Jesus has AIDS.
Just reading that in the type in front of you probably has some of you angry. Let me help you see why that is, and, in so doing, why caring for those with AIDS is part of the gospel mandate given to us in the Great Commission.
The statement that Jesus has AIDS startles some of you because you know it not to be true. Jesus, after all, is the exalted son of the living God. He has defeated death in the garden tomb, and defeated it finally. Jesus isn’t weak or dying or infected; he’s triumphant and resurrected.
Yes.
Yes, but, what we’re often likely to miss is that Jesus has identified himself with the suffering of this world, an identification that continues on through his church. Yes, Jesus finishes his suffering at the cross, but he also speaks of himself as being “persecuted” by Saul of Tarsus, as Saul comes after his church in Damascus (Acts 9:4).
Through the Spirit of Christ, we “groan” with him at the suffering of a universe still under the curse (Rom. 8:23,26). This curse manifests itself, as in billions of other ways, in bodies turned against themselves by immune systems gone awry.
That’s why the church is to suffer, continually, with Christ as we take his presence into the darkness of a fallen creation. The Apostle Paul says, then, “I rejoice then in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col. 1:24).
Some of Jesus’ church has AIDS. Some of them are languishing in hospitals right down the street from you. Some of them are orphaned by the disease in Africa. All of them are suffering with an intensity few of us can imagine.
Some of you are angered by the statement I typed above because you think somehow it implicates Jesus. After all, AIDS is a shameful disease, one most often spread through sexual promiscuity or illicit drug use.
Yes.
Yes, but those are the very kinds of people Jesus consistently identified himself with as he walked the hillsides of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem, announcing the kingdom of God. Can one be more sexually promiscuous than the prostitutes Jesus ate with? Can one be more marginalized from society than a woman dripping with blood, blood that would have made anyone who touched her unclean (Luke 8:40-48)? Jesus touched her, and took her uncleanness on himself.
AIDS is scandalous, sure. But not nearly as scandalous as a cross.
At the crucifixion stake, Jesus identifies himself with a sinful world (including the scandal of my sin). He was seen to be cursed by God (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13). This is why it seemed so reasonable to the shouting crowds to curse him as a false Messiah, because only those rejected by God would ever be hanged on a tree. And that’s why the apostle Paul had to repeatedly insist that he was not “ashamed” of the cross. At Golgotha, Jesus became sin (though he never knew it himself) by bearing the sins of the world (2 Cor 5:21). Now that’s scandalous.
Moreover, some of you are angry because you believe that the statement I typed above is an affront to the dignity of the ruler of the universe. He doesn’t have some immune deficiency disease; he’s ruling from the right hand of God.
Yes.
Yes, but we cannot see Jesus only in his Head but also in his Body, also in his identification with those he calls “the least of these, my brothers” (Matt. 25:40). Jesus isn’t right now hungry, is he? He isn’t naked, is he? He isn’t thirsty, is he? He isn’t in jail, is he? Well, yes, he is…in the nakedness, hunger, thirstiness, and imprisonment of his suffering brothers and sisters around the world.
When we stand in judgment, we’ll stand, Jesus tells us, accountable for how we recognized him in the trauma of those who don’t seem to bear the glory of Christ at all right now. We see Jesus now, by faith, in the sufferings of the crack baby, the meth addict, the AIDS orphan, the hospitalized prodigal who sees his ruin in the wires running from his veins.
I wonder how many of us will hear the words from our Galilean emperor, “I had AIDS and you weren’t afraid to come near me.”
And so, if we love Jesus, our churches should be more aware of the cries of the curse, including the curse of AIDS, than the culture around us. Our congregations should welcome the AIDS-infected, and we shouldn’t be afraid to hug them as we would hug our Christ. Our congregations should be on the forefront of missions to AIDS-ravaged regions of the world. Our families should be willing to welcome those orphaned by this global scourge.
Through it all, we should be insistent in gospel proclamation. To those whose blood has become their own enemy, we should announce blood they know not of, the blood of One who can cleanse them of all unrighteousness, just as it cleansed us (1 Jn. 1:7); the blood of One who is forever immune to sin and death and hell (Jn. 6:53-56).
Jesus loves the world, and the world has AIDS. Jesus identifies himself with the least of these, and many of them have AIDS. Jesus calls us to recognize him in the depths of suffering, and there’s AIDS there too.
Jesus has AIDS.
December 1st, 2009 | 10:14 pm | #1
This post.
Yes.
And no qualifiers. More, please.
It strikes me that while leprosy is still with us in various parts of the world, there is no closer equivalent in American culture than AIDS. Thanks for the challenging and edifying word, Dr. Moore.
December 1st, 2009 | 10:26 pm | #2
Thank you so much for this. We had a speaker come to the school where I teach and say a similar thing a couple years ago, and it has sadly been two years since I heard someone say it again. Two thousand years later, Jesus is still turning our worldview completely on its head.
December 1st, 2009 | 10:40 pm | #3
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lindsay Marshall, mattleeanderson. mattleeanderson said: "Jesus has AIDS." http://bit.ly/4BcMdg //Someday, when I grow up, I want to write like @drmoore. A challenging and insightful word. [...]
