In Part One, we discussed what it might look like if Jesus were alive today in 2020. How would he be received? Would he be friendly with the people who we consider the religious leaders of today? How would his message be taken by the people who claim to follow him?
Read: What if Jesus were alive today?
If Jesus were alive today: His Life
Many big-name celebrities fly across the country in private jets and stay in the fanciest hotels. I imagine Jesus taking the bus down to the local soup kitchen and handing out plates of food. I imagine him frustrating his followers that are business-minded because he will not follow the instructions of his publicist to get his brand maximum exposure.
He would not have time to write a New York Times Best Seller. He might do one podcast episode and neglect it because it would require him to be in a room and away from the people he loves and wants to help.
One would imagine that he would be mad that his handlers want him to meet the President, The Prime Minister, NATO, the most prominent pastors, and leaders from all over the world. And all he would want to do is find a park that has people gathered and just talk to them and get to know personally. He would frequent the local watering hole, a casino, an intramural flag football game.
He would not rent out the civic center in the biggest city he could find. He would not have an all-out media blitz with commercials running on the top-rated TV programs. But wait, doesn’t he care about reaching as many people as possible? Doesn’t he care about what is important?
We have it in our minds that he is important, and he should be doing important things. The thing is what we think is important and what he thinks is important has a very vast chasm, and we are on his side. We would immediately want to know which political party he identified with so we could claim that our party was right the whole time. His message was and still is remarkably simple.
If Jesus were alive today: His Message
Jesus says Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and don’t forget, love your neighbor as yourself.
This is how it was a couple of thousand years ago and I imagine him still sticking by those core beliefs in 2020. Write down the top 10 things you believe are wrong with the world. Close your eyes and point to any one of them. I bet if these verses were followed with the same intensity of a mom running to save her child from being hit by a car, they would be solved.
I sincerely believe that. There is no way Jesus would not respond with love when presented with a problem. He would respond with unity and compassion. Usually when a subject divides the nation such as race, abortion, politics, police brutality, and economic divide of classes, the first thing most people search for is “who is on my side?”
This is one of my favorite jokes: A race of aliens visits earth one day. They come in peace and surprisingly, they speak English. Obviously, all the heads of government and religious leaders want to speak to the aliens, so they set up a meeting with our new visitors. When it’s the Pope’s turn, he asks, “Do you know about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?” “Oh, you mean JC,” responds the alien. “Yeah, we know him, he swings by every year to check on us to make sure we are doing ok.”
Surprised, the pope follows up with, “He visits every year? It’s been over two millennia, and we are still waiting for his SECOND coming!” The alien sees that the pope has become irate at this fact and starts trying to rationalize. “Maybe he likes our chocolate better than yours.” The pope retorts, “Chocolates? What are you talking about? What does that have to do with anything?” The alien says, “Yeah when he first visited our planet, we gave him a huge box of our best chocolates. Why? What did you guys do the first time he was here?”
Knowing that he might be treated the same way Jesus would still, not for one second, hesitate to come back and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable. I live in a neighborhood that is middle class. There was a story in the newspaper about some people with Section 8 eligibility being able to move into some apartments about 3 miles from my subdivision.
People who claimed to be Christians were outraged because that would bring property values down and bring rise to crime to our neighborhood. This was with not knowing AT ALL who was moving in. They wanted a vote so they could decide where people who had no place to live could live close to them. These are the people Jesus would be found with. Not the voting people but the people who had no home.
Jesus is love. If Jesus were alive today that would be his message. Money, a big house, fame, fortune, status, likes, views, none of that matters. If Jesus were living on earth right now, he would be so heartbroken. Not enough people who genuinely believe in what he wants that speak up. And too many of them that don’t believe speak very loudly. Despite all of that he still loves every single one of us and would come back in a second if that is what was needed.
Right now, Jesus lives in each one of us. His power is in each one of us and that is all that is needed. We just need to tap in. Jesus is alive and is here in 2020. We just have to show everyone.
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
