I want to try an experiment with you that Harvey Cox once tried
at a conference of Christian therapists. Below is a story from the
Book of Luke. Read through it and decide which character in the
story you most identify with:
A man named Jairus …
I want to try an experiment with you that Harvey Cox once tried at a conference of Christian therapists. Below is a story from the Book of Luke. Read through it and decide which character in the story you most identify with:
A man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell down at Jesus’ feet, begging him to come home with him. His only child was dying, a little girl twelve years old. As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds. And there was a woman in the crowd who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors and still could find no cure. She came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.
Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”
But Jesus told him, “No, someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”
When the woman realized that Jesus knew, she began to tremble and fell to her knees before him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed. “Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
While he was still speaking to her, a messenger arrived from Jairus’ home with the message, “Your little girl is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.”
But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just trust me, and she will be all right.”
When they arrived at the house, Jesus wouldn’t let anyone go in with him except Peter, James, John, and the little girl’s father and mother. The house was filled with people weeping and wailing, but he said, “Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she is only asleep.”
But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, “Get up, my child!” And at that moment her life returned, and she immediately stood up! (Luke 8:41-55)
Take a moment to reflect on who you most identified with in that story … which of the people do you best identify with? Once you have chosen, consider the results that Cox got from the 600 Christian therapists participating in the original experiment:
When he asked who identified most with the bleeding woman, about a hundred people raised their hands.
A few others identified with the worried father.
The highest number of hands raised when Cox mentioned the curious and skeptical crowd.
When he asked how many identified with Jesus in the story, only six hands were raised.
One of the people who observed the experiment was author and therapist Scott Peck. Here’s what he wrote about it in his book, Further Along The Road Less Traveled: “Something is very wrong here. Of 600 professional Christians, only one out of a hundred identified with Jesus. Maybe more actually did but were afraid to raise their hands lest that seem arrogant. But again, something is wrong with our concept of Christianity if it seems arrogant to identify with Jesus. That is exactly what we are supposed to do! We’re supposed to identify with Jesus, act like Jesus, be like Jesus. That is what Christianity is supposed to be about – the imitation of Christ.”
The results of that experiment lead me to ask the obvious question: why is it so hard to identify with Jesus in today’s world? Why is it so hard to reflect his attitude in our conversations and dealings with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers? More on that next week.
