Jesus Is Not Our Idea

I was reading recently in Luke 19 about Zacchaeus and his encounter with Jesus. When Jesus stays at the home of Zacchaeus there is a general disapproval from the public, for Zacchaeus, as a tax collector, is perceived as a traitor to his people and a sinner. The general response is that a holy man such as Jesus should not associate familiarly with a sinful man such as Zacchaeus, except to point out to Zacchaeus his sin that he might repent. Then Zacchaeus would be welcome. Then familiar association with Zacchaeus would be appropriate. Yet in the previous incident in Luke’s gospel, Jesus heals a blind man, and all the people give approval and praise God.

I am convinced that one very fruitful way of reading the Gospels, that we might encounter Jesus more truly, is to examine how the people, including his closest disciples, approved and disapproved, understood or misunderstood, Jesus. Of course we love and relate well to Jesus when he does what we expect and approve. Yet when he challenges what we expect and approve, we murmur and question and doubt and criticize, just as the general public and even his closest followers did in his very presence.

We must take with utter seriousness the truth that Jesus is not our idea. Indeed, he must challenge and change our very idea of what is right and wrong, what is true and untrue, about the world and ourselves. By reading the Gospels with that dynamic of approval and disapproval in mind, we might better understand how Jesus must change us if we are to be the people God intends.