	Bob Hostetler > Writing

What Would Jesus Drive?

by Bob Hostetler

It was a gimmick. A publicity stunt. And it worked like a charm.

A group called Evangelical Environmental Network launched a campaign last month entitled, "What would Jesus drive?" The effort is intended to generate publicity and encourage followers of Jesus to "walk, bike, car pool, and use public transportation more" and "to purchase the most fuel efficient and least polluting vehicle available that truly fits our needs," among other things.

The previously little-known groups involved in the campaign have garnered a flood of publicity for their cause. Whether they have changed any minds remains to be seen. Some have applauded them for bringing to the fore an appropriate (and often ignored) linkage between Judeo-Christian convictions and a careful stewardship of the earth and its resources. Others have lambasted them for effectively using Jesus as a political shill. You can't please everyone, not even with a publicity ploy.

It should be noted that more than two years ago, Los Angeles Times writer Roy Rivenburg suggested several possible answers to the question, "What would Jesus drive?":

Pontiac and a Geo, because a songwriter named Asaph urged the Lord to "pursue your enemies with your Tempest and terrify them with your Storm" (Psalm 83:15, NIV);
a Dodge pickup, because Moses' followers were warned not to go up a mountain until "the Ram's horn sounds a long blast" (Exodus 19:13, NIV);
a Honda (though he apparently didn't like to talk about it), because John's gospel depicts Jesus telling a crowd, "For I did not speak of my own Accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it" (John 12:49, NIV).

But seriously, folks, it's not hard at all to answer the question "What would Jesus drive?" And there's no better time to do so than at this time of the year, as we approach the annual celebration of Jesus' birth.

The message of Christmas is that the very God who created the universe humbled himself and came down to earth in human form. Not only that, but he was born to peasant parents in a rude stable in a tiny backwater town. Not only that; he also endured a hard life and died a horrible death.

An early church-planter and Christian writer put it like this:

Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8, NLT).

He could have ridden the first-century equivalent of a Rolls Royce into town. He could have made a grand appearance. But he didn't. He came in the most unassuming way possible. He came as a baby.

Why? Because he came to save men, women, and children, not to scare them or scold them. Nobody's afraid of a baby. Jesus could have come to earth any old way he pleased, but he didn't. He came in a way we could all relate to because we've all had that experience ourselves. We've all been born. Whether you drive a loaded SUV or a stripped-down Yugo, Jesus identified with you at the most basic level so that you could have the option of identifying with him.

For that reason, there's a better question than "What would Jesus drive?" It is "What drove Jesus?" What drove him (as the Bible teaches) to leave all the comforts of home and take on himself all the limitations and frustrations of life as a human-and a poor one at that?

The answer is simple, and it is central to the whole story of Jesus: it was love. In the words of John, one of Jesus' first followers:

You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus Christ was. Though he was very rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich (2 Corinthians 8:9, NLT).

Love drove Jesus to earth. That message might not change anyone's driving habits (and then again, it might). But it can change your life…if you let it.

This article appeared in the December 6, 2002 edition of the Hamilton Journal-News.

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