Hi Guys,
The holidays are over, so I thought I'd start posting again. I've just finished reading ReJesus the new book from Hirsch and Frost, fabulous book really insightful, and as usual when I got to the end of it I could hardly articulate in my mind one thing that stood out to me in the book, some times I think I read too fast and don't digest enough.
So I resolved this time to re-read the book and underline and note my thoughts and reflections, and I thought it might also be helpful to post some of them here too.
The first chapter of the book is titled 'How Jesus changes everything' and it explores how vital having a true understanding of who Jesus was/is is to our lives as disciples and followers. The authors, make a very valid point that over a period of time the Church has over emphasised the divinity of Jesus resulting in an otherwordly, ethereal Jesus who we can worship but can't follow, which is ironic because Jesus in the Gospels calls the Disciples to follow him on a number of occasions but never demands their worship.
In reflecting on this point it occured to me that this kind of Jesus is quite convenient for many of us middle class christians because on the one hand we can write lovely songs about our love and devotion (queue the Hillsong CD) for this Jesus, and get all the good feelings we like and on the other minimise the call to follow him because well he's God and he's not really human like us.
Thinking about this has made me realise how I still have a long way to go when it comes to identifying with the real Jesus as the writers of the Gospels describe him. The authors suggest that we need to be studying and reading and dwelling on the Gospels and seeking to be captivate by the flesh and blood Jesus found there.
Cheers,
Nigel
4 comments:
When i was thinking about your post i realised that the place where i get stuck in the question of who is Jesus is seeing Jesus in others. I get that you can see Jesus in other followers coz he lives in them etc etc. But when in the Bible it says 'when you did this for the least of these you did it for me' that gets harder. Is Jesus in all people? We are all created in the image of God so does that make the answer Yes?
If so then if i have a relationship with Jesus then i should be able to recognise Jesus in all people. Does that make sense?
Well there you go that is as much as i can string together
See Ya
Katrina
Interesting idea about how Jesus never asked for wotship but rather called us to follow him. Certainly the epistles read as if the early Christians worshipped Jesus e.g. Phil 2. I guess they were working through what it meant for Jesus to be God incarnate, part of the Trinity but at the same time they knew the flesh and blood Jesus and didn't in any way want to minimise his humanity. I think we are to both worhsip and follow and maybe to follow is worship and to worship is to follow. Our problem may be more with our understanding of worship as singing songs of praise more than anything else.
Rachael
Hi Katrina here
Where does it talk about worshiping Jesus? Thought id ask instead of trying to look myself. sorry thats really lazy isnt it. I re read you comment then read Phillipians 2 and still don't know was that where you meant?
I definately have had to find out what it means to me to Follow/ worship Jesus, not having a place to do community, forced singing as worship has meant that if i believe that worship is important that i have to redifine what it can look like, however i have found that for me all forms of recongnition and imitation(not a great word but all i could come with)of Jesus are part of my worship, which is definately more following than singing too but does indeed include the latter.
Katrina
Rach,
To clarify a little, I think you're spot on about worship, my reading of what Hirsch and Frost are getting at is more the love song to Jesus type stuff, rather than reverence and putting Christ at the centre of our lives. I agree with the authors that sometimes by singinging feel good songs and all agreeing how wonderful Jesus is we can actually avoid the implications of his life and his testimony and his ministry has for us as his followers.
Cheers,
Nigel
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