Twitter to Jesus: What Are You Doing?

A commentary by Hansel New

If Jesus tweeted, would we follow?

Some may ask: What, pray tell, is a tweet? Tweets are the short, frequent text-based messages you post through a social network called Twitter and that all answer the same question: What are you doing?

More and more people are becoming "twitterpated," so to speak. In fact, Twitter's popularity is growing so quickly it recently ranked as the third most used social network after Facebook and MySpace, according to a February 2009 blog entry on tracking site Compete.com.

Jesus tweet

So imagine if Jesus used Twitter and we could ask Him: What are You doing? What would His tweets tell us?

Think about it. We like to stay up-to-the-minute current on our friends and family, so why not the Messiah we yearn to follow and worship? Shouldn't we as His followers want to know at least some of the things He's doing—at this very moment?

Not now, I'm shepherding

We can know—at least to some small degree—what Jesus is doing. He tells us Himself in the pages of the Bible. At any given moment, Christ is shepherding, among other things.

In the book of John, chapter 10 describes Christ's role as our Good Shepherd. Yawn, you may think. Shepherds are stereotyped as standing with staff in hand and, well, not doing much of anything else.

Not so! Remember that in first-century culture when Christ walked the grassy slopes of Palestine, sheep were highly prized for their wool, milk and meat, so protecting them was of utmost importance. Think of shepherds in that era as being in the asset-protection or wealth-management business.

Now, understanding the importance of shepherds, read chapter 10 of John—it's not that long! The Good Shepherd does the following things:

• Enters by the gate (He's the real deal, not a sheep rustler).
• Calls His sheep by name (He knows them as individuals).
• Leads them out to pasture (provides for them).
• Goes ahead of them (leads the way).
• Lays down His life for the sheep (puts their needs ahead of His own).

Notice all the action phrases! Jesus Christ is decidedly not hanging out in heaven somewhere while people are searching for real leadership in our confused and restless world. He's busy leading, guiding and caring for His flock as the Good Shepherd.

To better grasp what Jesus is doing, check out "The Messiah's Misunderstood Mission."

Twitter to the future

Our job is to follow Christ, but few seem to know where we are ultimately headed. Enter the Twitter question, but this time ask our Good Shepherd in the future sense: What are you going to do?

Prophecies throughout the Bible tell us that eventually Christ will trade in His shepherd's staff for a crown in His future role as ruler of the Kingdom of God—right here on earth. We can have a wonderful part in that kingdom if we follow the Shepherd and prepare now.

What are you doing? VT