Table of Contents | Inns Along the Way: "The Jesus Room" (1) Liberating Jesus from the mythical matrix by which he has been framed for centuries is a demanding and well-nigh impossible task. The Jesus Seminar has been working at this task for many years. They have concluded that the Jesus of history was involved in the same basic conditions of life as a peasant in the first century. In fact, he was a peasant. He met those conditions, however, as one who was determined to live by his alternative social vision. Therefore, to quote Roy W. Hoover, from his insightful essay entitled "Incredible Creed, Credible Faith" in The Once and Future Faith, "The challenge this Jesus poses for us isn't so much to follow in his footsteps as it is to catch a glimpse...of his vision of 'the good life' -- life ruled by God's gracious generosity and goodness as light for our pathways in the modern world." Walter Wink claims this challenge for his book The Human Being. He asserts that the story of Jesus is "the simple story of a person who gambled his last drop of devotion on the reality of God and the coming of God's new world." For him "the gift of Christianity to the world...is not Christianity but Jesus, revealer and catalyst of our true humanity." If you choose to investigate who this Jesus is, you will find here a perspective written with the following in mind. The exploration of what it means to follow Jesus will move in directions that don't include the Jesus of current religious opinion expressed by the televangelists. This popular image of Jesus bears little resemblance to the portrait of Jesus painted in the New Testament. The popular image portrays him as one who is for what we are for, against what we are against, goes where we go and stays away from people and places we stay away from, goes to a "seeker friendly" church when and where we go, blesses our business and makes us prosperous, flies our flag, waves our banners, fights our wars and cites our orthodox doctrines. Despite the fact that he did none of these things while he was here, some believe that he would do all of these things now. The Jesus of the New Testament was rugged, courageous and the center of controversy. He was not welcome in Nazareth or Jerusalem. And he wouldn't be welcome in the homes of many religious folk today because he is so careless with his invitations about who can journey with him. He invites anyone and everyone. If a person is serious about following Jesus then this New Testament portrait of Jesus is the model. Following this one is far more than just seeking out his teachings. Those are just words and they aren't the center of discipleship. What he did or refused to do, what was done to him and his response, his daily walk with people and how he and they reacted and related, this is involved in following Jesus. A serious commitment to his vision of God, the Empire of God, life and people can force a person to abandon Puritan ethics, moralisms and legalisms. When we internalize his quality of spirit, his way of life and his vision of gospel (for the lack of which the world is hungry) then life takes on zest and meaning that I have found absolutely liberating! If you send me a brief reflection about your discipleship then consideration will be given to posting it here. You can reach me at this address: (BobSueSand@aol.com). |