Reach out and touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus-Depeche Mode, Personal Jesus
Personal Jesus is a song originally recorded by Depeche Mode in 1989. But it hit a new audience in 2002 when Johnny Cash covered the song. Cash said, “I heard that as a gospel song,” he later stated. “I don’t know that the writer ever meant it to be that, but that’s what it is.” It was covered in 2004 by Marilyn Manson for it’s “sex appeal” and “hypnotic feel”.
The song, though, was more inspired by Elvis than it was Jesus. Martin Gore, the lead singer of Depeche Mode, explained that he was inspired by the love between Elvis and Priscilla Presley.
It’s a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It’s about how Elvis Presley was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships…(Source)
Gore’s point is that we can dangerously make another person a savior in our life, we can make them something they are not, we mold people into who we want them to be. Which I find a tad ironic that both Cash and Manson made the song “theirs”. I suppose that’s part of artistic freedom, but what happens when we do this with Jesus.
Personal Jesus has an actual meaning given to us from it’s actual author. It’s not subjective. It carries with it the meaning the author intended. There is a danger for us in doing the same thing with the gospel—or better, with the person of Jesus.
Consider these words of 1 John.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete.
John wrote these words to a church which had been brought to turmoil by a group of false teachers. These teachers held that Jesus only appeared to be human, he was God—but he wasn’t really a human. They taught a sharp distinction between the spirit and the flesh. Their Jesus was disembodied.
A disembodied Jesus becomes your own personal Jesus. Some may like this. After all, this means you can wrap Jesus up, take him anywhere, make him whomever you desire him to be for whatever situation. Jesus becomes yours.
The Good News of An Embodied Jesus
But this is not the Jesus of the gospel. The Jesus which is good news for us is an embodied Jesus. He is. This is John’s point in the first four verses of 1 John. If they will have fellowship with the apostles—and ultimately fellowship with the Father—it will only come through the embodied Jesus. This is the Jesus who was heard, seen, touched; real.
This is actually phenomenally good news for us. If Jesus were a disembodied idea—a thing of our own personal creations—then his very being would be dependent upon us. This would mean that his ability to redeem would be contingent upon our ability to make him a redeemer. His power would be dependent upon our view of Him as powerful. Such a Jesus could only respond when we “get him correct”.
But an embodied Jesus, a real living and self-existing Jesus, is able to redeem even when we understand him wrongly. His redemption isn’t dependent upon us. This is why we can read Scriptures like “if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”
Conclusion
You don’t want your own personal Jesus, you want Jesus. Jesus as he really is. It is not “right ideas” which gives us fellowship with the Father. It’s not “disembodied” words of life which bridge the gap between the Father and us. It’s the real embodied Word of life in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is through union with Christ, the living embodied touch with your hands Jesus, that we have access to the Father. And this is wonderful news.
