I have such high hopes for the participants of this reading group. Maybe, with Wright's help, we will all be enthused and challenged to see Jesus in deeper and more meaningful ways. Much of contemporary Christian teaching and experience is so reductionistic that it actually misses the point. The depth of the New Testament gospels are reduced to mere preparation for Pauline theology. God's work in the world gets reduced to forgiveness of sin. Heaven gets reduced and distorted into an escape or reward, and the list could go on and on.
Who is Jesus, really? What has he done and what is he doing? And why does it matter?
I like what Wright says in the video embedded below:
If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you're not just a spectator, but you're actually part of the drama which has him as the central character.If you're interested in thinking about Jesus and open to rethinking some of the limited and oversimplified perspectives you may have about him, I encourage you to read Simply Jesus and if you're able, join our next book club discussion.
I can't say enough good things about Wright and his advice on how to read about, and truly understand, Jesus through the Gospels. In fact, it was his advice and view that made it click for me about how the earliest Christians did it. We know that the Gospels weren't written until decades after Jesus' death, or longer, so it is likely that oral tradition and history was used by the disciples to spread the gospel.
ReplyDeleteFor me, that makes the prospect of understanding the parables, teachings, anecdotes, and witness accounts of Jesus so much more accessible. Your imagination must make up the setting, the scene, and the affect of the gospel stories. Early Christians weren't likely to be as literate, or have access to scripture and writings as 21st century Christians. They had to listen to the stories as told, remember them, and immerse themselves through imagination. Nobody was handing them tracts or giving PowerPoint presentations. The first disciples were storytellers, and the first believers likely found themselves so moved and affected by how they related and understood Jesus' humanity that they could remember and retell the eyewitness accounts as well as those they heard it from.
That is how I want to read, learn, understand, and remember scripture, and in particular the Gospels. I want to immerse myself in the storylines, feeling the effect of catharsis in every lesson, and in every scene, so that I can retell them as oral history, from my heart, rather than just reading words on a page.