The birth of a brand

Fascinating piece on the BBC website about the origins of "What would Jesus do?" as a global symbol.

The intriguing question started as part of the title of a novel in the 1896 by an American Congregational minister from Kansas, Charles Sheldon. He published a story called In His Steps: What would Jesus do? in which a town is revolutionised when Christians "pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?'".

Owing partly to a strange quirk - the publisher failed to register copyright for the work - the book became one of the 50 best-selling books of all time as other publishers produced cheap knock-off copies.

Fast forward a hundred years, and we have a fine example of history repeating itself. A youth leader at a church in Michigan read the book in 1989, and discussed it with her group. She was thinking of having some T-shirts printed, with the slogan on, but picked up on the new idea of wristbands - shortened the question to WWJD, and had 300 made for herself and her group. The idea snowballed, and was picked up by commercial companies who made their own and started marketing a range of products with the question on it nationally and internationally. By the time Janie Tinklenberg tried to register the trademark it was too late.

The question has now become so familiar in the culture that it has achieved iconic status - having inspired a thousand rewrites for use in politics, protests, advertising, and cheap shots by stand up comedians.

Certainly, for Christians, the phrase has a powerful encouragement, but is also filled with potential dangers. Christians are those who have responded to Jesus' call, to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Christ (Mark 8 v 34). So when we ask the WWJD? question of ourselves in the general sense, it can deliver positive encouragements. It should remind me to speak the truth, even when it is unwelcome. It should encourage me to be humble and servant hearted, even when I am exhausted, or the recipient of my kindness is unlovely or unworthy by the world's standards. It should encourage me to pray and trust God, rather than my own resources. These were all things that Jesus most definitely was and did - and importantly, these were the things he commanded his followers to do.

But of course there are many things that Jesus did that we are not called to emulate him in. We don't expect to walk on the water, or multiply loaves, for example. And his first disciples spoke plainly and openly about Christ, whereas the Lord Jesus did much of his public teaching in parables - actually designed to hide the message of the kingdom in some ways (see Mark 4 v 10-12). And there are many questions we face in the modern world, where it is not actually that clear what Jesus would do - because we have no clear word from him on the subject.

So the danger for those who have a less clear grasp of the Bible and the gospel message is that it becomes an opportunity for hitching a "home-made Jesus" to their own interests. We focus only on the parts where Jesus seems to back up our cause, whether that is equality, the fight against poverty, the challenging of a corrupt system, or just being kind to animals and children. The result is that Jesus is used to baptise our particular cause. The result: we become the master, and he the servant, not the other way round. The responses to the BBC article provide a snapshot of this tendency.

WWJD? Is a great question to ask. So long as we recognise its limits. And so long as we search the scriptures carefully to make sure we really know what Jesus would have us do, rather than just doing what suits us in the name of a made-up Jesus.