Jesus: the reluctant idol
Most Christians take it for granted that Jesus is worshipped as God, however, scripture may tell a very different story.
The book of Exodus claims to show God’s (the LORD’s) opinions on idols:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
The problem is that it seems built into humans to create objects of worship. All around the world we see temples, statues, books and more dedicated to different “gods”. All these different belief systems claim to be correct but I am not here to discuss that today. I am writing about the worship of Jesus as God, a given in most Christian churches.
Certainly, the scriptures speak of Jesus being God, from God and the Son of God. Jesus referred to himself differently. He spoke of being the “Son of Man”, a reference to terms often used by Angelic messengers for humans. So he claimed to be human, but he became God?
Yes, sort of. All religious leaders start their lives off as ordinary people. They may have charismatic traits and even symptoms of serious mental health problems that are seen as divine. While there are certainly no shortage of examples of religious leaders claiming to be god or a god, I don’t think Jesus was one of them.
The idea that Jesus was, himself, God, came through his followers and through those initial teachings the idol of Jesus was born. I want to differentiate here between Jesus the man and Jesus (the idol. They are not the same thing. Whenever anyone tells you to worship Jesus instead of God you may present them with this bible quote (supposedly FROM JESUS:
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”
Mark 10:18
That creates a conundrum for 2000 years of Christendom centred on the worship of Jesus Christ. If Jesus says “Don’t worship me, worship God” then who do you bow down to in Church? The answer is believers generally kneel before the teachings of their particular brand of Christianity. They don’t have space for inconsistencies in their source text.
It’s a fact that even the earliest gospel wasn’t written until DECADES after the death of Jesus, so I’m not saying this quote is reliable. It does at least point to a part of Christianity that was dedicated to the worship of God rather than the worship of Jesus. Jesus’ teachings in general implore people to worship God but he wasn’t listened to while living so what was expected to happen after his death?
Again, he wasn’t listened to. Jesus never wanted to be seen as God or even a god, he wanted to bring people to God and serve God. The problem is that people will always find ways to create idols for themselves to worship. These can often be innocuous such as statues and paintings. In themselves not a problem. The problem is in the eye of the perceiver.
Each will see what they want to see. Some will go to great lengths to create false miracles like bleeding statues of the Virgin Mary to create these idols to worship. Even if you aren’t religious you probably have a few “idols” in your life like television, sports or something else. So I am not saying you cannot find enjoyment in expressions of faith or in just living life.
Instead, I am writing about what Jesus wanted from his followers: to follow God. The problem is, none of us can say what God really wants and people (even in the scriptures) have simply inserted their own opinions in place of God’s. Remember, faith is a big business and there has never been any shortage of people willing to exploit it for personal gain.
Thanks for reading today and I hope it has been an interesting and thoughtful discussion. If you enjoyed it please subscribe for more regular discussions on topics like this as well as mental health.