"30 for 30" #10: Jesus Used to Be My Homeboy. Then I Realized That's Stupid

In American culture Jesus has become another private commodity: He’s “my boyfriend,” “my CEO,” “my co-pilot,” or “my homeboy.”

But in all reality, he is not “my” anything. He is “ours.” Or more specifically, “We are his.”

When we only see Jesus in light of our private relationship with him, we miss the point. This is not to deny that we have a relationship with him, but this relationship is anything but private.

Jesus’ salvation transcends me. It transcends us. He desires to redeem all of creation. His plans are bigger than just saving me and having a relationship with me. I am included in those plans, but I am not the sole goal of those plans.

When we privatize Jesus, we not only miss the point about his redemption all creation, but the whole idea also suggests that, ‘Me and Jesus got our own thing going.’

But this is bad theology. I most certainly have a relationship with Jesus, but there’s nothing in that relationship that’s just between us. I am not beyond rebuke. I am not beyond correction. It is a modern, American notion that Jesus and me and Jesus have got our own thing going.

In scriptural Christianity there’s nothing completely private or individualistic about our relationships with Jesus. Our relationships with him always happen in the context of community, of creation, seeing his face in the poor, finding his grace as we seek for justice in the world – none of this is private. None of it is individualistic.

In other words, all Jesus’ intentions are bigger than just me.

He does love us individually, just as he did Lazarus. He does desire to be in a relationship with us, just as he did Peter. But his plans are bigger than that.

We can’t keep him to ourselves. He won’t let us. He shouldn’t.

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