“The reality of friendship with Jesus, though, depends on a serious reckoning with the reality of Jesus. Most of us, Christians included, have grown accustomed to conducting a relationship with the idea of Jesus. But Jesus is a real person. The fact that we cannot see him does not negate this fact. The fact that we cannot see him doesn’t even mean that he cannot be seen! Real Christianity affirms a real resurrection, in which the real Jesus really rose from being really dead into a glorious new real life. I’ll say a bit more about this later, but it wasn’t a ghost that came back from the grave. The resurrected Jesus wasn’t real merely “in the hearts” of his disciples. He was really in front of their faces. And when he ascended into heaven, he ascended in his real body, which is now somehow taking up tangible space in the hyperspatial dimension where God’s manifest presence is fully realized. Jesus has a face with eyes and a nose and all the other stuff that, you know, a face generally has. He has arms and legs. He has a real body … He can be seen; thus, he can be known. When we relate to Jesus as an idea rather than as a real person, we might make our discipleship feel more efficient and productive, somehow more tangible and more “real,” but we’re short-circuiting the deep heart work Christ’s Spirit is dedicated to performing in us.”
-Jared C. Wilson
Reflection:
Do we engage with Jesus as a concept or as a living being? Is His grace merely a theoretical notion, or do we perceive it as His compassionate presence with us? Often, we inadvertently slip into a transactional approach to our faith. In this mindset, we view forgiveness, blessings, and a promising future as commodities to be obtained through religious actions—like ticking off checkboxes on a divine checklist.
However, in this transactional fabrication of Christianity, we lose sight of the profound truth that Jesus is a person who longs for a genuine relationship with us. Christianity isn’t a game where we strive to unlock achievements or level up in spiritual prowess. Instead, it’s the profound reality of God reaching out to us in Christ to invite us into intimate communion with Himself. Embracing the reality of Jesus beckons us to something far richer and deeper than transactional religion—it calls us into a vibrant relationship with the living Christ.
