Radical Jesus, non-radical followers

In 1993 a man called Michael Hart wrote a book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.’ This was not a list of who he thought were the greatest people in history but simply those who had the most influence. While we might think that Jesus deserves the number 1 position that was actually given to Mohammad. Jesus was rated at number 3. Why did Hart put Mohammad first and Jesus third? Because Hart observed that Mohammad has far more influence over the lives of those who are Muslims than Jesus has on those who claim to be Christians. At the end of his opening chapter he wrote about the injunction to love our enemies:

‘These are surely among the most remarkable and original ethical ideas ever presented. If they were widely followed I would have no hesitation in placing Jesus first in this book. But the truth is that they are not widely followed. Indeed, they are not even actually generally accepted. Most Christians consider the injunction to love your enemy at most an ideal which might be realised in some perfect world, but one which is not a reasonable guide to conduct in the actual world we live in. We do not normally practice love for our enemies, we do not expect others to practice it, we do not teach our children to practice it. Jesus’ most distinctive teaching therefore remains an intriguing but basically untried suggestion.’