Mudshot Eyes

The following is what I am calling the take-home from the book. This doesn’t cover his every point, but these are the things that hit home the most with me.

It sounds obvious to say it, but the message of Jesus was revolutionary in every conceivable way. Why?

First, it presented not just a potential future reality, but a present reality. The gospel was good news for the first hearers because it meant a new way of living, immediately. For those who followed Jesus, ideas about God’s radical new kingdom were quickly turned into decisions that altered the way they did things, not just the way they thought about things. If it was an immediate message for them, then it is most certainly the same for us. Jesus’ message invites us to be transformed now, not just in the someday hereafter.

Second, it was inclusive of people who had not yet received it, a point made obvious by the fact that Jesus often ate dinner and interacted with prostitutes, social outcasts, and other “sinners.” What this means for me is that I am looking at people differently. I’m exploring my social-isms, and have found that they are many. For example, Jesus’ message of inclusion means that God may choose to use me to show the gospel to the segment of society that I loathe the most, whoever that may be. This will require a transformation within me that only God can accomplish (with my participation, of course).

Finally, the social and political backdrop of the gospels reveals that Jesus’ intended not only personal implications, but also implications for our social and political decisions. McLaren says it well in this passage from chapter 2:

“. . . This carpenter’s son from Galilee challenges every existing political movement to a radical rethinking and dares everyone to imagine and consider his revolutionary alternative.” That alternative is the kingdom of God, and “if you’re part of this kingdom, you won’t be blindly patriotic and compliant, . . . instead you’ll be willing to confront injustice, even at the cost of your life. You won’t nestle snugly into the status quo, but you’ll seek to undermine the way things are to welcome the way things could and should be” (p. 17-18).

Secret Message placed the message of Jesus uncomfortably close to my real life. I was reminded again that the gospel isn’t a museum where we look at what is presented and say “ooo” and “ahhh.” Instead, it is a living word, moving through our veins to transform us.

(Part 3 of 3 coming on Sunday…)

My first impressions of Brian McLaren’s book, The Secret Message of Jesus, were dead wrong. In fact, I must confess that I made some assumptions about where he was headed. Those assumptions tainted my reading of the first portion of the book, because I drew his conclusion before he did. As I previously wrote, I thought the title and initial portion of the book seemed pretentious. However, “the secret message of Jesus” is simply another way of describing the Gospel. I’m glad I pressed on to the finish––it was well worth it. Before I get into a summary of the book, here are a few general observations:

Throughout the book, I got the feeling that McLaren was reacting to something, but I spent a third of the way through trying to figure out what message he was responding to. The only definitive answer to that is “religious broadcasting,” which he specifically mentions as one of the culprits in spreading an inaccurate picture of Jesus’ message. My best guess is that he is also responding to Christian “pop theology” and your basic run-of-the-mill Christian fundamentalism. There were some points in the book where he went to unnecessary effort to point these things out. I doubt that there are any significant numbers from that crowd who are reading this book, so I felt that it was a waste of time.

Fortunately, his cynicism about their message led him to look at the Bible in its historical context. The view he gives into the stories which surrounded the writing of Scripture is what I appreciate most about McLaren’s book. There’s more to understanding the Bible than just the historical background, but it is an area that has been often overlooked in popular Christian theology.

For example, he discusses the idea that the book of Revelation is not primarily a book about specific future events, but is a book about the challenges of the immediate present. The early church was under heavy persecution from the Roman government, and needed a message of hope; hope that the reality of God’s kingdom was the source of their confidence and joy, even when facing death. John’s Revelation provided that hope for them and gives every generation a beautiful picture of God’s ultimate victory over any evil “principalities and powers.”

Because I already agreed with a lot of what he wrote, McLaren’s interpretation of the gospel didn’t feel as ground-breaking to me as it seemed to be to him but I was thankful for the way he articulated it with Scriptural and historical support. It helped me clarify some questions I had about how the message of Jesus was meant for first and twenty-first century people.

(Part 2 of 3 coming on Friday…)

Today’s QOTM (quote of the moment) is from Sarah Cunningham, a former megachurch staffer, now author and high school history teacher in Jackson, Michigan.

