Integrative Post!

My understanding of the historical Jesus is what really was deepened in this class. Who he was as far as Jewish culture is concerned, and the day and age which he lived. It was two of the books we read for class that did this. The book Out of Egypt really helped me put life and imagination to ancient Israel. I could picture the temple in my mind and see the crowds of people flowing in and out. It gave my mind’s eye something to focus on. Also the book The Challenge of Jesus presented the historical arguments and the theology that backs it. I loved that book. It helped me see Jesus as truly a part of that culture.

One of Jesus teachings that is SO very significant for me is his teachings on the Beatitudes. It’s reflected throughout the rest of his ministry as he lives out the upside-down kingdom described by these Beatitudes. There are so many teachings of Jesus that mean so much to me, but I want to live in this Kingdom of Heaven that he talks about so desperately and so I give myself to his teachings on the Kingdom.

People that don’t understand Christianity need to understand that Jesus is about abundant love. He came to give us life, and that life in abundance. His love is abundant in that he loves people WHOLLY. He loves their physical situations and their spiritual situations. He is not dualistic at all in ministry or in conversation. He loves people where they’re at, but does not tolerate that they stay there. I think people in general have a good perception of Jesus but they need to know about his abundant love about every aspect of their life and that he sacrificed himself for EVERY part of our life, not just bits and pieces!

The excellent books that we read surprised me. I thought they were priceless and they really added to my knowledge about Jesus and helped me deepen my friendship with him. I was excited to sea the list of books at the beginning of the year, but I really had no idea how much I was going to be encouraged but such wonderful readings. NT Wright is one of my favorite modern day theologians and I was reading his books before school began this semester and will continue to read his books into next year!

If I was going to teach this class I would definitely keep the books that we read. They were so helpful to me and I loved reading them. I would also encourage people to blog like was required of us. It makes us think, reflect and interact with the text. What a wonderful thing! I would change the course by making it much less class interactive. When we are being writing on the board what other people said, and taking notes on it, I don’t feel it really has any legitimacy. It’s just what someone thought of 5 min ago rather than a whole century ago by someone way smarter. More lecture would be preferred, and within those lectures should be DEEP research. Not just surface level facts. Power point slides should be congruent with each other and I would deeply DEEPLY know the information.

Wright Chapter 8

I loved Wright's conclusion to his book. IT was so wonderful to see him bring all this etheral talk about historical Jesus down to earth in such a practical way. Seemingly, the church is headed towards a more culture-changing paradigm rather than a "relevant" one. This is so wonderful for us because we for too long have hidden from culture waiting for messiah to come and change culture.

I believe so strongly that we need more doctors who are people living and loving in the the medical field than we need pastors and other people called to "full-time ministry." We need politicians who are kingdom politicians, and nurses who are kingdom nurses and engineers who are kingdom engineers.

The thing is that for too long that we have allowed culture to change the Gospel and not the Gospel to change the culture. There has been a myth that people who are "in the ministry" are the only ones who are pushing forward the kingdom of God. The problem with that whole mentality is that it makes 95% of our days secular and not spiritual. This is when ALL of life is spiritual! How can we lose most of our lives to the enemy rather than live our WHOLE lives for the Kingdom.

Jesus gave us the perfect example of this life. Of one that was not completely defined by the norms of the day but rather by the laws of the Kingdom. This law, is the law of love. I am so grateful for this gift and I am so stoked to live the rest of life by this regard. We will live for the Kingdom, in whatever we do!

Jesus is ALIVE!

While I was growing up there used to be a cassette tape that I would listen to. There was a singing song -book named Salty who would lead kids groups in songs. There was one song that used to get stuck in my head all the time, and now as I think about it it will probably be with me for the rest of the day! It goes something like this, "Jesus is Alive, Jesus is Alive! Jesus is ALIVE! shout hosanna, HOSANNA!" (repeat until mom gets too annoyed to take it anymore).

What makes me smile about that song is it's simple truth, that our Lord and savior is alive. He came, he was born of the virgin Mary, served and ministered as a Rabbi for 3 years, and then was crucified, only to rise again on the third day!

What a story. What's cool about it is that not only did he rise again, he ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father. What a glorious end to an amazing life. There's a verse in scripture about how we are to carry around the crucifixion of Christ around in our bodies. I think we should, I think it's why we celebrate the Lord's supper so often and are commanded by Jesus to do it whenever we gather in remembrance of him.

The real question is, how are we to live by the resurrection and ascension of Jesus? I think the answer lies in living expecting his return. We should live, hoping and expecting Jesus to come back, and be ready for it.

