We can all agree that Jesus, the radical scandalous god-man was a resonator. He was profoundly tuned into the wavelengths of God and humanity, so much so, in him they seemed to be in unison. When we look at how he plugged into humanity it is obvious that the comfort of his audience was not a significant consideration. In fact, Jesus taught in a manner that engaged his listeners and challenged them. He had a way of taking them to a liminal space where he disorienated peoples religious beliefs, ideas about God, politics, power and wealth. Feeling their world fall out from under their feet, they grasp for the only thing available, Grace. Jesus was anything but crystal clear, simple, and easy to listen to. Even now, when we engage his teaching through the Gospels, it is a puzzle to which he never have all the pieces. To reduce it to certitude, rigid dogma and doctrine, to timeless creeds is to take the profound mysterious redemptive imagination of Jesus, and reduce it to "our" truths. Reading the gospels is like looking at a road map. We can second guess what the journey is like, but until we put our feet on the ground and navigate the broken landscape of humanity...the gospel is never experienced.
He doesn’t give us 3-point alliterated sermons, that you plug in and play to make your life better. He gives you a life, and death...a journey that boggles the human mind. He just says, "follow me", not to a church, a temple, a synogue or a mountain. He questions, but unlike the "bible answer man", he seems short on providing answers. He seems to enjoy watching us wrestle.
Profoundly, if any kind of truth can be found, it is that in this journey we discover the clearest revelation of what abundant humanity is.
I wonder how comfortable he would be at church on a Sunday morning?
August 30, 2014
ron cole
trying to live faithfully...search, revealing, and building the Kingdom
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