I sat on the small sofa across from my therapist, a former pastor who left the church to become a counselor, and explained my heartache with organized religion and my experience with the church. The church we left had disappointed me with their response during COVID (holding large gatherings at the peak of the second wave and declining to encourage mask use); their refusal to allow women in leadership/pastoral roles; and their viewpoint on LGBTQ issues. Broader than that was witnessing the confusing infatuation with Donald Trump that gripped so many in religious circles. My therapist asked me questions about my experience in the church growing up and my understanding of God. He asked me what words come to mind when I think about Jesus. “Compassion, love, grace, hope”, I said. And what about God? “Justice, authority, maybe even fear.” “Jen,” he offered, “if it doesn’t look like Jesus, then it’s not God.”

After hearing this simple, yet profound statement from him, I set out to study Jesus even more. To put a magnifying glass on his words and turn down the noise of all of the rest of the religious chatter. I read through Matthew, then Mark, honing in on the Red Letters and the context of Jesus’ words. I found a man who offers love to the outcast, grace to sinners (that is, all of us), open arms to foreigners, elevates the marginalized, and pays attention and gives respect to women. I found a creative teacher, a loyal friend, and a curious traveler who often expressed his frustration, not with “sinners”, but rather with religious leaders.

As I hold up this picture of Jesus, and thereby God, to what I see around me…I can’t help but believe that…

Putting razor wire on buoys in a river on the border…does not look like Jesus.

Telling women their worth is solely in being a wife and mother…does not look like Jesus.

Insinuating that our transgender friends are predators without evidence of such…does not look like Jesus.

Commandeering the government to promote a religious agenda…does not look like Jesus.

Tolerating or funding the sweeping mass killing and starving of thousands of innocent people…does not look like Jesus.

The disproportionate imprisonment of our black and brown brothers and sisters…does not look like Jesus.

This is not a political statement. It’s a spiritual one.

Following my own logic, I wonder if God decided to send Jesus down here in part because too many of us have misunderstood him. We needed a visual.

God loves justice, not because he loves a war or wants to extend domination; he loves justice because justice is love. Yes, God gives us rules and laws to abide by, not because he is an authoritarian, but because guardrails are love.

My therapist’s framing of this misunderstanding, or incongruence in my spiritual logic, has stuck with me ever since and helped me bring into better alignment with who I truly understand God, and Jesus, to be. And the Jesus I have learned more and more about, looks a lot like love.

Disclaimer: My viewpoints are not necessarily reflective of my employer, or any local, regional or national organization that I belong to. As a matter of fact, I pretty much just speak for myself. Please keep that in mind.