My answer to a weighty question

Meanwhile, Dan at Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran is running a poll which deals with the theologically irrelevant though very popular question, "What Would Jesus Do?"

Well, not totally irrelevant, of course. It has the potential to be the most relevant of all questions, if the answer given is "He would die a horrible death for the sins of the world, and most especially mine." Generally, however, it is asked in the furtherance of a legalistic, utterly unbiblical imitatio Christi, which interprets Him as an Example we are called upon to follow.

We aren't, of course. We are not Jesus, and God does not ask us to pretend that we are. We do, it is true, end up becoming "little Christs," as Luther put it, to our neighbors. But this comes not of a Law-motivated attempt to "play Jesus," but rather of a wonder and gratitude- filled contemplation of the Gospel- the answer to the question, "What Has Jesus Done?"

Even the Third Use of the Law- intentional Christian obedience- is not a matter of doing what Jesus would do (we aren't Jesus), but rather of doing that which He has bid us to do (or not doing what He has bid us not to do). That is as much His gift to us as the forgiveness He won on the cross (Eph. 2:10).

They don't come from our own, works-righteous striving, or "purpose-drivenness" or any of the other legalistic nonsense which sells so many books by appealing to the ambition of our fallen natures to achieve a righteousness of our own. The robe of Christ's righteousness, which is ours by faith, is the only righteousness that avails before God- and the only righteousness fallen human beings like us will ever have.

It is in that spirit that Dan asks us what Jesus would, in fact, do:

1. Base jump;
2. Lick rocks;
3. Snowboard; or
4. Scuba dive

I have considered this question carefully. Since He declined Satan's invitation to leap from a high place while relying on the angels to bear Him safely to the ground, I think the first alternative can be eliminated.

Peter disappointed him more than once. Now, however physically powerful the Big Fisherman might have been, he was- unlike Jesus- not omnipotent. This being the case, I have no doubt that Jesus could have licked him if He had really wanted to. However, though it is recorded that Jesus reproved and admonished Peter on several occasions, but nowhere is it written that he engaged in fisticuffs with him. In fact, the money changers in the Temple are the only people with whom I can recall any mention of Jesus becoming physically violent.

Of course, one does have to remember that the "rock" upon which Christ said that He would build His Church was not Πετροs- i.e., a smaller rock derived from a larger one- but rather the πετρα- a large rock like the Rock of Gibralter, namely, Peter's confession of Christ's identity (Roman Catholics disposed to argue should reflect that while it is true that Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, contained no such distinction, Greek, the language in which the Holy Spirit saw fit to record His words, does).

On balance, nonetheless, I think we can exclude the second option.

Similarly, scuba diving is right out. This certainly was not an activity unknown in biblical times; the King James Version at least once refers to "divers of the princes of Israel." However, in the only aquatic incident involving Jesus which I can recall the New Testament telling us about, Jesus remained entirely above the surface, in fact walking upon it.

It was Peter who went diving. Almost sank like a Rock, in fact.

Snow is not very common in the Holy Land, especially in quantities sufficient to enable snowboarding. It is true that Scripture nowhere speaks of Jesus engaging in this activity. Nevertheless, the maxim of Sherlock Holmes must be borne in mind: "When one has excluded the impossible, whatever remains- however improbable- is the truth."

It is upon that that basis that I am compelled to cast my vote for "snowboarding."

Now. As to the real question: What Has Jesus Done?

Died for my failure to do what I should do- and by grace, through faith, given me the credit for having done everything He did.