[Hear it here: Pressing On 1.1]

I’ve seemingly heard a lot about the “heart of Jesus” recently. Maybe it’s the political season we are in where each side is claiming that their side better represents Jesus’ heart. I’ll hear things like ‘the church doesn’t follow the heart of Christ,’ or we do something and ‘it breaks Jesus’ heart.’

These days, to employ the legendary heart of Jesus seems to be more of an emotional appeal used to justify or to promote a type of worldview that feels more akin to 21^st Century American progressivism or Western moral philosophies than the true biblical (first century Judean) Jesus we see detailed in Scripture. 

The issue is that people view and understand the love and life of Jesus through our current cultural lens of the West (both liberal and conservative) or worse, through our personal and relational prerogatives, rather than the contextual and historical realities from which Jesus lived and taught. 

The sum of the problem is this: We mythologize Jesus’ life until it becomes an embodiment of the type of culture we desire; on the one extreme – befriending sinners but never calling them to repentance (Luke 5:32) – and on the other, calling sinners to repentance, but never befriending them (Matthew 9:10-13). These extremes are also manifested when we see the rainbow-garbed Jesus or the Maga Hat wearing Christ, both of which are products of people of our time, rather than the biblical and historical Jesus. (*We do the same with “love.” We’ve defined love to mean what we want, rather than what God has revealed.)

Too often in our appeal to the heart of Jesus, we isolate his example from his teaching (what he believed, said, and commanded) and by doing so, we then intentionally or inadvertently mold Jesus’ life of compassion into our modern understanding of love and thus, we hijack the heart of Jesus to further our own cultural agendas.

To try and divorce Jesus’ true example from his actual teaching is something we should never do, for the reality is we cannot do this and then rightly understand and interpret either. 

Certainly, Jesus many times said, “follow me,” and so we should. To follow Jesus is not just to behave like him, but also to believe what he believed, and then do what he has commanded. Christ is not just our example of love, he is our savior from sin. He is our great love and our great Lord. To make distinction between Jesus’ theology and Jesus’ ethic is simply nonsense. 

To follow Jesus looks like picking up our cross, not raising whatever flag we think best represents our cause and then announcing how that symbol best represents Christ’s heart. Here is the truth: The Cross represents the heart of Jesus – not any flag we want to fly.

Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). Our behavior and our beliefs need to be informed and formed by both Jesus’ example as well as his “word.” That is, what he actually said, taught, commanded. 

Americans, listen up! For every “liberal verse” in the Bible there is a “conservative” counter – and vice versa, but(!) even in using those categories we expose ourselves of our cultural conditioning and biases, for none of Jesus’ teachings are at odds with another; none of his teachings are conservative or liberal, none are in need of being balanced by another for they all spring from our one Lord and his same vision of the Kingdom come. 

So, if you appeal to the heart of Jesus without conforming to the (whole) word of Jesus, then it’s not application, but exploitation which becomes the reality of the sentiment. And thus, you monopolize the heart of our Lord. If we cry out for people to follow a heart of Jesus that’s devoid or in opposition to his expressed word (teachings + commands), then we are weaponizing a caricature of Jesus to maintain our own moral superiority in order to defend our own, often heretical, beliefs while we simultaneously belittle those who don’t follow suit.  

Yes, love is the summation of the Law, but in our interpretation of this command (to love God and love others, Matthew 22:34-40), what we actually do is boil it down beyond its essence as we then seek to apply it in ways that stand opposed to the fuller revelation of Scripture. Truly, to love God and love others is the summation of the Law, but that’s not the entirety of what the Bible has to say about how we are to love God and love others.

There is no being a Christian, there is no following the example of Christ that does not embrace the commands of Jesus (Matthew 28:20). The Great Commission explicitly says that we are to obey/observe the commands of Jesus, not simply his “example” (which we obscure with our agendas).

For the heart of Jesus is found in what he believed – and what he believed was revealed in what he taught and commanded, and what he taught and commanded was embodied in the way he lived; culminating in his sacrifice on the Cross which led to his resurrection from the grave!

So, if someone points you to the “heart of Jesus,” but you are not led to the Gospel of the Cross, then beware because they are more than likely monopolizing the heart of Jesus for their own agendas rather than his mission (Luke 19:10).