A number of years ago, Dustin Hoffman starred in the movie ‘Tootsie’ about an out of work actor who impersonates a woman so convincingly that he is given a part in a soap opera as a woman. The people who see him on TV think he is a woman because of his clothes and voice. They don’t see a man because they don’t expect to see a man dress and talk like that. What we see is often based on what we expect to see; our eyes can be fooled. Simeon and Anna, like all their people, expected a Messiah. Most folk did not expect him to look like a baby. Simeon and Anna were open to expecting the unexpected, and so saw Messiah in the small child in Mary’s arms that day.

In his recent book American Jesus, Stephen Prothero, chair of Boston University’s Department of Religion, dives into an investigation of how Jesus has been and is viewed in American society. He asserts that Jesus is a man “nobody hates”, roughly 85 percent of the U.S. population describe themselves Christian, two-thirds claim they have made some sort a “personal commitment” to Jesus, and three-quarters of the population have sensed Jesus’ presence at some time.

In America, Jesus is very popular. But, exactly which Jesus are we talking about? This is what Prothero investigates, arguing that Americans have a history of continually remaking Jesus to resemble our current hero-types. He contends that over the years of America’s history, this remaking of Jesus gradually separated him from the creeds, from the Scriptures and even from Christianity itself - with some people claiming that the religion about Jesus and the religion of Jesus are very different things.

Prothero identifies four different Jesuses that have shown up in American Christianity, plus several reinventions of him that some other religions have welcomed.

The first such American Jesus is Jesus, the “Enlightened Sage.” This was the Jesus of Thomas Jefferson, who when he was president, spent a few evenings scissoring out of the gospels all the references to miracles and Jesus’ divinity, ending up with a slim volume he called The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth. Jefferson’s Jesus prayed to God and believed in an afterlife, but he did not die for anyone’s sins. In fact, this Jesus did not come to save, but only to teach.

Jesus Number 2 is the one Prothero calls the “Sweet Savior” - a product of the evangelical fervor of the 19th and early 20th centuries. At that time, the preaching style changed from doctrinal dissertations to storytelling in which the life of Jesus was the focus, a life often embellished by the preacher. The call to faith was to an intimate walk with Jesus; so intimate, in fact, that preachers with an emphasis on warmth, caring, humility talked about Jesus as a buddy whom we could come to know and hang out with, rather than either an historical figure or an object of faith.

The third American version of Jesus, is the “Manly Redeemer,” a muscular reaction to the gentle, Sweet Savior. Beginning in the late 19th century and elbowing its way into the 20th century, Jesus is now seen as a testosterone-powered hero. Books with titles like The Masculine Power of Christ and The Manhood of the Master appeared. This Manly Redeemer was no more linked to the historic creeds of the church than was the Sweet Savior, but at least he was more vigorous - a Savior with drive and energy. This Jesus brought with him strenuous demands, and he was the one who was ready to lead Christians to war against the social ills of the culture.

The fourth and most recent incarnation of the American Jesus is the “Superstar.” In the 1960s, a Jesus movement began among the youth counterculture, and soon started to see Jesus as a revolutionary, a leader of an underground Christian liberation movement. When that movement fizzled in the 1970s, Jesus emerged unscathed, and became the subject of the rock musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. He was thereafter adopted by rock groups and rap singers and heavy metal bands as an upbeat guy who offers an experiential high that is better than drugs. Eventually this Jesus morphed into the figure on whom is built Jesus T-shirts, bumper stickers, posters and other collectables, much of the Christian music industry, as well as many seeker-sensitive mega-churches.

The upshot of all this is that while many Americans cannot agree on religion, doctrine, worship styles, the role of the Bible, the place of the church, social action, political position and a host of other things, a great many find common ground of a sort in Jesus, or at least Jesus as they picture him. Even some who cannot believe that he was divine still see him as an example to follow.

But is this Jesus? Or even this collection of Jesuses, the person we meet in the gospels? It appears like a room full of 25 Elvises. Will the real Jesus please stand up!

One place to think about all this is in today’s reading where Mary and Joseph encounter Simeon. This devout man had been looking forward to seeing the messiah, the One who would be the consolation of Israel. When Simeon sees Jesus, he takes the baby in his arms, and praises God, for he knows that this one he is holding is the One he has been expecting. Given that Jesus was an infant, a skeptic hearing Simeon’s words might have thought he was inventing a messiah to fit his own expectations. But the subsequent life, ministry and death of Jesus proved Simeon right.

We should take careful note that Simeon did not rely on his own hunch about this baby being the promised Messiah. Rather there were two critical things. First, when Luke tells us that Simeon was “looking forward to the consolation of Israel” the gospel writer is telling us that Simeon was steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures. Simeon based his pronouncement about Jesus on Scripture. And second, Luke tells us that Simeon was being guided by the Holy Spirit.

As Presbyterians, we link Scripture and the Holy Spirit together when we describe how we know God and Jesus. Guided by scripture under the direction of the Holy Spirit, there are some very clear and important things that together describe the real Jesus:

• Jesus is the One, who, after he was baptized, lived up to his baptism every day by the way he honored and obeyed God, whom Jesus called Abba - Daddy. Who proclaimed the good news of God, preaching repentance and announcing that the kingdom of God had begun. Who was so filled with compassion that even as He proclaimed the Kingdom, He went out of His way to heal the sick.

• Jesus is the One who embodied the gracious authority of God, and whose life embroidered the deeds of God within the fabric of human experience. Who did not shun bad company, but who called them also to repentance and a place in the kingdom. Who forgave those who denied and rejected Him, who had time for children and women, and Gentiles.

• Jesus is the One who taught and lived the truth “turn the other cheek” and “go the second mile” and “pray for your enemies.” Who repeatedly withdrew to pray. Who refused to accept the lordship of Caesar and lived under the reign/rule of God.

• Jesus is the One in whom his contemporaries recognized a special connection with God; a recognition that led Peter to call him “the Son of the living God”. Who went to the cross, understanding that in doing so, he was being obedient to the will of God, and was doing something profound for humankind. Who rose victorious over death on Easter and is thus living today.

This is the real Jesus, the Jesus Simeon held in his arms, and in whom he saw the salvation of Israel. This is the real Jesus who demands our attention and our devotion and our allegiance. This is the real Jesus who asks us to follow as disciples. As we move into and through this New Year of 2006 our focus as a church will be on helping each other understand and respond to this real Jesus!

Like Jesus, we need to live into our baptism every day by how we live, sharing in word and deed the good news of God, and the kingdom of God, by sharing compassion, embracing outcasts, forgiving our debtors, taking time for those little regarded by society at large, “turning the other cheek”, “going the second mile” and “praying for our enemies.”

Like Jesus, we must not withdraw from the world, so we can invite others to a new life, though we have a need to pray, recognizing the special connection Jesus has with God, that our first loyalty and our prime allegiance is to God, obeying the will of God, as we serve humankind, rising to an Easter faith even in a Good Friday world.

The first day of 2006, and who knows what this year will bring our way, is a great day to renew our intention to live for the real Jesus, the Jesus who loves and cherishes us and the entire world, the Jesus who calls us away from all self-destructive patterns of living into the glorious freedom as sons and daughters of the living, loving God. The real Jesus, whom we encounter in scripture, in worship, in the sacraments, in the faces of friend and stranger, in the prayers of the people, in the fellowship of believers and in the needs of those we serve.

The real Jesus is standing up! This Jesus calls all of us forward as followers. This New Year of 2006 offers all of us a new beginning as we make the most of all the opportunities that are coming our way. May God bless us in our following of the real Jesus!  Amen.