Jesus never scrolled through a twitter feed. He never swiped through a series of instagram posts. Never snapped, faced, web-chatted, or – heaven forfend – zoomed.
Jesus never sent an email. There’s no evidence he even wrote a letter. He never went on TV or did a webinar series about carpentry or even theology. Jesus never even saw a CD player, a boom box, or a Walkman. If he had seen iPods it would only have been in the context of someone bringing them to him for him to cast the voices out of their head. The only Apple he knew was the famous one, in the garden. He would not have known how to unlock a level, buy more equipment for his quest, or wipe out a zombie hoard. Actually, he may have known that…ask the pig man.
Jesus was not tech-savvy. He had no password to forget. No pin number. No username like jeewhizz@happytime.global
Point is times change. Jesus was still the greatest communicator that ever lived. He was able to use geography (water as an amplifier), location (on a mount), and was the first Mosher by going out walking amongst the huge crowds as they tried to touch him, his disciples trying to fend people off like security at a heavy metal gig. He was able to bring the greatest universal and divine truths to the hearts of people from all walks of life, in one of the most volatile regions and times in history. He knew how to make theatre, to make a point, to be a thought made manifest – actually, the very definition of art.
Jesus did not know to unplug it and turn it on again. He did not know what a plug was.
Jesus DID NOT USE digital media to evangelise.
He did wonders that made jaws drop and would have been all across the internet being disclaimed as fake news, and being cancelled by Christian X for hanging out with.
No, He simply asked people to follow him, to pray like him, to do what he did. Occasionally he would try to unpack some deeper understanding to a small group of friends in real life – mainly by telling more stories.
He didn’t give them a name to call themselves, but he did urge them to pray, to meditate on the scriptures, to discover than love was the greatest commandment, and to ask, seek and yes find.
It’s pretty analogue.
Jesus, I think, would have LOVED to have had a cellphone and a tablet. But love is always the ghost in any machine and Jesus knew that it would reach across industrial revolutions, technological wonders, telephones, tv’s, electric guitars, fridges, cars, moon rockets, wind farms, hoverboards, fluorescent lighting, drones and space stations.
A body. A voice. A revolution of love. That’s all it took to change the world.
Plug that in and watch as the lights go on this Christmas.