Is Your Jesus Imaginary?

I just finished reading the book Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos and to say that it’ll challenge how you see Jesus is an understatement.

It’s written semi-fictionally in that Matt is being led on a journey by the Apostle Peter to hunt down all kinds of different Imaginary Jesus’. There’s:

• Masculine Jesus: eats red meat and protects woman (while still making her cook for him)
• Bargain Jesus: will do things for you if you do things for him (i.e. read the Bible every day)
• Hippie Jesus: just wants to be everyone’s friend
• Political Jesus: thinks the only way to change is through power
• 8-Ball Jesus: gives fuzzy answers to questions that appear right out of an 8-ball
• Evangelism Jesus: has no arms because he’s too busy evangelizing to serve
• Janitor Jesus: has no mouth because he’s too busy serving to evangelize

The list goes on and on…

The main point is that all of us construct a Jesus in our head that matches our theology and context. The Jesus of Scripture might look quite different than the Imaginary one occupying our brain space. Mikalatos wants us to take a long, hard look at who we think Jesus is and how we picture Him. The reality is that’s He’s much more unpredictable and inconvenient than we care to admit.

So how do we get rid of the Imaginary Jesus? The number one thing is to simply recognize him and fight him off. We have to start fresh with a blank slate and dig deep into the Gospels to find the real Jesus, and it’s probably going to be messier than you expected.

A few highlights:

• If you never confront the Imaginary Jesus, he’ll keep popping up, perverting what you know about the real Jesus.
• To be a disciple is more than just learning. It means to become like your teacher. It means transformation from what I am into what my teacher is.
• The real Jesus isn’t afraid of your questions. The Truth is our friend.
• Jesus liked story, but he also taught in lecture. A good teacher doesn’t box himself into one mode of transmission.
• You say you can’t hear Jesus, but it’s because you have earbuds in all the time. You’re afraid of silence.
• He is talking. You’re not listening. You’re trying to avoid him by filling up your every moment. You need to clear some of the static.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as part of Tyndale’s blogging for books network. I still highly recommend it though, as I’m not receiving it in order to give a positive review. I could’ve hated it and told you all. Seriously though, read it, it’ll mess with how you think of Jesus in the best way possible.

Love and Peace,
Jeremy