Why Jesus!?
There’s a ton of fake, plastic Jesuses out there. Some presented to us are arrogant and forceful, some are just weird, and some are simply irrelevant. The one we named our surf comp after is none of the above.
If you’re wondering why surfers in 21st Century Oz give a toss about a chippie who lived in the Middle-East 2000 years ago then this bit’s for you. And if you’ve been turned off by all the wonky or religious Jesuses – the plastic Jesuses – then this bit’s for you too.
The reason we reckon Jesus is worth a look is ‘cos of who he is, and ‘cos of what he did. Look into it – there’s no-one who’s affected the world like this bloke has. In fact history itself has been broken up into two parts – the time before him (BC), and the time after him (AD). He didn’t just do a funky walk-on-the-water trick, bust out a few snazzy miracles then got executed on a Roman cross. Nup, the truth is way more crazy that.
He’s God’s son……and he changed everything. He talked about a new way – the way of crazy-big love.
If what Jesus said is true, then apart from him the options we’re left with are:
- Live selfishly and don’t (really, deep down) give a crap about anyone else, OR
- Live for a god (or gods, or things, or career, or respect etc) who don’t (really, deep down) give a crap about you and will never truly fulfil you.
We’re stoked on Jesus because he showed us a third way. He’s into relationship, not religion. He’s more interested in one person’s heart than in ALL the ‘holy’ buildings, festivals and religious junk in the world piled-up together. But religious people just don’t get it. That’s why the religious dudes of his day murdered Jesus. That’s why religious dudes in history have done all kinds of heavy stuff like genocide, the crusades and pedophilia. That’s why religious dudes of our day go blue in the face yelling at you about all kinds of stuff you’ve gotta do (or not do) to prove yourself to god. They’ve made plastic Jesuses, and have tried to flog them off to you. Maybe you’ve bought a plastic Jesus sometime, and feel like you’ve been ripped off. That’s because you have.
Or maybe you chucked-out the stupid plastic Jesuses, and went off on a spiritual quest elsewhere. Fair enough, we did that too! But eventually we found that our path led us back to the real Jesus. Strange, that. We believe that enlightenment comes to those who truly seek it, so we’d encourage you to keep searching and see where the journey takes you.
So Jesus, the real Jesus, showed us a God of crazy-big love. Yep – love that’s there even when we’ve ignored it or given God the finger (we’ve all done it, it’s called ‘sin’). Jesus proved the crazy-bigness of God’s love by paying the price for the sin of humanity. Sin that we, each one of us, should have paid for ourselves. The cross is where the punishment for sin got paid – paid BY Jesus FOR us. Pretty nuts eh?! Has anyone else you didn’t know died for you lately? It gets even more nuts – that’s not the end of the story. Jesus rose from the dead 3 days later to prove that he’s victorious over sin and death. If you don’t believe us, go read about it. If you’re game, you why not ask Jesus for yourself!
So, why do we reckon Jesus is worth a look? Because he’s the only bloke who’s ever predicted then pulled off his own resurrection. Because he proved God’s crazy-big love for you. Because through Jesus, God reached out to us in our mess and pain to say that he still loves us, and that he still wants to heal us. Jesus lived among us, healing broken people and inviting them into a new life. And then he died for our sins on the cross and rose again in victory over death, opening the door for anyone who wants to truly live! Now THAT’S worth naming a comp after!
Wanna know more? Contact:
- CS crew at a Jesus Pro Am competition
- Your local Christian Surfers crew , or chat with them out in the water next time you go for a wave.
Last thing, to see what we believe, check out the Christian Surfers – Statement of Faith
