As I was scrolling through the life-sucking abyss called Facebook, I came to one of my friend’s posts that had a picture of #Jesus hanging on #TheCross in all its beauty and horror only to be eclipsed by a dude, wearing a #ThinBlueLine #AmericanFlag tshirt, pointing at Jesus and saying:
“He should’ve just obeyed the law” (picture below).
At first, I was angry at the lack of knowledge of WHO Jesus is and what He did for us on the cross, but then I got sad. Not sad because it’s a truthful “meme”, but sad because the people (More than one) who are posting this OBVIOUSLY don’t know the faith that I guess they are affiliated with.
To be clear from the very start, this meme is nothing short of #Demonic. Am I taking this kind of “tongue n cheek” picture way out of proportion? I don’t think I am. Let me explain.
First, I don’t want to come off #SelfRighteous on this post. I have posted many questionable memes at best and offensive at worst. I’m learning as I go so please allow me a little #Grace, however little I deserve it (and I really DON’T deserve it).
As I’ve mentioned before, history is repeating itself with #God “Given us over” (a) to our wickedness because we’ve become our own gods and put The Almighty on the backburner. It happened in Rome, and it’s happening again now. We’ve traded the good for evil and made evil things good. Because God has given us over to our wickedness, we are seeing a demonic surge that we’ve never seen before in this once great nation. Satan is been unleashed to the masses and leaving total destruction in his wake. So I want to talk about this meme which, as I’ve said, is nothing short of demonic.
For those reading this who aren’t #FollowersOfJesusChrist, Jesus was God’s one and only #Son (b) who was sent to the world, not to condemn it, but to save it (c). For Him to be the #UltimateSacrifice, Jesus had to be #Blameless and #Sinless; without blemish (d). If He would have broken ANY laws, Jesus wouldn’t be worthy of His sacrifice. If Jesus would have been like ANY of us in the HISTORY of the world, He wouldn’t be worthy of His sacrifice. In other words, Jesus was about one million times better than any of us on our BEST day. To shrink our #Savior down to a meme like this is disgusting and malevolent.
Jesus was “Arrested” by the #Jewish leaders in the Garden of Gethsemane in the late hours of the night/early morning (e). The #Pharisees took Jesus to the “governor” #PontiusPilate and he actually didn’t find ANY fault in Jesus but the pharisees demanded that Pilate act (f). At this time, #Jerusalem was a hot bed of protesting and unrest because of the Jewish people. So Pilate was aware he had only a few more episodes of social unrest before #Caesar fired him, thus ending his political career. So instead of telling the Pharisees and the crowd to take a hike, he succumbed to their demands and literally washed his hands of the death of Jesus telling the crowd that the blood wasn’t on his hands, but of the Jewish leaders and the rambunctious crowd (g).
To address this meme, no, Jesus didn’t break any laws. Even when soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden, #Peter took a sword and chopped off one of the high priest’s ears! Jesus stopped Peter and told him that any man who “lives by the sword, will die by the sword”, then proceeds to put the high priest’s ear back on him (h)! Its amazing! You should read it!
Not only does this meme make light of the greatest gift we’ve ever received, it also positions people who are actually telling the majority of these police killings (of all races) that they are wrong for supporting law and order. I’m pretty sure we can all see the results of #LawEnforcement pulling back and not policing these neighborhoods that have been hit so hard by these riots and lootings. Our God is a god of law and order.
We all have #Rights but we ALSO have #Responsibilities. We have a responsibility to render to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s (i). We have had a falling away of a deep and meaningful relationship to God and we don’t even know how to act anymore. We can’t communicate with each other and we definitely cant disagree with each other. Our whole lives, we go through the week and have a #ChristianChecklist that we periodically check the boxes after we “read the #Bible” and “#Pray for the poor” then culminates with “Go to #Church”. We check these things and then claim that we are #Christians and “Have the #HolyGhost”. This is faulty logic and needs to be addressed. Jesus talks about this very thing by saying “I never knew you” after the individual lists off all the deeds that he did for God (j). We need to take a deep look inside ourselves and decide what kind of person we are. Are we working FOR #TheKingdom or AGAINST The Kingdom? Because there is no in-between, and if you THINK you’re in-between, then you’re AGAINST The Kingdom. Lets get back to the ONLY #Relationship that really matters in this world. Lets stop trying to bend and squeeze a so-called “Truth” to fit our narrative.
Jesus was perfect. These people who are being shot, beat, stabbed, kicked, maligned, etc. are NOT. And I’m talking about BOTH sides. One more thing I’d like to add, Jesus suffered everything from the previous sentence, and after being nailed on the cross, He prayed out:
“Forgive them, Father, for the don’t know what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
What if we did THAT instead of what’s going on now? Do you think there would be a different result? A different #Nation? A different #World? A different #Heart?
We should try it.
References:
a) “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
-Romans 1:24-25
b) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
-John 3:16
c) “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
-John 3:17
d) “It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
-1 Peter1:19
e) When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Cedron valley to a place where there was a garden, and they went into it together. Judas who betrayed him knew the place, for Jesus often met his disciples there. So Judas fetched the guard and the officers which the chief priests and Pharisees had provided for him, and came to the place with torches and lanterns and weapons. Jesus, fully realising all that was going to happen to him, went forward and said to them, “Who are you looking for?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “I am the man,” said Jesus. (Judas who was betraying him was standing there with the others.)
- John 18:1-5
f) Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
- Luke 23:4
g) When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
- Matthew 27:24
h) “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.”
- Matthew 26:52
i) Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
- Mark 12:17
j) Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!”
- Matthew 7:22-23
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