The Jesus games we play

 

Matthew 10: 29-39
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
June 21, 2026

Photo of a 3D model of Jesus (like a marble statue) with his right hand covering the right side of his face as in a facepalm gesture, his left hand in a fist against his heart, with a background of blue sky and white clouds.

On the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, there is an entire genre of tweets with the phrase “Not Like That!”. The first speaker makes a declaration from one side of an argument, then the second speaker chimes in from the other side with a seemingly contradictory statement that also illustrates the original point, and the first speaker, in utter shock and dismay, declares “Not like that!” It’s especially popular with Christian Twitter.



Here are some examples:



conservative christians: “THE BIBLE IS CLEAR”

the bible: “you shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love them as yourself”

conservative christians: “NOT LIKE THAT”



them: be like jesus

me: *hangs out with sex workers*

them: “NOT LIKE THAT”



them: “be like jesus”

me: *tells rich people it’s basically impossible for them to go to heaven”

them: “NOT LIKE THAT”



conservative christians: “the church is declining in america, we need more christians!”

immigrants who are overwhelmingly christian: *come to america*

conservative christians: “NOT LIKE THAT”



Them: Be like Jesus

Me: Great! Let’s redistribute wealth

Them: “NOT LIKE THAT”



Them: be like Jesus

Me: ok *drinks wine, calls people hypocrites, upsets men in power*

Them: “NOT LIKE THAT”



Be like Jesus, but don’t be like Jesus LIKE THAT. Acknowledge Jesus before others, but don’t acknowledge Jesus LIKE THAT. These are the Jesus games we play. And when I say we, I mean anyone who has ever associated themselves with Jesus. Because we all do this. Because we’re human. Because this Jesus stuff is risky. It’s costly. It’s why Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a whole book on it entitled The Cost of Discipleship. He wrote, “When Christ calls someone, he bids that person to come and die.” Well, yeah, but not like THAT!



I don’t know that Jesus actually came to bring a sword, but what he asks of us certainly cuts like a knife. Once again, I think scripture is being descriptive rather than prescriptive. Jesus’ purpose was not to divide humanity but to heal our humanity. To remind us of the image of God in which we all are made and to treat each other that way, to do justice especially to those who are consistently dehumanized. And yet that purpose set family members against one another and still to this day.



We’ve all heard the saying “blood is thicker than water”, which has been taken to mean that the family we’re born into comes first, but there are some who think it is a shortened version of another proverb with an entirely different meaning. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. The covenant of shared experiences, mutual support, relationships and trust built over time are often stronger than family ties, especially when family has rejected us, betrayed us because of who we are, what we believe or don’t believe.



Jesus was building a movement that went beyond family relationships, beyond cultural norms. Jesus said, “Who are my siblings? Who are my family? My true family are the ones who do God’s will.” Those who love what God loves. Jesus was also offering a forced choice. Acknowledge me before others or don’t. Take up your cross or don’t. Lose your life for my sake or don’t. You either know Jesus or he doesn’t know you.



There is no squidgy middle. Will we fall? Will we fail? Most certainly we will because we’re human. For some people, failure is not an option, because to empire, the cross is failure and so they leave the cross lying there, disavowing any kinship with those who are dehumanized. That’s what chosen family, what Jesus’ blood of the covenant is all about—kinship with the dehumanized. Family members, fellow citizens may walk away, but those who have shared in the struggle, who disrupt their lives for others, we are there for each other to pick each other up and help each other carry on.



This is a skill of the heart that has been largely weeded out of straight White cisgender society, because we have been convinced it is our privilege that not only binds us together but supposedly protects us. This is the lie and the wound of White supremacy. Communities that have been discriminated against—people of color, immigrants, Indigenous people, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled and neurodivergent people, people experiencing homelessness, people who are addicted—have a bond, a solidarity that goes deeper than family ties. They can’t afford to not acknowledge each other. Because they know that especially in today’s world, they only have each other.



To refuse to acknowledge the disenfranchised is to refuse to acknowledge Jesus. To refuse and deny our humanity. There are those in power who say this is a Christian nation, who have been saying we have an immigrant crisis, that we have a fertility crisis, a homeless crisis, that the family is in crisis, that Christianity is being attacked. What we have is a healthcare crisis. We have a housing crisis. We have a living wage crisis. We have a climate crisis. We have an economy based on rapacious wealth hoarding crisis. What we have is a crisis of the human heart.



In this so-called Christian nation, we are more willing to pay taxes or at least not protest them when those taxes go to punish and incarcerate people experiencing homelessness who cannot or will not participate in our programs and policies that we have decided they need. And we call it tough love. But whenever housing first is brought up we do ask, “Who will pay for this?”, and boy do we do protest.



Jesus said, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. … Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these kindred of mine, you did it to me.”



No equivocating. No tough love. No ifs, ands, or buts. Like that. Exactly like that.



Amen.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


With the assurance that evil has no dominion over us,
we are sent to seek love that liberates.
We take courage, knowing God goes before us.
God companions us from within.
And God calls to us from a future more just and free.
With open minds and willing hearts, let us go in peace.