Wright Chapter 7

Wrights chapter was basically the "so now what" chapter of his book. How do we as Jesus followers take all this information about the historical Jesus and apply it to our every day lives? Wright takes on the issue by examining the story of the two people on the road to Emmaus. He does throw a little bit of the historicity of it in, but really focuses on what do we now do today with all the post modernism that's the new wave of thinking about things.

I like how he concludes the chapter by rewriting the story for today but in Dover England. And then, instead o Christ that comes and shares the grand story of it all, it is us, his followers. That's one thing that I love doing, sharing the meta-narrative of what God has been doing in human history. How it all ties together is so beautiful, and I cannot wait to go out and share that with the world around me. It is not just a story, it is, THE story, but more importantly it is OUR story.

We have such exciting news to share and not everyone knows this news. What should I do now that I know that the master has risen? He has revealed himself to me, and I am obliged to share his story. I think it would be super cool to be on a long walk with Jesus and have him explain the whole history of the world to me. THAT would be tale to remember!!

The Crucifixion of the Messiah

The Gospel passages that we were assigned to read were all about the last week of Jesus life before the crucifixion, and they all end on the crucifixion and burial. This is actually a very morbid way to end the story. I mean, I know what happens and that Jesus actually raises from the day and that a whole new story is beginning, but the disciples didn't know that. It really was morbid for that weekend, to know that Jesus who was the full and complete hope for a new Israel was dead.

I can imagine if I was one of the disciples and being with Jesus, seeing the dead be raised, the blind seeing, the lame walking, I'd feel as if I was on the brink of the NEW KINGDOM! Jesus was about to bring about the perfect kingdom of Israel where the Romans would be gone, and the line of David would be re-established but with a GREATER glory than in David's time! Yet, all that was shattered to pieces in a garden late at night. The disciples were so unaware what was about to occur that they fell asleep while Jesus was praying. In that moment in the garden, they begin to see that something was going horribly wrong (or so they thought).

Jesus suprised them out of their socks! Not that they had socks. But they didn't know that at the time. I sure am glad that there was a resurrection. Honestly if there wasn't a resurrection, there's no way that I'd be a Christian. Thanks Lord!!

The Resurrected Messiah (Wright Chapter 6)

This was an interesting chapter to read. I have never dealt with the intellectual side of the resurrection and I'm glad NT Wright brought up the other points of view that people had on the resurrection. I believe that the resurrection is a historical fact, and I like how NT Wright addresses the other views on it. In reality, all the arguments against the resurrection really hold no weight. When you test them and try them against the harsh restrictions of logic and the culture of the time, these alternatives break down. Everything from the words that were used to describe the resurrection of Jesus, to the particular parts of the story that were selected to be recorded all scream that this event actually took place. That is one thing that I love about the Gospels is that they are so real that they couldn't be made up.

On to the resurrection of the Messiah, I love it that Jesus' resurrection is one of the factors that points to his messiahship. It is the reversal of death, but at the same time, it's that he was glorified, not just resurrected, which pointed to his Messiahship. At the same time, there were those who believed he was the Messiah before his death, and then at his death, maybe they no longer believed. I wonder if the fact that he was raised from the dead in solitude without the aid of a prophet or someone else. Scripturally many people had been raised from the dead but Jesus was the only one to do it without the ushering in of the act through one of YHWH's servants.

The Jesus I Never Knew

The Jesus I Never Knew is such a great example of really examining Jesus as to who he was. Yancey took an original approach of instead of explaining who Jesus was in the First Century, and then showing how our perceptions are wrong, Yancey started with our perceptions, and worked his way backwards! The beginning is a great way to invite people into the book, as reader and author both embark on a journey to get to know who this Jesus of Nazareth truly was. Yancey went over Jesus being a Jew, and also what Jesus’ desert temptation reveals about his character.

Another good quality is Yancey’s emphasis on Jesus’ ministry. I feel like he is proportional in his section about why he came with both ministry and death/resurrection. It’s a good balance, whereas I’ve seen in other books too much emphasis on one over the other. In reality, Jesus came for BOTH his earthly ministry AND to die on the cross and rise again. Yancey talks about the Beatitudes in this section on why Jesus came. It’s an interesting section because we sit down and wrestle with what Jesus meant by those famous yet archaic words. Yancey pulls out various levels of meaning from the Beatitudes, which I think could all be true. I have my own take on them, but I cannot wait to talk to Jesus face to face, and find out what his intentions were with the Beatitudes! Yancey concludes the section with two chapters on his death and resurrection, which were so vivid to me, it somehow hit home for me in a special way.

The last section of the book is called “What He Left Behind” and it basically adds application to the whole book. It basically asks the question, “Well, what now?” It’s a powerful conclusion to a fantastic book!

