WITATTDABILOTKOPJW?

I want to get a bracelet with those letters on it. The saying comes from Leander Keck's book Who Is Jesus?. In a section on what it looks like to live a Christ-like life, the New Testament scholar writes,

Such a life is not formed by asking, What would Jesus do?, for the moral life in view here does not result from astute second guessing; it comes from asking, rather, What is the appropriate thing to do and be in light of the kind of person Jesus was? For the person who asks this, being accountable to Jesus may be difficult, but it is not onerous. The disciple who has internalized Jesus does not experience accountability as a burden but as an opportunity to give a discernible Jesus form to the moral life. He or she knows that Jesus leaves his mark on those who test him—and are grateful for the case....

Although the Beatitudes and other expressions of God's grace are as hard to assimilate as the stern sayings that point to the utter seriousness of the present, both summon the follower to keep reshaping one's moral life until it reflects more clearly and deeply the Jesus event and its vision.

Part of what Keck is doing here in his writing is to emphasize "being." Who am I supposed to be, because of who Jesus is. He seems to think that those marked by Jesus will have their moral decisions formed by the experience.

If I tried to shorten, I get something like "Who should I be, because of who Jesus was?" which gets the right thought, but WSIBBOWJW? isn't a much better bracelet. Or I could try "Who would Jesus Be?" meaning, given who Jesus was, how should I be in this circumstance. But in the end, I think it is an idea that won't fit on a bracelet, but does fit neatly in one's heart and mind. It's not a question so much as asking, "Should I reach out to this hurting person and show them God's love, is that what Jesus would do?" But try to live into being the person Jesus is and you will find yourself showing that love without even stopping to look at the bracelet or ask the question. That will just be the kind of person you are.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor