Shruggy Jesus | Image by slimjim via Flickr (http://bit.ly/1J2zsEx)
Thanks to the work of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we know a lot about what Jesus said. It’s all there, in red letters, in the four Gospels. But what about all the things Jesus never said?
Those words have been the recent subject of a lot of conjecture on Twitter, spawning a hashtag and plenty of weird humor. #ThingsJesusNeverSaid existed as a group on Facebook (and a book; and this article, and this article…) before its current iteration on Twitter, where it has been the subject of tens of thousands of tweets from Christians and non-Christians alike.
The tweets range from funny to poignant to sanctimonious, and many of them are thinly veiled partisan barbs in tweet’s clothing. That’s kind of the point–it’s cathartic to say the things that you know Jesus never said, because you can make Him sound like He would be on your side.
#ThingsJesusNeverSaid whatever these guys claim he did pic.twitter.com/EctmXiD8kS
— Ondo (@Ondoism) August 17, 2015
#ThingsJesusNeverSaid Those who can't afford health insurance or are here illegally, I am not authorized to heal you. pic.twitter.com/mXPWAjqhd2
— Benny (@bennyr82) August 18, 2015
It feels good to point to what Jesus didn’t say and say, see? How stupid would that have been? And while a lot of this meme is good fun, or actually quite thought-provoking, some of its purpose is also to reinforce the walls that divide us. By putting words in Jesus’ mouth–or, more precisely, pointing out what he didn’t say–we can too easily make fun of the people who think differently than we do. We don’t want to elevate being right over being loving, but I’m afraid that too often, hashtag campaigns like this end up having that effect.
On the other hand, some of it is just really good theology.
please guys, I need to help all those people who shared these posts on Facebook #ThingsJesusNeverSaid pic.twitter.com/UKIzqfotoA
— Joe Dolman (@JoeDolman96) August 18, 2015
