There is a bar in Laguna Beach, Calif., that becomes a celebrated
biker hangout every Sunday afternoon. There is always a live band
playing and rows of gleaming Harleys on either side of the street,
with people inspecting them as if they were in a showroom.
The riders all leave their helmets out with their bikes, and I've
found the helmets to be a study in and of themselves. The most
popular look like they are from World War I, with various kinds of
rebel markings, and a few have little stickers that serve as a sort
of biker bumper sticker. ("Biker bumper sticker" – try saying that
five times real fast!). One I saw particularly caught my attention
because it said, “JESUS LOVES YOU.”
Now I am aware that there are various biker ministries out there
where committed followers ride for Christ and seek to spread the
word about his grace and forgiveness. I have always loved this – the
Gospel in a rebel context – being aware that the message of Christ
is in some ways better suited there than it is in more respectable
circles. You can't read about Jesus without coming to the conclusion
that he would be right at home with the biker crowd.
But as I got closer to the Jesus sticker, I noticed there was
another message in much smaller print underneath the more visible
“JESUS LOVES YOU.” It read: “I think you're a jerk!” (That isn’t
exactly what it said, but it will work for our purposes.)
At first, I was somewhat repulsed. Where I thought I had a Jesus
biker, I actually had a form of sacrilege. But the more I thought
about it, I realized there probably was more than a kernel of truth
in this version of a familiar Christian message.
I can think of times when I might as well have been sporting a
“JESUS LOVES YOU; I think you're a jerk” sticker for all the
thoughts I harbored toward the people to whom I was announcing his
love. And, of a certainty, he does love them. The question is, do
I?
“How can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus
Christ if you favor some people over others?” wrote James (2:1), or
in the words of John: “If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his
brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20)
It's not enough just to announce the love of Jesus without loving
the same people he loves. If “Jesus loves you” is going to be our
message, we need to make sure our love goes along with his.
