W.W.J.D.

We have all seen people wearing those bracelets around their wrists with W.W.J.D. [What Would Jesus Do?] stamped on them. I guess they are meant to remind the wearers at all times and in all circumstances what Jesus, and by extension they, themselves, would do. My observations of the results have told me that those bracelets are basically flawed and unreliable!!

But what if now, at the time when traditionally we make [and shortly break] New Year’s Resolutions, we ask ourselves that same question: W.W.J.D.? Just what New Year’s Resolutions might Jesus have made [providing of course that they even did such things over 2000 years ago. But just suppose they did. What would they look like?

To lose weight; stop smoking; exercise more?

To read the the Torah more?

Not to cast lots?

Not to spend so much time roaming the countryside?

To spend more time with his family?

To get a job?

To interact more with a better social class?;

To have more patience with the disciples?

To try not up upset the ‘powers that be’ either religious or political?

I could go on, [as I imagine just what Jesus’ life was like back all those years ago in Palestine], making suppositions that have little if any relationship to fact. But then isn’t that what the wearers of these bracelet do? They make assumptions that they know what Jesus would do today when faced with the choices and decisions of life in the 21st century.

And let’s face it, things have changed since then. Discoveries have been made, debunked, and new ones made. Our understanding of the universe and our place in it is much different than it was even 50 years ago, never mind over 2000.

But looking at those New Year’s Resolution above, I don’t really think any of them hit the mark for Jesus. I think that his New Year’s Resolution would have been simple and straightforward in keeping with his Jewish upbringing. It would have echoed the words of Micah, with which he would have been familiar; 'To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God' Or as a modern-day transition puts it in Micah 6:8: "But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously - take God seriously."

Sounds very much like the Golden Rule doesn’t it? I can’t think of a better Resolution for us all to make not just for a few days, or weeks or even a year, but for the rest of our lives! Can you rise to that challenge?

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