“Few people see Christianity as a shift of allegiance that prompts us to make personal changes in beliefs, habits, and lifestyles. We must continually examine our churches to make sure our message is one that requires transformation.” *

That’s a good reminder that if our weekly worship and religious regimens don’t translate into real obedience on Mondays, then it doesn’t matter how fluently we can talk theology. A couple of good check points for me include:

Am I treating my wife and family with love and respect?

Do I regularly berate people in my thoughts and conversations?

Can I accept the people I interact with without requiring them to change first?

My answers to these questions on a regular basis give me a good idea of how much transformation I’ve allowed to take place in my heart lately. Also, I receive unbiased and sometimes painful answers to these questions when I let the people I’m close to answer them about me.

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*Quote was taken from the Out of Ur blog. Originally from “Dissing Illusionment” in the Winter 2007 issue of Leadership Journal.

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If you’ve read any portion of The Message, Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, then you know how dynamic it is. In this month’s issue of Relevant Magazine, there’s an excellent interview with Peterson in which he gives some answer to those who believe his translation is too dynamic. Pick up a copy of the print magazine to read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

A lot of people criticize The Message, saying that you changed the meanings of certain passages. They say it isn’t a “literal” translation.
There is no “true” translation of the Bible because one language doesn’t translate literally to the next. Hebrew and Greek don’t translate literally into English. There is a context with each language, there are colloquialisms, there is the language of the street. Jesus used the language of the street in His day. I tried to do the same for our day.

But don’t some critics say, “Translation is betrayal”?

They do. But we’re translating all the time. Preachers translate Scripture every time they preach. Reading is a type of translating. I have come to believe that people who call for “literal” translations prefer unthinking to thinking.

It doesn’t take much looking to find evidence that evil and suffering are a reality. The tragedy at Virgina Tech this week was no exception. Especially significant was the death of Professor Liviu Librescu, a survivor of the Holocaust. April 16, the day of the shooting, was also Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Interviews with students revealed that Librescu died shielding his students from gunfire.

No matter how much money is made or how secure a person is in their circumstances, everyone is touched by evil and suffering to some degree. Yet the Bible consistently calls us to trust God, and to be thankful for his care. Some have chosen to dismiss the difficulty of reconciling a trustworthy God with inexplicable evil, but to ignore it only lessens our ability to communicate God’s trustworthiness.

We can move beyond the mystery of evil and into a deep trust in God, not by explaining why evil occurs, but by knowing that God uses broken people and infuses their lives with meaning. He is not in search of the successful brokers of power and accomplishment, for upon his return, “Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but scars.”

Where do we take the miasma of pain, suffering, and evil? Philosophical speculation and rational reflection suffer shipwreck on the shoals of the enormous difficulty. The only territory left to explore rivets our gaze on the vast, unbounded ocean of the glory of God.
- From Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning

I’m reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren and enjoying it, even though I’ve not bought in to his every point. I’ve wanted to read one of McLaren’s books for a while now, and my brother-in-law Brad gave me this one as a gift, so I figured I would start with it since it is his latest.

My first impressions started with the title. Upon seeing it I was immediately unsettled. The cover of the book shouted, “Can I have your attention everybody! Brian McLaren is going to tell us the secret message of Jesus. You think you know what Jesus was saying, but Brian is now going to explain what he really meant. And we would still be in the dark if it weren’t for BRIAN!”

I know that takes it a little far, and every author tries to give us a fresh perspective when they write (that’s the point of reading a book, right?). However, his title and first chapter seem pretentious.

The idea behind the title is that the deepest message of Jesus is hidden, only to be discovered by those who “look hard, think deeply, and search long in order to find it.” I hope it is possible to still understand the deepest meanings of Jesus’ message if I don’t agree with McLaren’s every point!

Our relationship didn’t start off very well, but I’m giving the book a chance because I share something important with McLaren. I also have a frustration with the way the message of Jesus has been distorted by extremes in some corners of Christendom. Well-known spokespeople on the left and the right sides of the spectrum have said things supposedly from a Christian perspective that make me cringe. Like McLaren, I think it is important to be sure that more than one voice is heard in the discussion of what the message of Jesus looks like when it is lived out in the present day.

I’ll post more praises or peeves as I go along in the book.
(My next question: Does McLaren want us to believe that Jesus is a Democrat? We shall see…)