James McGrath on the question, “What would Jesus do?” I’m quoting the majority of his post here because the paragraphs build on each other and just wouldn’t make the same point unless presented together. But if you follow the link to his site you can see the web comic that inspired his post.
And so we really are asking not “What would Jesus do?” but “As the person I am, with the values I have, considering myself a follower of Jesus, what should I do in this situation?”
There are no cookie-cutter answers to such questions in the Gospels. Curse a fig tree? Ditch one’s parents when on a family trip? Overturn money changers? Touch people with skin diseases? Speak in parables?
Jesus is looked to in the New Testament as an example of humility. And so to envisage him asking what he would do, as though he himself is the person that he admires most, is probably – hopefully – on the wrong track.
And so is any belief that one is superior because one asks “What would Jesus do?” when others do not.
Christians are just as capable of being unlike Jesus as others are capable of resembling him more than we do. Although it may take Christlike humility to admit it.