Domesticated Jesus

Domesticated Jesus. “DJ,” we might say. A horrible name—one that downplays the glory of our Lord and Savior. But a name that accurately reflects what each of us has done in our own lives.


“I can hear your protests,” says author Harry Kraus, “and believe me, they are my own. Jesus Christ cannot be domesticated!


“I’m talking about the way I make myself big. And in the process, I’ve domesticated the Almighty.

Tamed him. Advised him.

Put him in a box. Fenced him into a safe pasture.

Expected him to function like a divine vending machine. . . .

That sickens me. Shocks me.

And it should.”


How do all of us attempt to domesticate Jesus? It involves more than not recognizing his infinite power and falling on our faces in awe. We domesticate him every day in little things like doubt, anxiety, or fear about the future. We domesticate him in the way we think about him—letting him into our lives, but only so far, until our control is threatened. Then, in effect, we send him back to his room. Back to his box.


Harry Kraus takes a hard-hitting, soul-searching look at this atrocity that we commit every day, all with the goal of exalting Jesus, finding him as the grand treasure that he is, and challenging all of us to see him in real life more and more every day.


“So pull up a chair, fellow traveler,” he concludes. “Let’s sit together to reason about a horrible thing that I’ve done.


“I’ve domesticated the Lord of the universe.”