The video “The Struggle” drew me in with its imagery and then presented me with the idea that Jesus struggled financially. And he’s just like us. Huh. It stops even someone like me in my tracks thinking about it. No request for money. No expectation for me to change. No expectation to do anything except consider that Jesus struggled just like me. Just like most of us.
It’s not the typical message, and it is anything but ordinary. The idea that Jesus is just like me, as opposed to the message that I need to change to become more like him, is extraordinary to me. It completely transforms my thought process around Jesus. It allows me to separate the idea of Jesus from the idea of religion. I’m immediately skeptical of any religious message. But this message doesn’t come with a request or any action item.
As someone who instantly becomes defensive and skeptical when religion is introduced into any conversation, I think that the whole notion that Jesus is like me, and therefore meets me where I am — has been where I am — without any expectation of reciprocity (or paying) to meet him, is a completely different message than any other I have heard before. It was the first time that I can recall knowingly receiving a religious message where I did not immediately tune it out.
If there is any hope in our world right now, it is that people will act with compassion, mercy, and love — all attributes that are often associated with Jesus, even by those who may not believe.
