The Audacity of God: Why Jesus' Actions Shock Us Today

January 3, 2025 | Dan Thurmon

While walking in the shopping mall, the man collapsed to the ground. At just sixty years old, his heart had suddenly stopped; full cardiac arrest. Some people panicked. Most disengaged. One person started shooting video. The man’s wife, knowing his risk factors, responded by performing CPR, but it didn’t seem to help. He was dying.

A young woman took charge, first instructing someone to call 911, then retrieving the AED (automated external defibrillator) that was less than a minute away. She had never done this before, but somehow knew if she did not at least try, the man’s life was over. Heck, he might be dead already.

She positioned the paddles on his bare chest, and the moment the shock was delivered, his heart resumed rhythm. Within minutes, paramedics had arrived to offer treatment. He lived. And the video went viral.

I confess that this event never happened. I made it up entirely. It could have happened, but almost never does. In fact, The American College of Cardiology states that of the nearly four million public AEDs available, very few are ever used, even when cardiac arrests happen with the resource nearby. It seems few people know what to do ... or are willing to act.

Audacity’s Attraction

Audacity means, “boldness or daring, especially with confident or arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought, or other restrictions.” Merriam-Webster also adds “Marked by originality and verve.”

Most people would rather play it safe and avoid being audacious. We like our familiar patterns, and resist drawing too much attention – unless it shows our best attributes and masks the flaws.

Yet, we seem drawn to examples of audacious humans – good and bad – in our newsfeeds, entertainment, and conversational gossip: “Can you believe they did that?” With the flick of a thumb, we absorb endless examples of the exceptional, ridiculous, and absurd. The sheer volume and extremes of input can numb us to the conclusion that nothing is shocking anymore.

Jesus: The Shock That Keeps Shocking

The Gospel of Luke, itself, is audacious and distinctive in several ways. Luke’s recounting of the life and teachings of Jesus places emphasis on the marginalized (poor, sick, foreigners), the roles of women in Jesus’ ministry, and the essential role of prayer and the Holy Spirit. Luke also makes clear the fact that salvation through Jesus is universal – for Gentiles as well as the Jews. It’s hard for us to fathom how audacious this claim must have seemed at the time. The parables of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), and The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) appear only in Luke’s Gospel.

Luke seems to focus precisely on Jesus’ most audacious acts, including:

Eating with sinners.
Healing the broken.
Cleansing lepers.
Defying “accepted understanding.”
Casting out demons with divine authority.
Upending commerce and religion.
Rewriting Law while fulfilling it.
Going willingly to torture and execution.
Rising and returning from death.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also offers audacious words, telling us we can only be first by going last. We should invite the poor and outcast into our homes and to our table. We must cease to sin and reject earthly wealth for heavily treasure. Repent. Forgive. Follow Him.

Why do these words and actions shock us? Even today, in an era where “shock factor” is at extreme levels and frequency, we see Jesus’ words and actions recounted in Luke’s Gospel as radical, audacious disruptions.

Perhaps, that’s in part because while reading them we remain unwilling to follow the example and commands – even knowing the rest of the story: Our restoration to relationship with God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. We forestall, thinking, Maybe He didn’t really mean it literally. Is there some metaphorical compromise?

Mercifully, Jesus is not asking us to do all that he did. But He is calling us to enact audacious courage where we are and in all that we say and do, bringing our own “originality and verve.” After all...

You’re More Audacious Than You Think

For a moment, consider how audacious it is to live.

It takes audacity to raise children in a broken world, hoping they will prosper while knowing they will suffer.
How audacious for the artist to create, believing the world needs another painting, sculpture, poem, or photo.
Are not enough books already written? What audacity for the author to offer one more.
What audacity to pursue a dream, promote a cause, or believe you can make a meaningful difference.
How audacious to reject accepted culture, holding fast to one’s faith and divine instruction.
It takes audacity to forgive someone who hurt you or ask for forgiveness you don’t deserve.

Jesus came to us and embodied audacity at its highest, effectively saying, you think that’s audacious? I’ll show you audacious in ways that are shocking:

Audacious truth.

Audacious love.

Audacious obedience.

Audacious sacrifice.

When you’re deeply asleep, or unconsciously awake, it takes a shock to wake up. When patterns of thought and behavior replay on a dysfunctional loop, a shocking “restart” becomes necessary.

Through the Gospel of Luke and the salvation of Jesus, may we all be shocked into deeper faith and discipleship. Please God, make me more audacious.

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