The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Jesus
In my book, Who Do You Say I Am? Comparing Your Jesus to the Christ of the Bible, I write extensively about the many forms into which Jesus is distorted to suit human desires. The title and premise of the book stem from Matthew 16:13-17:
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.”
While there is much to unpack in this passage, there are two key takeaways:
One form of Jesus I did not discuss in depth in my book is the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Jesus”—a Jesus focused almost entirely on tolerance and niceness, and like so many other characterizations, at the expense of Scripture.
If you’re unfamiliar with the television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which my generation grew up with, it was created by Fred Rogers, who, in addition to a degree in music from Rollins College, graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and became an ordained Presbyterian minister. He was particularly drawn to child development, and while attending the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Child Development, he began a collaboration with child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland, which lasted over 30 years.
He began his work in television largely because he “…hated it so, and I thought there’s some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen.”[3] Rogers was shy and introverted as a child, recounting being lonely and bullied, and saw television as a means of reaching and encouraging children like him. After college, he began working at NBC in New York as a floor director and assistant producer of various shows. In 1953, he returned to Pittsburgh to work at public television station WQED to develop the children’s program, The Children’s Corner.
In 1963, Rogers was invited to Toronto, Canada, to develop a 15-minute children’s program called Misterogers for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), which ran from 1963-67. After a series of successful children’s shows for the CBC, in 1968, having acquired the rights to Misterogers, Rogers returned to Pittsburgh to develop and host Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001. Reruns continue to run on various public television stations.
The purpose of the show is summed up in the lyrics of the song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” which began each episode:
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood, a neighborly day for a beauty. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. So let’s make the most of this beautiful day, Since we’re together we might as well say, “Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?” Won’t you please, won’t you please? Please won’t you be my neighbor?
Rogers was determined to provide children a safe, welcoming place to connect, to learn, and to be a good neighbor to others—a life he had not known as a child. The show was filled with creativity, innocence, and life lessons, including difficult topics such as death, divorce, fear, anger, grief, and even racism.[4]
Mr. Rogers’ calm, gentile voice beckoned us to join him and his friends in their neighborhood. It was a welcome respite for many who, like Fred Rogers as a child, were not living in that kind of neighborhood. Yes, it was mythical and a bit corny, but it imaginatively promoted a kinder, gentler world—a world most of us naturally desire.
Thus, it makes sense why we often hear Jesus described like Mr. Rogers—a welcoming, tolerant, safe person who teaches others to love themselves and their neighbors. A role model of decency, moderation, acceptance, and kindness. A perpetually “nice guy.” Most would like to live in that neighborhood.
Is this an accurate description of the biblical Jesus?
While many pine for a world like Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, the reality is so different. This doesn’t make the call for decency wrong or unworthy of pursuit. We desperately want Jesus to be like Mr. Rogers because it makes sense to our natural minds. Whether Jesus is the Savior of the world, or simply a great religious teacher, He must be a perpetual “nice guy” in contradiction to a world so lacking in civility, moderation, rationality, and moral clarity, so disdainful of objective truth and reality. Right? Didn’t Jesus Himself say, “Love thy neighbor as yourself!”
Sure sounds like Mr. Rogers! Yet that’s not the whole picture.
When Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” He was not endorsing a subjective view of who He is; rather, He was drawing a line between what we think and what is biblically true. Mischaracterization of Jesus by the world has gone on since His coming was prophesied in the Old Testament.
For example, the Jews believed the Messiah would be an earthly king who would destroy the enemies of Israel and establish an earthly kingdom centered in Jerusalem. We see this perspective even in some of His early disciples in the New Testament. Having been resurrected from the dead, Jesus met with His disciples, where they asked:
“Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [5]
They were operating from a faulty perspective, not fully understanding Jesus or His purpose.
From there and throughout history, Jesus has been portrayed as everything from never having existed to being a ghost (Docetism), from a hyper-tolerant hipster guru to a fake prophet, from a mere mortal to a failed messiah. While I extensively cover the comparison between these views and the biblical Jesus in my book, for this blog, I’ll stick to the Mr. Rogers comparison—Jesus, the soft-spoken, tolerant, nice guy.
