The Other Jesus

  

From “The Spiteful Jesus”

by Scott Cairns

 

He is angry. He is just. And while

he may have died for us,

it was not gladly. The way

his prophets talk, you’d think

the whole affair had left him

queerly out of sorts, unspeakably

indignant, more than a little

needy, and quick to dish out

just deserts. I saw him when,

as a boy in church, I first

met souls in hell. I made him

for a corrupt, corrupting fiction when

my own father (mortal that he was)

forgave me everything, unasked.

 

The Other Jesus is for Christians like me–the Other Christians–who are tired of hearing how God hates this person or Jesus wants us to go to war with that nation. Like Scott Cairns, I want to talk about the Other Jesus, the one who commanded peace and who served instead of grabbing power, the one who healed and fed, who stood against the powers and principalities, the one who left only one commandment: love.

 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus told his followers, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35, NRSV)

 

Love is where the rubber meets the road, where faith meets the world. Walk along with me, and let’s see where the Other Jesus might lead us.

 

Poem excerpt used with the permission of Scott Cairns.

“The Spiteful Jesus,” is in his collection Compass of Affection, 2006.