December 1st, 2009 | 10:41 pm | #4
Five stars. And nine planets.
This post deserves that rating.
December 1st, 2009 | 10:42 pm | #5
I would say “Jesus had AIDS”, but I get your point and it’s a good one.
December 1st, 2009 | 11:06 pm | #6
I am not in the habit of commenting on online articles, but I must correct you sir.
@Daryl Little: “Jesus has AIDS” would be the correct way to say it, given that Jesus is in fact still alive. “Had” would imply that Jesus is dead, and we know that simply isn’t true because, after all he has already defeated death.
Fantastic article Mr. Moore, I knew what you were going for when I read the title, but I will admit it caught me off-guard!
December 1st, 2009 | 11:38 pm | #7
[...] Jesus has AIDS [First Things] [...]
December 2nd, 2009 | 2:22 am | #8
[...] Russell Moore at Evangel: Jesus has [...]
December 2nd, 2009 | 8:21 am | #9
Dr. Moore,
Thank you for this article. I was so discouraged yesterday by the lack of Christian voice in World Aids Day. Fortunately someone pointed me to your blog this morning. At least I know that there are some that are engaging with this issue and that encourages me greatly!
Blessings,
Brittany
December 2nd, 2009 | 8:29 am | #10
Daniel,
I appreciate the correction. I think you missed my point and I still hold to what I said, but still, I thank you.
Daryl.
December 2nd, 2009 | 10:09 am | #11
Thanks for this – it pierces my hard heart.
December 2nd, 2009 | 10:13 am | #12
Jesus is sinless. And died to redeem us from our “AIDS.”
If Jesus can have “AIDS” and be sinless too, I support that.
December 2nd, 2009 | 12:29 pm | #13
And what is the point of this post, exactly?
December 2nd, 2009 | 1:23 pm | #14
Rev. Paul T. McCain,
The point is, we cannot claim to love God if we turn our backs on the world He has created.
If we love someone, we love the works of their hands. And so it will not do for the church to turn her back on the AIDS victims of the world, or, more precisely, the AIDS victims in our neighbourhood, and still believe itself to be the church.
I’m not saying that happens, I’m saying it muist not.
December 2nd, 2009 | 1:33 pm | #15
These kinds of post strike me as a lot of huff-and-puff, and posted on this blog site come off as grandstanding legalisms.
I know of no responsible church body, or Christian, for that matter who has “turned their back” on AIDS victims. This kind of rhetoric plays into the pro-gay groups in this nation and elsewhere.
Perhaps this is an attempt to take the edge of the pro-homosexual lobby in this nation who have heard of the Manhattan Declaration?
Let’s all show now how outraged we are by the “lack of treatment” of AIDS victims.
I would be far more impressed by drawing our attention to even greater health crises in the world today: lack of potable water, food, children dieing of malaria.
The attention grabbing “AIDS crisis” sucks up a lot of attention and as a result are neglected a whole host of other issues.
So, count me as particularly unimpressed and unmoved by this post.
Jesus has AIDS.
Jesus has heart disease.
Jesus has cancer.
Jesus has the common cold.
Yes. All true.
Most importantly Jesus has carried our sins to the cross and set us free from sin, death and the devil, serve to thank and praise, serve and obey Him, by loving one another.
I guess that is a “news flash” in some circles.
December 2nd, 2009 | 1:57 pm | #16
Rev. McCain,
So let me help you distill it down, from grand-standing to everyday.
The guy in your church who you can’t stand, who’s headed right for you after each sermon with a list of things you preached wrongly.
That guy.
Treat him right, treat him fairly, but don’t stop serving him, specifically.
Or anybody else who gets under your skin, or with whom it would be embarrassing to be seen, who is a part of the body, or not.
Serve that person, specifically.
The point is, there is no one in our sphere of influence, to whom we may completely turn our back. As individuals.
I’m guilty, so are you. Specifically.
Forget the grand-standishness, if that’s how you see it, and ask yourself the hard questions.
I’m not saying you’re not asking them, I’m just saying, you wanted to see the point of the post, I think that’s it.
December 2nd, 2009 | 3:59 pm | #17
I’m just saying that I’ve read these kinds of mawkish posts before, and they never move me to some great, “Oh, woe is me!” They always strike me as grand-standing twaddle.
And, no, to be precise, Jesus did not have “AIDS” unless that physical condition was around in Christ’s day.
Did He have the common cold? Perhaps he did.
I think the post misses the point, actually, of the Gospel itself.
It had a lot of Law though, I’ll grant that.
December 2nd, 2009 | 5:57 pm | #18
Agreed, Reverend. Any reflection/reminder about how scripture calls upon us to live is Law (boo!) and a failure to understand the Gospel. And to be precise Jesus wasn’t without clothes, or in prison at any point, which causes Matthew 25:31-46 to baffle me, honestly.
December 2nd, 2009 | 6:18 pm | #19
“I think the post misses the point, actually, of the Gospel itself.”
