Jebus

One of my favorite Simpson’s episodes is called “Missionary Impossible.” Homer gets into a mess with PBS and runs to church to flee from hot pursuit. The pastor sneaks Homer away from the angry PBS mob, sticks him on a plane, and ships him off to be a missionary. Once Homer understands what is happening, he tries to get off the plane, but it’s too late. Out of desperation Homer runs to the cockpit and says, “Wait, I’m no missionary! I don’t even believe in Jebus! Let me out!” The captain says, “Sorry, no can do.” Homer screams “Ohhh save me Jebus!!!”

Of course you caught that… “Jebus.” Although Homer has attended church many times, he is so confused about the person of Jesus that he cannot even say His name right.

Once he arrives on the island in the South Pacific, he’s petrified, cause the people want him to teach them about God, but he doesn’t know how to be a missionary. However, it doesn’t take long before Homer comes up with a “brilliant” plan. He is going to give these people what he thinks is best for them. So, he has them build a casino, and he introduces them to beer. Soon after, the island begins to cave in on itself. The people start fighting, yelling, screaming, and trying to kill each other. Homer’s attempt to represent Jebus caused severe chaos.

Here’s the deal: there are lots of Jebus’ being proclaimed in America today, and they are causing serious havoc. In fact, one of the most misunderstood ideas in all of Christianity is “the meaning of Easter.”

Here’s the most commonly proclaimed Jebus presentation of the meaning of Easter:

“Do you want to go to heaven? Do you realize that you are a bad person? A sinner? Ok, well if you’ll believe these simple truths, you can guarantee you’ll go to heaven when you die? Are you ready? Good. Jesus is God. Jesus died on a cross for your sins. Jesus defeated your sins by rising from the dead. If you believe this, with faith, you’ll go to heaven.”

This my friends is Jebus. Now, some of you may be saying, “Whooaa, dude I totally don’t see anything wrong with this presentation.” This presentation of Jebus leaves out the importance of the teachings of Jesus, and makes them optional, as if they were the bonus questions on an exam. You can pass the test without them, but it sure would be nice to get some of them. You’ll get the cake without the teachings of Jesus, but the teachings are the icing. And who wouldn’t want the icing?

Jesus says, without becoming a disciple, which means passionately trying to follow ALL of His teachings, you don’t get no cake, and you sure don’t get no icing either (Matthew 7:21-29).

Look at Jesus’ final words in Matthew (Matthew 28:16-20). He makes it very clear what His death/resurrection was all about. In verse 18, He says that the death/resurrection gave Him all authority. In verse 19, He gives the meaning of that authority, the meaning of Easter.

In case you missed it, here it is: “Jesus died to make disciples.”

The cross is the power to be a disciple and make disciples, NOT get one of those “Get out of hell free cards if you just believe a few truths.” Jesus’ brother, James addresses this. He basically says, if you believe in the Trinity, that awesome, but Satan does too. If you believe Jesus died on a cross and rose for your sins, good… so do the demons. But faith without works is DEAD. (James 2:14-26)

Ephesians 2:8-10 makes it clear that following Jesus is possible only through grace, not works, AND real grace produces real discipleship.

Jesus died to make disciples… people who will be like Him in almost every way. Read Matthew 5-7. These teachings aren’t optional.

What do you say?