How did this book challenge my thinking? Well, actually this was the third time I’ve read this book. I read it once when I was in high school, and then again the summer before freshman year at Fox. So obviously I’m familiar with the book, and I don’t want to be the guy “oh it didn’t challenge me at all!” with this book, because it did! I just need to explain why I may not talk about some of the larger issues Yancey addresses because he probably challenged me on them a few years ago, but I can’t really remember how currently.

This read through made me really rethink the Beatitudes. The other times that I read the book it was the only literature on the beatitudes that I had ever read so this time I approached it much differently. Last year I looked at several books on the Beatitudes and listened to multiple sermons on the subject, so when Yancey broached the topic my ears perked up as I now had a reference for what he was going to say.

What I really appreciated was a lack of theological acrobatics on Yancey’s part. As soon as theologians spend pages and pages explaining away what scripture says I get uneasy because of course the Bible needs context, and proper context. My issue is when we bend over backwards scripturally to make our thought fit onto scripture. Yancey shies away from this and rather approaches the Beatitudes with a sense of “it could mean this, and it actually could mean this too! In fact, Jesus could have implied several layers to each of these sayings!” It challenged me to not take such a strong stand on what I believe the Beatitudes to mean, and enjoy the mystery offered to us in scripture.

There was one chapter in particular that enriched my understanding of the time after Jesus death, and subsequently a deeper comprehension of the resurrection. “Resurrection: A Morning Beyond Belief” is the title for the chapter, and it really blew me away. I think what was so powerful to me was Yancey’s stories of his own friends dying, thus bringing the reality of Jesus’ death on the cross so much closer to me. I have never been close to death. I’ve never had a member of my family die that I really was going to miss much, or ever had a lot of relationship with. Death has been a part of a dark world “out there” but never close to my heart.

When Yancey depicted his feelings after the death of his friends, I began to think on how the disciples must have felt. And though I’ve heard this a thousand times, it finally made the foot and a half journey from my mind to my heart. This revelation that they watched Jesus DIE. And that’d the end. There was no more Jesus. He was gone. He was gone forever. Death was final. There was no return; it was irrevocable. I can’t even imagine the despair.

Jesus conquered death. Our Lord has vanquished that horrible enemy. What a gift!! Thank you Philip Yancey for pointing that out to me in such a clear way!

Kingdom Parables

What I love about certain of Jesus; parables is that they are completely focused on the Kingdom of Heaven. My favorite chunk of these parables can be found in Matthew 13 where Jesus again and again says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." and then explains! I love all the different terms and stories that Jesus uses to explain this thing known as the Kingdom. He talks about how it's like a mustard seed, that grows like crazy.

Mustard seeds. One mustard seed weighs 1/800th of an ounce. Mustard seeds are TINY. But they grow! In the first century, only mustard farmers were allowed to grow mustard seed. If a person planted them in their yard, it would spread, and soon take over an entire neighborhood or even more! Thus roman law outlawed the used of mustard seed except by professionals. Interesting eh? The Kingdom of Heaven is like an unstoppable invasive species!!

But Jesus isn't done. The Kingdom is also like a PEARL! The Kingdom is also like TREASURE! It's like YEAST! Jesus is so excited about the kingdom that he continues over and over again, explaining what the Kingdom is like. And you know what? If he came around today, he would use everyday objects for us too!

Jesus was a master teacher, and loved using stories that people would remember and tell their children for a long time, about what the Kingdom of heaven looks like. We have a master storyteller weaving our story right now. I find that comforting!

Wright Chapter 5

Was Jesus God?

Yes he was, yes he is, and yes he will always be! I actually really enjoyed Wright's chapter on Jesus divinity. The best party about it was his research on what the Jews during Jesus time period were thinking. I really deeply respect NT Wright as a first Century palestine scholar and am enjoying the insight that he has into Jesus' world. He's right too that we have to understand the culture and people that Jesus was a part of in order to understand what Jesus is truly saying at times.

It was interesting about how much Jesus acts as the new covenant away from the Temple, although I don't think Wright's argument that the Temple and JEsus couldn't coexist in Jerusalem at the same time and thats why Jesus had so much conflict with it. Rather I see Jesus deeply regarding and respecting the Temple. Calling it "My Father's house," and "A House of Prayer." I believe his conflict was with the people of the Temple and how they were using it. Yes it's true that Jesus marks the symbol of the new covenant where he forgives our sins, and he is our place of worship, etc, but I don't think that it puts him exactly in conflict with the Temple during his lifetime.

