I’m really enjoying this book so far. I think it might make for a good preaching outline.

Currently reading: 15 New Testament Words of Life by Nijay K. Gupta 📚

Finished reading: Following Jesus by N. T. Wright 📚

I’m excited to share some quotes and notes from this little book. It is an excellent read!

"Yes, there was a whiff of triumph on Palm Sunday, but not the kind of triumph that might impress Rome and not the kind that impressed crowds in Jerusalem for long either. What manner of king was this?"

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

This week, let us consider the different manner of king that Jesus was.

Jesus himself had mixed feelings during the clamorous parade. Luke reports that as he approached the city he began to weep. He knew how easily a mob could turn. Voices who shout “Hosanna!” one week can shriek “Crucify him!” the next.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

As we step into holy week this quote has been on my mind. Particularly, “how easily a mob could turn.”

Would I have turned?

Would I have shouted “Hosanna!” and then shrieked, “Crucify!”?

I know of no more poignant contrast between two human destinies than that of Peter and Judas. Both assumed leadership within the group of Jesus’ disciples. Both saw and heard wondrous things. Both went through the same dithery cycle of hope, fear, and disillusionment. As the stakes increased, both denied their Master.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

If this isn’t a “but by the grace of God go I,” I don’t know what is.

Jesus’ response to suffering people and to “nobodies” provides a glimpse into the heart of God. God is not the unmoved Absolute, but rather the Loving One who draws near.

This might be one of the most challenging concepts for many American Christians to wrap our minds around. We have been told for so long that God is non-emotional. Yet, in the person of Jesus, we see God draw near in love. This is the consistent response of Jesus in the Gospels to the people who are on the “outside.”

Indeed, the kingdom of God will grow on earth as the church creates an alternative society demonstrating what the world is not, but one day will be: Barth’s prescription of “a new sign which is radically dissimilar to [the world’s] own manner and which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise.”

I imagine this alternative society would look vastly different from what we see today.

I am 7% done with book and already there are quotes that will be used in a series of talks I am giving this weekend. Whew!

Currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky 📚

Jesus had but to give a nod of agreement and he could have constructed Christendom, not on four shaky Gospels and a defeated man nailed on a Cross, but on a basis of sound socioeconomic planning and principles. . . . Every utopia could have been brought to pass, every hope have been realized and every dream been made to come true. What a benefactor, then, Jesus would have been. Acclaimed, equally, in the London School of Economics and the Harvard Business School; a statue in Parliament Square, and an even bigger one on Capitol Hill and in the Red Square. . . . Instead, he turned the offer down on the ground that only God should be worshipped.

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

Jesus: “Nah, I don’t want Christendom.”

The American Church: “Hold my grape juice.”

As I look back on the three temptations, I see that Satan proposed an enticing improvement. He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of being human without the bad: to savor the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, to enjoy fame and power without the prospect of painful rejection—in short, to wear a crown but not a cross.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

As I continue to consider this, I am confronted with my own desire to wear a crown and not a cross.

In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear.

From: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

I think this might be one of the most significant and under appreciated aspects of the personhood of Jesus. If we are leveraging fear with regards to Jesus then we have missed a central piece of the gospel story.

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey 📚

The virgin Mary, though, whose parenthood was unplanned, had a different response. She heard the angel out, pondered the repercussions, and replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, and in that matter-of-fact response Mary embraced both.

It strikes me how I often think if I’m really doing what God called me to do it will be all joy. But, it’s not. It’s both/and, great joy and great pain.

“I am impressed that when the Son of God became a human being he played by the rules, harsh rules: small towns do not treat kindly young boys who grow up with questionable paternity.”

I hadn’t thought of this, have you? The idea of Jesus growing up in a small town “with questionable paternity,” is one that kind of shakes me. Would I have mocked him? Would I have held him at arm’s length? Was he treated poorly even as a child?

Trying to wrap my mind around Jesus from the human perspective is proving to be a bit of a gut punch.

Currently reading: The Brothers Karamazov: A New Translation by Michael R. Katz by Fyodor Dostoevsky 📚

A sunny day and nice pipe and diving into a bucket list read.

I’ve decided that I have to read Brothers Karamazov. I have started it a couple of times and never pressed on, but it keeps coming up over and over in my reading. I feel compelled to read it. 📚