Let Jesus Be Jesus

The latest fad blanketing social media is creating a stick figure meme with a few lines using your first name and something you do or like. The meme ends with the words, “Be like [first name].” I suppose it was inevitable that someone would come up with one of these that ends with the words, “Be like Jesus.”

A Christian should know better. Your calling as a sinner is not to be like Jesus. Your calling is to repent and believe the Gospel. To confess your sin and be absolved. To hear God’s Word, hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. To receive our Lord’s true body and blood.

There is one Jesus. One Savior. One Lord. He alone is the Father’s only-begotten Son. He alone is the Word through whom everything was created. He alone is the virgin’s Son. He alone is the world’s Redeemer. He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He alone rose from the dead on the Third Day, never to die again. He alone is head of His body, the Church.

At best, “be like Jesus” is another law that reveals just as sinful you are. At worst, it creates modern day Pharisees who think they can please God with their best efforts.

Let Jesus be Jesus. If you want to imitate someone, be like Abraham. Be like David. Be like John the Baptist. Be like Paul. Be like countless other sinners who lived in repentance and faith. Like them, your calling is to live by faith in Jesus Christ!