What Did Jesus Do?
There are those who ask themselves as they live their lives, what would Jesus do? Some wear bracelets with WWJD to remind of this perspective. While this approach may be commended as it reflects a desire to follow the Savior, to think carefully about the actions they take, the choices they make, and the words they speak. But there are also dangers in such an approach, the most obvious being the fact that the individual asking the question often decides what he or she thinks Jesus would do. Bad choices can be easily rationalized.
A far better question to ask and one that is much more difficult is: what did Jesus do? One of the difficulties is the real necessity of knowing Scripture- what it tells us about Jesus. The Gospels tell us of His life here on earth. The Old Testament contains that which He came to fulfill. What about the rest of the New Testament?
Rather than seeing the exhortations and commands (remember that James has more than 50 imperatives in the 108 verses of his letter) as rules put on us, we should realize that the apostles were fleshing out the implications of what it means to follow the example of Jesus. In other words, what did Jesus do? Perhaps the best example I can think of is I Corinthians 13, what some refer to as the love chapter. Many see it as a definition of love or a description of how we should live. What Paul is in fact telling his readers is how Jesus lived and what Jesus did. It is a part of the portrait of Jesus, a description of how He lived.
Thus, when we read verse 19 (James 1), we are not being given some more rules. Instead, we are given a bit more of the portrait of Jesus and an answer to the question: what did Jesus do? “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” This is a part of the description of Jesus.
James makes an analogy in verses 23 to 25 that can be easily misunderstood. He tells us what we should not be like one who listens to the word but does not do what it says. Such a person is like a man who looks (not glances but looks intently) at his face in the mirror and then goes away, forgetting what he looks like. The problem is not that he forgets what it says (this is the misconception) but that he goes away. The mirror business might be what throws us because it almost seems to point to some kind of spiritual narcissism. No, we should look intently into the law and continue to do so. Why? It is because in Scripture we see the portrait of Jesus. We are told in Scripture how He lived. And we are to follow His example.
Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, and in part, He did this in the way He lived His life. And Jesus called us to be like our Heavenly Father. What is our Heavenly Father like? Like Jesus! So when we read Scripture, rather than thinking in abstract or theoretical terms, we should think in personal terms—of Jesus of Nazareth.
I do live by the church;
for I do live at my house,
and my house doth stand by the church.
Feste the Clown
Twelfth Night
Act III Scene 1