“Can we all just agree to follow Jesus?” I’ve heard this question, or some version of it, throughout my life. 

It often comes up in times of disagreement or conflict. In the middle of a discussion about a decision we need to make, someone will propose that we simply agree to do our best to follow Jesus. 

I think this statement serves two possible purposes. One is to remind everyone that the goal is to make a decision that aligns with Jesus’ life and teachings. This is the more charitable purpose. 

The other is to shut down a conversation. Because no one wants to go against the person who invokes the name of Jesus.

I was once in a table conversation when things got tense. We were discussing how Mennonite Church USA should go forward with a resolution. I can’t remember what the discussion was about. I do remember that someone asked if we could all just follow Jesus. 

Of course, I agree. Let’s do our best to follow Jesus. It’s essential to our Christian faith and our Anabaptist theology. We are called to live as Jesus lived. 

But that’s not what I said. I replied with a question: “Which Jesus?” 

I didn’t mean that I thought there was more than one Jesus of Nazareth. I asked the question to find out if we were on the same page about what it looks like to follow Jesus. I wanted to know who my colleague at the table said Jesus was.

We often make following Jesus sound simple. We have his recorded words and deeds. It should be easy to read what Jesus said and do likewise. 

But it’s not so easy. One common problem is words taken out of context. It is important to know who Jesus was speaking to and what situation Jesus was talking about. Background information about the customs, laws and traditions of the time might also be essential. 

After we’ve taken all this information into account, then we have to transport the words from Jesus’ day into our own. 

Because all of this gets complicated, even the passages where it seems plain what Jesus is saying get debated or misused.

Today we see the words of Jesus bent and stretched so far that they become unrecognizable. Look no further than when the words of Jesus were used to justify colonizing Indigenous peoples or to keep Black folks in bondage. 

Even today in the United States, people use the words of Jesus to justify White Christian nationalism, war and withholding assistance from people in need. This point is reaffirmed every time a politician invokes the name of Jesus to endorse a policy that harms people.

I do not want to use the challenge to follow Jesus as a way to end a difficult discussion or argument. I want us to figure out what it means to follow Jesus in our world today. 

What does following Jesus look like? It depends on who we say Jesus is. 

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks the disciples about the rumors swirling around them. Jesus asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples answered with what they had heard. Some said John the Baptist. Some said Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. 

Jesus then asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” This is the question we need to keep before us at all times.

Who we say Jesus is informs how we understand his words and deeds. It informs how we interact with the world around us. When we challenge others to follow Jesus, we must explain what that means for us and the wider community. 

For me, following Jesus leads to liberation and wholeness for all of creation, both in the spiritual sense and in our physical realities. This is different from the Jesus portrayed by Christian nationalists.

When we say we want to follow Jesus, we must think faithfully about what that means and then act on it. Do we follow the Jesus who leads us to seek wholeness for all of creation? Or do we follow a Jesus who would impose colonization and espouse Christian nationalism? 

How I answer the question “Which Jesus?” will determine the direction of my life. If I say, like ­Peter, that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” then my life must testify to that.