Everyone Has Christ Inside

Today’s reading: Mark 15:22-39

Recently in my Sunday school class, an age-old dilemma came up again. What are we to do about the (supposedly crazy) people we occasionally encounter who claim they are Jesus?

I noticed some surprised looks when I said I usually assume they are telling the truth.

“But they’re false prophets!” someone objected.

“Look, if someone really is Jesus, he’s not going to order me to do something murderous. So, what’s the harm in assuming he’s telling the truth,” I replied.

There was silence as people realized I wasn’t joking. (I know half of the class secretly thinks I’m very strange.)

Then finally someone said, “There is no harm, I suppose.”

Two or three others in the group then began quoting from the many lines of scripture that tells us to treat all men with kindness so as to be always ready for Christ. (This tradition can even be found in the Old Testament, when God, appearing as any other visitor,  pays Abraham a visit in his tent with the surprising news that he will have a child.)

Later that day I wished I had thought to say during the class: “What’s the harm in assuming everyone we meet  is Jesus?”

All of this comes to mind as I pondered today’s Good Friday reading.  It’s clear that everyone in the crowd who so cruelly ridiculed Jesus as he hung upon the cross made a devastating mistake.

“Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Verses 36-38)

And, of course, the crucifixion was supported by leaders who cited sacred texts as proof that Jesus could never be the Son of God.

Could it be, then, that Jesus’s return may not happen precisely as Acts, Revelations, and other Books of the Bible seem to say? (And what are we supposed to make of all the conflicts in those promises of the Second Coming. I’m not Bible scholar, of course, so perhaps I just  need more study. But, this layman is still very confused about just exactly how Jesus is supposed to come back according to The Bible.)

Well, as we see by Jerusalem’s cruel treatment of its savior, this wouldn’t be the first time that God and Jesus have surprised the world.

So, I’ll repeat my opinion that I don’t think there is one bit of harm in assuming everyone is Jesus. And, in fact, there may be a lot of harm in doing the opposite.

Thanks be to God for the opportunity to find Christ in every soul. May I (we) always remember that most important lesson of Good Friday.