Who Do You Say He Is?

I've been a Batman fan for as long as I can remember. I first learned of him through Super Friends re-runs and the '60's TV show. I read the occasional comic book. Then it was 1989 and Tim Burton did a movie that changed things for me. Batman was serious, and dangerous. Then I really became a fan. Burton continued with Batman Returns, but then Joel Schumacher made Batman Forever, and the goofy came back. This was not my Batman anymore. Then there was Batman and Robin. I'll not say anything else about that. But I had another version of Batman to keep me happy- found in the animated series and later the Justice League cartoon. All the while, the comic book Batman stayed like I liked him- dark, serious, and not a people person. When Christopher Nolan brought his more realistic, more serious version of Batman to life in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight- I was ecstatic. MY favorite version of Batman was out there for the world to see.

There have been numerous directors and actors to bring their vision of Batman to life- each with his own twist, his own little bit of definition that makes it 'their' Batman. And thats not to mention the 70+ years of writers who put their mark on the character. They can look at their work and say proudly, "That's who I say he is." And they have every right to do that- he is a fictional character and he is meant to be molded to the vision of the creator currently handling him. He is a tool of entertainment.

But Jesus isn't. Never has been. But like actors, directors, and writers we want to put OUR stamp on Jesus. It's so tempting to try to see Jesus as we want to see Him. Part of that is good and needs to happen: we need to see Jesus as we experience Him in our day to day lives. But the danger is when we try to change, however subtly it may be, the Truth of who He is.

It's nothing new. Jesus' own contemporaries wanted Him to be something He wasn't: a conquering political leader. Many grew frustrated and left Him when they realized the revolution He was leading would not take down an oppressive government. John the Baptist's followers questioned whether or not He was the one they expected, because He didn't fit their perceptions. Those closest to Him struggled with who He really was even after seeing all the miracles- it wasn't until after He ascended to Heaven after the Resurrection that they began to really see.

Now, we mostly like to pick and choose the things about Jesus we want to believe. Occasionally we ( and by we, I mean cult leaders, politicians and pastors like me) put words in His mouth, but mostly we just like to ignore the things He said we don't like, or justify why we don't have to still follow that teaching. We want to quote those passages about forgiveness and turning the other cheek, but conveniently forget that Jesus PHYSICALLY threw money changers out of the temple and verbally assaulted the Pharisees on numerous occasions. We want to think Jesus doesn't care about sin because He always forgives, but conveniently forget that He forgives and asks us to "go and sin no more." We take those teachings about confronting those in sin, but leave the parts about confronting in love and "removing the long in our own eye." We claim to be His chosen people, then look down on those who don't believe as if the 'chosen' part was really about something we did to earn it.

Essentially, we try to write Jesus as a character. We want to put our spin on it. And we do it with the best of intentions. There are parts of the character of Jesus- and even more so, God in the Old Testament- that aren't easy to digest, so we clean it up a bit. We try to make God as a whole easier to take, like He's medicine that needs a spoonful of sugar. We think, "What's the harm in making Jesus and God less exclusive, less difficult, more human?" If people come to know the safe (read "our") Jesus, that's all the matters, right?

At best, when they finally realize that Jesus is not so easy to grasp, that we 'sugared' Him up to make Him more palatable, then they grow frustrated. Maybe with God, maybe with the Church. At worst, we water Him down or beef Him up so much that they realize the Jesus they accepted was not really Jesus at all, but in actuality our projection of who we want Him to be.

I think this is one reason behind the Exodus of teens from the Church when they go off to college or career. They've met Jesus, but not ever really engaged Him as He is. They know a little of Him, mostly what others have said, and when they get independent and start really looking at who He is, they decide they don't really like the way Jesus characterizes Himself. They find other characters to read that make them feel good about themselves as they are. Characters that make more sense to them.

I've not read Batman comics for a year or so now because I don't like the characterization of Batman. I've moved on to Green Lantern and Flash, and I can do that with no qualms, no major consequences. I like their characters better right now, so I invest in them. I can do this because they aren't real. They are shaped by their creators. And if I don't like it, I can read about something else.

But with Christ, He is the Creator and we are the characters. It is supposed to be Him writing our actions, scripting our dialog, not the other way around. For me to stop seeking God because I don't like the way He works is the ultimate form of idolatry- it's putting me as god over God. It'd be like Batman stopping in the middle of a scene or comic panel and looking at the director or writer and saying, "Eh, I'm going to go a different way with this. It's just not working for me."

We must come to the point where we stop trying to add our characterizations to God to get Him to be who we want Him to be. We can't force Him to accept our actions, we can't justify doing things He clearly says are wrong and still call Him God or Lord. It's time we read our Bible without a preconceived notion who God should be. It's time we open it's pages and ask the Spirit to lead us to see Him as He is. When Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say I am?" Peter said, "You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God." Jesus told him this confession came not from other people, or even from the finite mind of Peter, but was revealed to Peter by the Divine. God wants to reveal Himself to us. He longs for it because He wants to be known by us. But our prejudices and ideas of who He should be get in the way. We must go to Him and ask Him to reveal Himself, and in doing so to burn away all the junk that clutters our perception of Him.

If Christopher Nolan's version of Batman is my favorite version of Batman- then God's version of Himself is not only my favorite version of Him, it's the only true version of Him.

By that reasoning, the best version of me is the one written and directed by Jesus.