Fluffy Bunny Jesus?

Fluffy Bunny Jesus? Huh ?What? What do I mean by this?

Recently, I was blessed to be able to attend a Youth Ministry Conference with a group of friends. One class in particular really stood out to me. The topic of the class was how to have a Christ Centered Youth Ministry. During a session of the class, we discussed what our view of Jesus was. Was He mean? Was He kind? What does Jesus mean to us? How do WE see Jesus? After we discussed it as a group for a while, the presenter showed us a small video containing brief interviews with youth. The interviewer asked, “Who is Jesus?” and the prevailing sentiment was that Jesus was a “nice person” and that He was a “kind person”. Nothing about being a savior. Nothing about God becoming man to save the world from an eternity removed from Gods presence.

Ya know, at first glance, it seemed pretty cool that all of these youth that didn't know or might not even follow Jesus thought that He was a “nice person” and that He is “kind”.

In a way, they are right. Jesus is kind and nice. We are taught that Jesus is love and that we are to pass that love onto others.

I wonder though, are we selling Jesus short? Are we presenting a “Fluffy Bunny Jesus”? A Jesus that is always nice? A Jesus that is only nice and kind? Are we only showing one side of Him that is the “Sunday Best” side and are we leaving some of the most important aspects of Him out because they are not always the nice and kind ones? Are we putting Jesus into a cute bunny suit and showing the world that our Savior is always meek and mild?

Looking though the gospels of the New Testament, you can see a number of different things that Jesus did that certainly would not be called “nice” and "kind".

Take a look at Matthew Chapter 15:1-14, Jesus calls the Pharisees out for worshiping God falsely. He calls the religious leaders of his day hypocrites! He tells that that they were using their own, man-made traditions to disobey God! Jesus pretty much tells them that they are not really the high-classed religious leaders that they are posing as, but lowly sinners that are using their own beliefs to disobey God and mold God into what they wanted God to be! That doesn't sound very “nice” at all.

In another instance contained in Matthew 21:12-16, Jesus once again does something that wouldn't be considered by many to be something “nice”. He goes into the temple and tears the place apart! Turning tables over and sending the vendors running doesn't sound very nice at all, it sounds pretty radical to me! What reaction do you think something like that would have in our day?

Again in Matthew 23:1-36, Jesus tears into the Pharisees, and this time it is a no-holds-barred discussion about the very core of what they are and what they believe in. He systemically breaks down the current belief system and chastises them for not practicing what they preach. He tells them that they block others from entering the kingdom of Heaven and that they themselves are not going to enter it either. I remind you, the people that Jesus is talking to are the leaders of the community. The Pharisees were the cream of the crop, the top dog on the block and Jesus was telling them that they were false.

Jesus went against the grain of His time. He was considered a rebel, a danger to the “normal” ways of thinking. In His day, and in ours, Jesus' message is something that goes completely against the established ways of the world. He calls us to be different and to stand out. He calls us to not walk in the ways of the world, but to be radically different from people who do not know Him. He calls us to reflect His light into a dark world and to show others the way to that light.

Are we willing to fully embrace this? Are we willing to step out of the 'norm' and show that Jesus has made a radical difference in our lives? Can we outwardly show that when you follow Him that it isn't just a cliche when the Word says that we are reborn in Him? Can we step outside of our own comfort zones and show the world that we don't just follow a Fluffy Bunny Jesus and follow the One who wants to completely change the world?