What was Jesus' brand?
What was Jesus’ brand?
The catalyst for that question was a recent federal court
decision in favor of The Episcopal Church retaining its name, trademarks, etc.
The decision was against the breakaway group led by the former Episcopal Bishop
of South Carolina, Mark Lawrence.
More broadly, continuing globalization makes branding ever
more important. Inundated with information and choices not only about religious
affiliation and media outlets, but also choices about competing products, services,
and even friends, branding becomes a convenient way of narrowing one’s choices.
(For choosing friends, think in terms of tribes and clans instead of brands,
concepts that greatly overlap.)
Who really wants dozens of choices of soaps, toilet paper,
canned baked beans, and so forth? Evaluating each option while standing in a
store aisle or sitting at one’s computer would require more time and energy
than the task deserves. So, we tend to rely upon brands to help us to find the
product, service, or person for which we search.
What was Jesus’ brand, that is, what was his image among the
people of Galilee, Judea, and Samaria that attracted people to him?
What is Jesus’ brand today?
For some, Jesus’ brand is increasingly identified with
Donald Trump. Christian evangelical endorsements of Trump have largely remained
constant in spite of personal behavior (adultery, lying, verbally berating
people, etc.) and public acts (demanding unquestioning personal loyalty, statements
that at a minimum imply condoning racist attitudes, etc.) that are prima facie
incompatible with Christian teachings. These endorsements of Trump seem akin to
biblical declarations of God using non-Christian leaders (e.g., the Pharaohs
and Nebuchadnezzar) as God’s instruments. In the case of Trump, Christian endorsers
believe God may use him to outlaw abortion, to wrest control of the judiciary
from anti-Christian liberal judges, and to preserve American exceptionalism.
For others, Jesus’ brand emphasizes loving our neighbors
(all of them, near and distant!), caring for creation, and working toward
justice for all. This perspective identifies more with Pope Francis than with
Donald Trump, and even more with Francis of Assisi than his contemporary
namesake.
If you self-identify as a Christian, does Jesus’ define your
brand? That is, does Jesus define your identity as person and your image in the
community in which you live, whether actual or virtual?
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