“Jesus is Not Your Homeboy”

“He’s your Lord”

“He’s your Savior” 

“He’s your King”

Yes 

Yes 

And yes. 

But you forgot something. 

Jesus is our friend that’s closer than a brother.

The statement, “Jesus is not your homeboy,” shows the unfortunate cultural barriers between people in the church. Homeboy is often used in African American communities (I know other people use it too, but it’s highly used in this particular culture) as a way to describe someone who is one of your closest friends. Someone you can depend on and trust. You know that your homeboy has your back. If you’re in trouble, your homeboy will be there to help you. In fact, you have a lot of respect for your homeboy because of how good of a friend they are to you. That sounds a lot like Jesus. But because the word is weird or unusual to some people and not a word like “pal” or “buddy” it seems inappropriate.

A lack of understanding and knowledge of other peoples’ cultures/languages can cause you to be uncomfortable but that doesn’t make their culture/language wrong. Jesus is not just Lord and friend to those who look/think/talk/act like you, but He’s Lord and friend to all that accept Him as Lord and Savior. It’s very narrow-minded to think that because a person doesn’t talk about God with the same language that you use, that means they’re not in a good relationship with God, or that they have no respect for God. 

Another unfortunate thing about this statement is how weird it is that some Christians have a need to create this gap between people and God that God deliberately bridged (through the work of Jesus Christ) so that He could be close to people again. I understand that God is sovereign and powerful and holy and majestic. There’s nothing wrong with remembering that God is King and Lord, but sometimes people try and say this to you to let you know you’re “beneath Him” and therefore you can’t be close to God. However, just because He’s also our friend, doesn’t mean that those things about His Lordship, Sovereignty, and Majesty are no longer true. 

Christians know that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but sometimes in a way that it’s to a fault. So much so that they back away from Him not believing they can or should connect with Him more deeply. Or they think He’s simply not interested in anything but admirers. 

That’s a very human way of looking at a king. But our King is not like those Hollywood movie kings or the kings from the history books. He’s better than that. His love for us would never hold us at arm’s length. It brings us closer. He wants to be our King AND our friend. Don’t we know that He wants an intimate relationship with us? 

God does not use His authority to tell us that we are nothing to Him but peasants. He cares about us way too much to do that. He uses His authority for the good of all creation. He is in charge and ruler but He is also love. Those things don’t cancel each other out. 

Our limited human perspective can hinder our nearness to God. Forget what you believe God’s kingship should look like. Forget what you think a person should look or sound like to enter into God’s presence. It’s not about what you think. Thank God that He is the one in charge, not us. Nothing can stand in the way of God being near to anyone who humbly calls on Him. Not even you.