“Agreed, Reverend. Any reflection/reminder about how scripture calls upon us to live is Law (boo!) and a failure to understand the Gospel.”
Wow. There’s that Gospel message thing again. And about not getting it right. I heard ad nauseam about how the Gospel is getting blurred and obscured because of the Manhattan Declaration, and now I’m hearing that this post is missing on the Gospel message.
Help AIDS sufferers? Stop! Until you get the Gospel just perfectly right. Don’t want it to be obscured and blurred.
Manhattan Declaration? Stop! Until you get the Gospel just perfectly right. Don’t want it to be obscured and blurred.
Criticism is fine and all, and I assume it’s well-intended, but I sure am glad that Jesus and the Apostles didn’t let criticism stop them from doing God’s Will.
December 2nd, 2009 | 6:44 pm | #20
TUAD, I was making the point you just did, sarcastically. And so that there be no misunderstanding, I hope my use of sarcasm does not come across as personal hostility. If it does, I would apologize in advance to Rev. McCain.
December 2nd, 2009 | 7:17 pm | #21
Zack,
That’s a good point. Another way to get at the issue is…who exactly was Paul telling to love their wives? Was it husbands or the Holy Spirit?
I’m pretty sure it was husbands.
The law doesn’t nullify or override the gospel, it sets the stage for the gospel.
…not to mention that it tells us how to live…
December 2nd, 2009 | 7:27 pm | #22
Lest anyone think differently, I do think it’s important to get the Gospel right.
However, I’m left wondering if the Enemy can make getting the Gospel precisely right such an overwhelming preoccupation that it nullifies Godly action and it nullifies Godly witness, thereby, and ironically, undermining the Witness of the Gospel!
December 2nd, 2009 | 8:47 pm | #23
TUAD,
Maybe, if all I do is sit around examining the finer points of the gospel, and never leave the house.
But I don’t think that’s what’s happening here.
Precision is a good thing, and being clear on the little things is an important thing.
To often that very argument is really just to say “I don’t want to deal with the finer points, so I’ll ignore them”, which is a far larger problem.
December 2nd, 2009 | 9:30 pm | #24
Jesus struggles with child pornography.
Jesus is a rape victim.
Jesus is drunk right now.
No. No. NO! A little respect, please.
December 2nd, 2009 | 9:46 pm | #25
Steve,
That’s precisely why I said “Jesus had AIDS”.
Because, he was all that you said, and worse…on the cross, and only there.
I get that the point is that we can’t, as Christians ignore the low end of society. But yes, you put the finger on what I couldn’t quite get to.
December 3rd, 2009 | 5:13 pm | #26
Some commenters here seem to be almost intentionally obtuse about the point of Dr. Moore’s post, and at multiple levels, and it is hugely disheartening.
First – the presumption that a person’s HIV status is connected exclusively to personal sin is one of the worst aspects of this disease. There is an entire generation of children in Afica dying of this disease solely because they were conceived when AIDS-infected men raped virgins as a way to rid themselves of it. They were conceived in sin, their parents eventually leave them oprhaned because of sin, and they bear in their little bodies the consequences of others’ sin their entire, short lives.
Second, those of you who took time to read the whole post, instead of just the title, might note how Dr. Moore deals with the idea of Jesus bearing the curse of all sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21 and Gal. 3). He deals with the reality that while He is now in Heaven, His children, those already adopted into His family, and those still to be brought in through, perish the thought, our Jesus-shaped lovefor them, are still on earth.
And they have AIDS. And Tuesday was Global AIDS day. And while the world was busy feeling special buying extra lattes so that Starbucks would send bags of nickels to temporarily alleviate the physical suffering caused by AIDS in the here and now,
Dr. Moore described how the real, flesh-and-blood lived out Gospel offers the truest hope for those stricken by this disease, both now and for eternity.
What a concept.
December 3rd, 2009 | 9:48 pm | #27
Reminds me of the Crucifixion panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald. It depicts the Crucified Christ with the same skin affliction as the slowly dying patients in the hospital where the Altarpiece stood. In that case, Grünewald’s painting would have said to those ergotics, most of whom–like AIDS sufferers–were poor, that “Jesus has St. Anthony’s Fire.”
As the French novelist J.K. Huysmans wrote:
That awful Christ who hung dying over the altar of the Isenheim hospital would seem to have been made in the image of the ergotics who prayed to him; they must surely have found consolation in the thought that this God they invoked had suffered the same torments as themselves, and had become flesh in a form as repulsive as their own; and they must have felt less forsaken, less contemptible. It is easy to see why Grünewald’s name, unlike the names of Holbein, Cranach and Dürer, is not to be found in the account-books or the records of commissions left by emperors and princes. His pestiferous Christ would have offended the taste of the courts; he could only be understood by the sick, the unhappy and the monks, by the suffering members of Christ.
It should also be noted, though, that Grünewald’s resurrection panel of the Alterpiece depicts Christ blazingly alive and triumphant.
Incidentally, the Isenheim Altarpiece directly inspired the Keiskamma Altarpiece, an AIDS-related artwork.
December 8th, 2009 | 1:02 am | #28
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