What if Jesus Had Come in Our Day

I was thinking about what if Jesus had come in our modern day.  I though about how His ministry would've been different.  I thought about whether he would've travelled the world.  I wondered if He would've utilized social media and modern day technology.  I thought about how His message might have been different.  I wondered what the parables would've been about in our day.

I honestly do not think Jesus would have done much with Facebook or Twitter.  I doubt he would've created a website for himself or worried about campaigning to be the top religious person in the world.  It seems to me that Jesus' strengths focused on sharing one on one relationships.  Sure, Jesus would've been able to provide perfectly thought out comments and questions to make people think on Facebook and Twitter but I don't believe His ministry was about hits, likes, or followers.

In the Gospels it seems that Jesus' main draw was His authentic and consistent life that gave His words authority.  He meant what he said and His character backed up the kind of person he was.  His power was in real life conversation and interaction.  I believe it was experiencing the love and compassion on His face, the power of His words, and the healing in His touch that changed the opened hearts and changed the world. I believe he would've used a phone only to plan a meeting in person.  He would've understood that love is best demonstrated face to face.  In doing miracles in our modern world, He probably would've told the people he healed not to go to the newspapers, TV stations, and online forums.

I believe His ministry would've been in all the places many of us have no interest driving through much less having to walk through and engage people.  He probably would've visited the local bars, the casino's, and the crack houses.  I doubt he would've have been afraid to talk to the professed atheist, the homeless, the addicted, or the gangs.  Jesus made it clear that he was not here for the well but the sick.  He probably would've offended many churches as He choose to spend time with the people on the street instead of preaching and fellowshipping with the people in the church.

I believe Jesus still would've spent most of His time mentoring a group of 12 men.  He had no intention of bringing the truth of His gospel to the whole world himself but through the Jews and those He poured His teachings into.  Chances are that Jesus would've never set foot in America.  He probably still would've been born, raised, and died in Israel.  We probably would've only heard about Him in the states as a passing mention in the evening news around the time He was crucified.  Chances are most of us wouldn't have even heard about His teachings unless we had gone to Israel on vacation.  For those who have problems with that last sentence, remember that Christianity wouldn't even exist if Jesus had come in our time instead.

I don't know about you but many times I have wished that Jesus would've came in our modern era.  I wish that I could've spent time getting to know Him in the flesh.  I wish that I could've seen the miracles He performed and heard the sermons and parables He taught.  The reality is though that Jesus came to bring the Gospel to the Jews and intended for them to bring it to the world.  Because of this fact I still would've likely only heard about Him or truly had a chance to know more about Him after He was gone. More than likely more of His words would've been available.  There might have even been youtube footage of the sermon on the mount.  Who knows we might've been able to listen to Jesus' messages on podcast after He died.

I guess the point of what I am writing is that even if Jesus had come in our modern era, His words and teachings would've still been the same.  His ministry would've been to the same region.  He still would've died a horrible death by today's standards.  And many would've seen Him, met Him, heard Him, and been healed by Him and yet still fell away.

We have everything we need to know about Jesus at our fingertips.  We have been given such a blessing to see His ministry from four different Gospel perspectives.  We have been given the Holy Spirit and a complete Bible to understand God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a way that the early church couldn't have imagined.  Each one of us has the ability to own a copy of the Bible, which has only been the case for about 500 years.  We have missed nothing by not having Jesus in the flesh with us today.  Jesus provided everything we would need to know about Him and the Gospel truth.  Though the idea of Jesus coming in our day is interesting, I am so glad that Jesus choose to come when He did and how He did.

Blessings,

Greg