The “Spit On Me Too” Challenge

What if every shop, business, or restaurant had a picture of Jesus outside the main door so that as people walked inside they could spit on Jesus’ face. Would you step forward and tell them to stop? Would you remove the picture, or hang it up so it wasn’t sitting on the floor? Are you willing to stand with Jesus and say “If you are going to spit on Jesus, then spit on me too”?

Though this specific example isn’t occurring in our society, something identical and potentially worse is so common in our society that we no longer cringe when it happens.

Jesus Chose To Be Mocked

In Matthew 27:27-31, the Roman soldiers beat, mocked, and spat on Jesus. If you or I were there, I hope we would’ve stepped forward and stopped them from mocking Jesus.

Could you imagine standing passively by as these soldiers spat on your Savior’s face? This is the man who gave up everything he deserved, his life, and his comforts so you could be restored into a loving relationship with your Creator.

Jesus did so much for us. He loves us so much that he cries when we are in pain or despair. He longs to comfort us and lead us through life and down wonderful paths. He’s the one who willingly stepped down from the perfection of heaven where legions of angels glorify and praise him.

Jesus willingly stepped into a life of poverty, drinking dirty water, eating stale bread, sleeping on the ground, and even being whipped all so he could take the punishment we each deserve.

It’s this same Jesus who allowed the guards to beat him and mock him. He could’ve said a word and destroyed them all. He could’ve bound them with invisible ropes simply by wishing it to be. Yet he didn’t.

Why?

Because he was taking our place. He took our curse on himself. We deserved this punishment, but he’s the one who received it.

Imagine this amazing, tender, and kind man. This is our God who became a man and gave up everything for you and who loves us more than we could ever fathom.

And it’s our savior they whipped, beat with a stick, mocked, and spat on.

Stand With Jesus

If we were there as these guards spat on Jesus’ face, how dare we stand by and watch? It’s our duty to step forward and tell these people to stop. But, say we do speak out and they don’t stop, then what should we do? Do we walk away? Do we fight them to avenge Jesus?

No.

I believe the appropriate and loving response to care for these people and to act out of our love for Jesus is to stand with Jesus.

We should move to Jesus’ side and say, “If you won’t stop beating, mocking, and spitting on my loving savior, then beat, mock, and spit on me too.”

What a noble and admirable thing to do. No matter what you believe or where you come from, if you saw this happen, you’d be shocked and inspired. By standing with Jesus, we can expose the extent of the wickedness and point people to Jesus and what he did.

This is all a nice thought in theory, but there is a very real and practical way that this applies to our lives.

How Does Our Society Spit On Jesus?

The truth is, people spit on Jesus’ face every day. Every time someone uses Jesus’ or God’s name as a curse word we are making Jesus Christ a synonym for F***.

If you are having a hard time recognizing how truly terrible this is, then imagine the response someone would have if you started using Mohammad’s name as a curse word. It’s terrible to say the “N” word because of the historical background. It’s incredibly insensitive and vile to call someone retarded.

So, why is it okay for people to use God’s name as a curse word? If we recognize these are wrong, then how much more vile should it be to use our Creator and Redeemer’s name

Jesus willingly stepped into a life of poverty, drinking dirty water, eating stale bread, sleeping on the ground, and even being whipped all so he could take the punishment we each deserve.

Does Jesus deserve this? Do people really hate Jesus? As far as I’ve seen in all my conversations, people look up to Jesus. Sure they might curse Jesus because of what Christians have done to them, but Jesus never once wronged someone and the more you read the gospel books in the Bible, the more you see this is true.

The “Spit On Me Too” Challenge

From now on, let’s not stand by when people spit on Jesus’ face. Let’s stand with our savior and inspire others to respect him too.

This is what I want to challenge us all to do. From now on, whenever we hear someone say “Jesus Christ” as a curse word, or “God d*mmit,” we should go to that person. In a loving and gentle way, we should ask them, “Excuse me, could you please spit on me too.”

I’m sure this will catch their attention.

They’ll probably ask what we are talking about. In which case, we should ask them if they think it’s right to use “Mohammad” as a curse word, or if they would mind us using their name as a word to describe septic sludge. I’m sure they’d agree that they wouldn’t like this or that it would be wrong. We should then point out how much more disrespectful is it to use our Savior’s name this way.

After this, say, “Jesus has done so much in my life, and has rescued me from the terrible life I was living. I love him so much, and I owe him my life. So, when I hear you use his name as a curse word, you are basically spitting on my Savior’s face and I can’t just do nothing. If you are going to spit on his face, then please spit on me too.”

Now, I admit that it’s possible we might get spat on. But isn’t this worth it?

Isn’t a bit of spit on our face worth standing with Jesus? And don’t you think this message will impact and change people? What a great way to share the gospel, and what a great and loving way to challenge people to show more respect to Christ.

Do You Accept The Challenge

I intentionally picked this to be the Spit On Me Too challenge, because I don’t want anyone using these points or this challenge to be rude or mean to anyone. By calling it this, we are opening the door for others to spit on us, which means we better go into it with loving and gentle words, or else they will accept your invitation and spit on you.

Before you accept this challenge, remember that our goal isn’t to condemn those who use God’s name in vain.

We don’t need to defend God.

He’s fully capable of defending himself, but we should warn people of this incredible evil. They spit on Jesus’ face because they don’t know what they are doing. It’s a habit. So, why not step forward and show them why this is so bad and help them recognize all Jesus did for us and them.

Don’t step forward and do this challenge because you are personally upset or offended. As Christians, we should expect to be offended. Our pride and ego aren’t important here.

Instead, let’s accept this challenge because we love Jesus and want to see his name honored as he more than deserves.

Now, doing this will be hard and scary, and that’s exactly why it’s a challenge. It won’t be easy, but it is important.

Will you accept the challenge? Or will you sit passively by and watch people spit on your Savior’s face? He gave everything up for you, are you willing now to give up your comfort and pride for him?

If you accept this challenge, please share this post and tag a few of your friends.

Hopefully, together, we can stop our society from spitting on Jesus’ face.

Let’s warn others, let’s stand with Jesus, let’s live wilder.

 

 

 

If you’d like to learn more about what it means to Live Wilder, I’d encourage you to read my post: What Does It Mean To Live Wilder?

If this is the first blog of mine you’ve read then you should definitely check out my post: How Do You Find Adventure?