I wrote this after watching preachers and politicians rile people up in Jesus’ name while saying things that seemed opposite to the love, mercy, and forgiveness I understood Him to teach. Somebody else may read it differently or emphasize different things. But when they start telling me what I have to believe and where I’m wrong, I can read His words for myself.
This song grew out of that disconnect between what I was hearing from them and what I was reading for myself.
Lyrics
Bible worn and black beneath the pulpit light
You circle words in red ink
Then sharpen them like knives
There's folded hands behind you
While you tell us wrong from right
And a frightened boy sits wondering
If God despises his life
I went looking through the words
That Jesus left behind
And some of what you're thundering
I simply couldn't find
If Jesus never said it
Why'd you make it His command
If He never drew that boundary
Why'd you draw it in the sand
He talked about love and mercy
Forgiveness least of these
If Jesus never said it
Why's it everything you breathe
There's a preacher on the television
There's a politician too
Both telling me what Jesus wants
And what He wants me to do
One can fill a collection plate
One can turn His name to votes
Both can wrap themselves in scripture
While forgetting what He spoke
If Jesus never said it
Why'd you make it His command
If He never drew that boundary
Why'd you draw it in the sand
He talked about love and mercy
Forgiveness least of these
If Jesus never said it
Why's it everything you breathe
Maybe faith is just a lantern
Shaking in the wind at night
Maybe doubt is just the shadow
That it throws against the light
I don't need to know the answers
To know where I should begin
If I'm gonna follow Jesus
I ought to start with Him
If Jesus never said it
I won't put words into His mouth
I won't build another kingdom
Just to keep somebody out
I'll start with love and mercy
With the stranger and the least
If Jesus never said it
Don't put those words on Him
You can tell me what you believe
You can tell me what you've read
But before you tell me what God hates
Tell me what Jesus said
And show me how He loved