“Are you Jesus?” That was the question posed to me by a bright-eyed 5 year old boy. I had just arrived at the apartment complex where he lived with his young mother and baby sister. This little family of three is like so many in our county: young, poor and plagued by the ongoing consequences of past bad choices. I was there because the mother had contacted Gilead in need of some help on their electric bill and I needed to take stock of their need. As I stood in at the door talking to the mother, her son poked his head out and asked if I was Jesus. His mom, embarrassed by the question, gently reprimanded him: “Don’t ask him that. You know who Jesus is.” I was amused by the question but sensed that something unintentionally profound had been uttered. I leaned down to him and told him that I wasn’t Jesus … I was just one of His friends.
Upon further reflection, however, I think that it is an excellent question for us to keep in the back of our hearts, “Am I Jesus?” Or to put it more delicately, does what I am doing look like Jesus? The Bible tells us that God’s children have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8.29) To be conformed to His image implies that we will look like Him. If an image is a very good one it will even sometimes give the impression of being the original. The goal of our discipleship as a church, in fact the very reason we exist, is to pursue the life-changing power of the cross and empty tomb that transforms us from marred paintings to portraits painted by the Master’s hand. May we pray and hope that God’s handiwork is so evident upon us that many will be induced to wonder: “Isn’t that Jesus’s generosity? Isn’t that His courage? Isn’t that His passion? Isn’t that His patience?”
Doesn’t that look like Jesus?
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