Given what we know of the life and teaching of Jesus, which of our churches do you think he would join for worship, if he came to Greece this weekend?
Our instinctive answer is likely: “Why my church, of course!” Whatever denomination we belong to, we assume that we have the correct understanding of doctrine and practice. Certainly Jesus would recognize our church as the best place to worship!
But I don’t think Jesus would join any of our churches! After all, he was raised in a Jewish family. All the disciples he called to follow him were Jewish. Most, if not all, of the New Testament writers were Jewish.
Jesus studied the Jewish Scriptures, participated in Jewish festivals, and told his followers to keep the Law. Jesus worshiped in the Temple during his lifetime—and I suspect he’d do the same today.
In our efforts to claim Jesus as exclusively ours, we Christians often forget that Jesus was Jewish! We don’t respect or understand Judaism as well as we should. We don’t try to learn from our Jewish friends. And too many times, our exclusive thinking produces fuel for the ugly fires of anti-Semitism.
There were no Christian churches in Jesus’s time—and Jesus himself was not a “Christian.” That’s a name that came about later among his followers. Today, there is a tremendous variety among Christian churches—from conservative to liberal, each emphasizing different doctrines, traditions, and practices.
The question we should ask ourselves, is not whether or not Jesus would follow OUR particular flavor of church—but whether or not we are faithfully following him!