FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN JACKSON: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? ASK INSTEAD WHAT JESUS DID

The Rev. Grant F.C. Gillard was born and raised in Albert Lea, Minn. He graduated from Iowa State University in Ames in 1981 with a bachelor of science degree in animal science and agricultural economics. He received his master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., in 1987. He and his wife Nancy were associate pastors at White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Newark, Del., from 1987 until they moved to Jackson in December 1993.

You see it everywhere, the ubiquitous "WWJD" logo prominently displayed on bracelets, necklaces, backpacks, T-shirts, pins and pendants. Even my favorite Methodist pastor has his own WWJD tie tack. It's everywhere.

I'm referring to the popular acronym for the intriguingly insightful question, "What Would Jesus Do?" It's a great question to ask oneself before engaging in questionable behavior, or firing off irascible and irreversible insults, or retaliating against those obstinately ignorant people.

What would Jesus do with that recklessly rude driver who cut you off? Would he give the driver the finger and then angrily shout, "I forgive you, you poor excuse for a human being! Go to church!"

What would Jesus do? Despite the popularity of the question, I still see many "good" Christian people criticizing, rationalizing, complaining, retaliating, judging, gossiping, condemning, cheating, stealing, and generally doing things the Scriptures forbid.

Are these the things Jesus wants us to do? Perhaps the question isn't "What would Jesus do?" but rather, "What DID Jesus do?"

Consider when Jesus entered the human world, the dominant culture in that society was based on a purity code. The legalistic rules and ceremonial rituals of purity were based on Leviticus 19:2 and the popular theology of the day, "Be holy as God is holy."

To be holy meant to separate yourself from everything and everyone judged to be "unclean." Entire segments of society, e.g. lepers, prostitutes, the poor, tax collectors, and "other sinners" were deemed "impure." Other people, through no fault of their own, were excluded from the public worship of God.

When Jesus came, he radically changed the rules of society. "Be compassionate as God is compassionate," he announced (Luke 6:36, NEB). The word in the KJV and the RSV is "merciful," though it is more accurately translated into English as "compassionate."

To be compassionate is to imitate God and God's love for humanity. God's compassion has the nuances of giving life, nourishing, caring, perhaps embracing and encompassing. It is to feel as God feels and act as God acts. It's empathy that is moved to action. It is the active practice of the more abstract command to "love one another."

Whereas purity divides and excludes, compassion unites and includes. Yet even today, our religion contains groups of people that emphasize holiness and purity as the foundation of Christianity. They love to judge and draw sharp boundaries between who they deem righteous and sinful. Entire groups of society are excluded with the justification of a few selected passages of Scripture.

An interpretation of Scripture faithful to Jesus relates to our society through acts of compassion, not demands for purity and conformity. Before we contemplate what WOULD Jesus do, perhaps we need to consider WHAT Jesus did. Jesus came to save sinners and reconcile a lost world to God, not to condemn and destroy (see John 3:17).