Paul 2.6

And so Barnabas and I headed for Jerusalem once again, this time as representatives of the churches in Antioch. The mood between Barnabas and me was not as smooth as before. But he bore me no grudge for my words, and I continued to consider him a close brother. We went up by land this time, through Phoenicia and then Samaria. The trip took several weeks, but we arrived in Jerusalem in plenty of time.

I'll admit that I felt less and less comfortable with the complexion of the churches in Judea. James was a more forceful leader than Peter and had clearly become the central authority in Jerusalem. What was striking to me is how many Jews had come to believe in Jesus for political reasons. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah because they wanted him to come from heaven, destroy the Romans, and liberate Israel. But they scarcely knew of Jesus' love and compassion for the sinner.

One of the most ironic things about these zealots was the fact that they could combine belief in Jesus with a radical renewal of law keeping. I returned to Jerusalem to find the children of prominent Pharisees I had known calling themselves Christians. How ironic, they had created a Jesus who was exactly the opposite of the true Jesus. Their Jesus lived like a Pharisee, not like someone who criticized them!

Their Jesus would not allow his disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath. Their Jesus would not have dinner with prostitutes or tax collectors. Maybe they thought that now that he was with God, he had learned better of what he taught on earth? It was unbelievable to me how many in the church could call themselves Christians and yet have no real sense of what that meant!