What would Jesus do?

The Word for today:
Matthew 10:24-42

mark this: Matthew 10:34-36 --
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household."

We cannot make of Jesus whatever we wish him to be.

The sentence directly above may be the chief reason for the Bible. The Jesus in those pages is the only real Jesus. And he is what he is--in fact, that's his name:
Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" (1)

He is what he is, and the Bible defines what "is" is.

I can nearly always tell the difference between the Bible-honoring Christian and the Bible-demeaning Christian. Those who honor the Bible (by reading it--what a concept!) have met an unsettling Jesus who continually keeps us off balance with his "hard sayings." He has the unique quality of becoming more indescribable the better we know him.

Those who demean the Bible (by not reading it) come to "know" a comfy, agreeable, reasonable Jesus. But that "Jesus," made in man's own image, made to validate our cultural agendas, never existed.

When an exasperated Bible student approaches me, perplexed and unsettled by something about Jesus, it is always the real, biblical Jesus she describes. Some form of the question, "What would Jesus do?" is often raised. Sometimes I think I know. Many times I know I don't know.

Funny, but before I read the Bible, I always knew what Jesus would do.

Those who knew him best feared the man, even as he saved them:
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" (2)

The name of Jesus Christ always produces some type of painful division, even in the most personal of relationships. His words, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (3), are offensive to a pluralistic society. Jesus did not come to tell people that all paths lead to God. He did not come to tell people that what you believe does not matter. Jesus did not believe that people are innately good. He did not espouse the perfectibility of humanity.  Jesus did not say that you can do what you want as long as you do not hurt anyone else.  His ethics are radical. He demands careful obedience and costly loyalty.

If you attempt to follow Christ, you will experience division:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." (4)

The Prince of Peace, it seems, will enforce the peace with a sword:
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (5)

Now tell me, what would Jesus do?

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(1) Exodus 3:13-14; (2) Mark 4:39, 41; (3) John 14:6; (4) Matthew 10:34-36; (5) Revelation 19:15