Indeed, Jesus was kind and compassionate. Quoting from Isaiah 42:1-4, the apostle Matthew writes of Jesus:
“Here is My [Father God’s] servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He has brought justice through to victory. In His name the nations will put their hope.”[6]
There’s plenty of evidence in Scripture that Jesus had compassion for the poor, downtrodden, weak, rejected, abused, and disenfranchised. He left the 99 in safety to go after the one lost sheep.[7] He dined with tax collectors and sinners.[8] He saved an adulterous woman from being stoned to death.[9] He taught us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, to turn the other cheek, and to forgive others when they harm us.[10] His “golden rule” was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as we would want to be loved.[11]
Again, this sure sounds like Mr. Rogers, but the story doesn’t stop there.
While He was not purposely combative, Jesus was resolute and fearless in challenging errant beliefs and behaviors. He often rebuked the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, and quite forcefully:
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”[12]
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”[13]
I don’t see Mr. Rogers saying something like that!
Jesus even got frustrated with and rebuked His own disciples. A man approached Jesus with his demon-possessed son, explaining that His disciples had prayed but could not cure the boy. Frustrated, Jesus responded:
“‘You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at once.” [14]
Traveling to Jerusalem one day, Jesus and His disciples stopped in a Samaritan village where they were greeted with disdain. In response, James and John asked:
“Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” [15] Jesus responded by reprimanding them.
Jesus even harshly and publicly rebuked one of His closest disciples, Peter, who tried to keep Him from going to the cross:
“But turning around and seeing His disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’”[16]
I don’t see Mr. Rogers rebuking his team, especially not in public!
The point is that the biblical Jesus is both loving and corrective, tolerant and restricting. This is expressed biblically, akin to proper parenting:
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father, the son in whom He delights.”[17]
“He who spares discipline hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” [18]
The biblical Jesus wasn’t above correcting, criticizing, or even rebuking others. He didn’t hesitate to call out sin, nor did He turn a blind eye to it. He is the embodiment of truth and love, and we are instructed to walk this pattern out as His followers:
“…keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”[19]
“As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.”[20]
Biblical love includes accountability, boundaries, and consequences. Yes, biblical Christians are to avoid becoming Pharisees who judge others without love or mercy,[21] yet love without accountability, tolerance in rejection of God’s character and plan for His people, is equally not biblical.
To the consternation of the religious leaders of His day, the biblical Jesus most certainly dined with all manner of sinners. Yet this was never about advocating lifestyles; rather, it was to engage people where they were to invite them to a different “neighborhood”—an eternal kingdom. But as Jesus also said:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”[22]
Love, compassion, mercy, and boundaries.
[1] Matthew 24:23-27; 2 Corinthians 11:4, 13-15; 1 John 2:18, 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1, et al.
[2] John 6:44, 14:6; I Corinthians 12:3
[3] Schuster, Henry (February 27, 2003). “Fred and me: An appreciation” at CNN.com.
[4] Although homosexuality was never a topic on the show, François Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons, was gay, which Fred Rogers knew. Rogers treated Clemmons with kindness but instructed him to keep his homosexuality under wraps for the sake of viewership and Clemmons’ career. In fact, to this day, the official Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood website makes no mention of Clemmons being gay. The more public purpose of Clemmons becoming part of Rogers’ show was that he was a talented, black opera singer. Wanting to showcase African Americans and police officers in a positive light was quite a radical step during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
[5] Acts 1:6
[6] Matthew 12:18-21
[7] Luke 15:3-7
[8] Matthew 9:10-13
[9] John 8:1-11
[10] Matthew 5:44-45; Luke 6:27-28
[11] Matthew 22:37-40
[12] Matthew 23:33
[13] Matthew 23:27-28. Matthew Chapter 23 contains eight “woes” addressed to the scribes and Pharisees.
[14] Matthew 17:17-18
[15] Luke 9:51-56
[16] Mark 8:33
[17] Proverbs 3:11-12 (Reiterated in Hebrews12:5-6)
[18] Proverbs 13:24
[19] Jude 21-23
[20] 1 Timothy 5:20
[21] Luke 6:36-42
[22] Matthew 7:13-14
Pondering 