow Jesus, you follow the most radical man who ever existed. He stepped onto the scene with kindness, peace, and love, and offers people a whole new way of looking at the world and how to live radically different. His is the most radical message you can preach or live. He turns everything upside down and calls us to do likewise. Jesus is committed to changing the people He comes into contact with and He comes into contact with people through you and me.
The Uprising that Jesus entry into the world caused, isn’t for the faint of heart or the middle-of-the-road, on again-off again, wishy washy. It isn’t safe. It isn’t comfortable. It costs us a great deal to say yes. We take hold of the Uprising by abandoning ourselves to Jesus and letting go of everything else.
Will you choose to follow a safe Jesus who came and still lives to provide you with health, wealth, comfort, and happiness? Or will we press on to find the Jesus of Nazareth, the most dangerous and radical man to ever walk the face of the earth?
I want the real thing. I don’t buy into the idea that Jesus came just to give us a ticket to heaven. Will you join me?
Ronnie