Jesus has established a new line, a new family, a new covenant. I think this was symbolized at his death when the curtain in the Temple tore at Jesus' death. I think Jesus loved the temple. He had made pilgrimages there for a lot of his life, and I think he honored the covenant between YHWH and Israel across the centuries. And with a smile, he brought the new covenant....

Why Miracles?

I love these passages that focus on the ministry of Jesus. For me it speaks to his Kingdom ministry. Not only was he proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near, he was showing it was! In the Greek, the word used for the "nearness" of the Kingdom of God is a spatial nearness rather then a chronological time based nearness. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom is TANGIBLE and you can reach out and touch it!

He was proclaiming, "Hey! The Kingdom is here! If you don't believe me, here, I'll feed all 5000 of you men! (my guess is since they only counted how many men were there, that meant there were 10000 people there; probably more!). In heaven there won't be hunger, so let's touch heaven here from earth, and give food to EVERYONE and eliminate hunger in this moment where heaven touches earth.

I love how these miracles and healings are all apart of Jesus ushering the Kingdom. He doesn't only proclaim the Kingdom, he touches heaven to earth.

I love that in heaven we won't be hungry, so let's not be hungry on earth! There won't be blindness in heaven, so Jesus says "See!" There won't be paralysis in heaven, so Jesus says, "Walk!"

How does this affect life here and now? Well, I know there won't be loneliness in heaven. I see loneliness here at Fox. I see broken relationships here, it won't be so in heaven. I love this concept!!

Wright Chapter 4

This was a super interesting chapter for me. Wright looked in depth at the person of Jesus and almost his relationship to himself as a Messiah. The interesting part to me was that John Mark preached on the crucified messiah this last week at church, so the whole time I was reading this chapter I had John Mark running through my head.

This was good, but at the same time Wright went very deep very quickly in this chapter. He didn't have the space to flesh out everything he's thinking, but at the same time, all the different aspects of what he's saying about what Jesus believed about himself were hard to track for me.

In his conclusion, Wright brought up two common objections, which was interesting because they were my two objections to the chapter. One, that there's no way that we can know what Jesus was thinking back then, and two, that how does it really affect our walk with Christ today?

His answer to the first was basically that a strong case can be made for what he just argued. To the second he posits that we want to know the real Jesus don't we? As Christians we should want to know the real Jesus rather than some idol that we've made him out to be.

Usually I really love Wright's thinking. But in this chapter he was hard to swallow. This is for two reasons, 1) because a lot of what he was saying is hard for me to digest without doing my own research. and 2) I feel almost insulted that I'm not seeking the "true" Jesus by not taking everything he says at face value.

I respect his opinion on what Jesus was thinking during that time, and he is probably right! But at he same time, I haven't done enough research of my own on this topic to know if what he's saying is worth trusting or not. Until then, I must remain resigned to the other areas of study to which I have committed myself to.

Wright Chapter 3

In this chapter, N.T. Wright addressed some of the main symbols of Judaism and how Jesus was actually responding to them. In conclusion of the chapter he covers what Jesus' symbols of the Kingdom were. The two separations Wright makes are interesting because he brings up a different interaction between the pharisees that I hadn't seen/thought of before. The clash with the Pharisees was not one of the Pharisees being the thought police of ancient palestine, but rather their entire worldview of Judaism.

Jesus was not replacing Judaism, but continuing and fulfilling it! The Pharisees were in a state of self-defense of Judaism and Jewish traditions. They were holding out for the messiah to reinstate Israel. What they didn't expect from Jesus is that he was opening up the story of Judaism to the rest of the world. He was expanding God's plan unto the rest of the world, and the Pharisees were not okay with that. They had forgotten that Israel was to be light to the world, and they were God's plan for salvation for the Gentiles. Jesus came and CLASHED with the Pharisees over this.

The scary part is that we are just as in danger of being pharisees today. I don't mean in the legalistic sense like we usually mean by the temptation to be pharisaical. What I mean is that as Christians we can easily slip into the EXACT same trap of holing up and waiting for our messiah to come and make the world the way we want it. We are CALLED to GO and be the salvation for the rest of the world. Not that we are the saving variable in the equation of salvation, but rather we are to offer and speak the message of the gospel TO THE WORLD!

Let us not be the new breed of pharisees.

Up to the Cross

The section of the Gospel of Luke found from verse 9:51 all the way to 19:57 are the events of Jesus' ministry that are on the way back to Jerusalem where Jesus would be killed on the cross. On top of that, the section in John 13 through 17 is all about Jesus last meal with the Disciples before his crucifixion.

What a journey, what a life. It is in these last weeks of Jesus earthly ministry I think that we can find deeper meaning in every word, in every action. Jesus is a man. Yes he is God as well, but that does not change the fact that he is a man.

Two thousand years ago, he knew he was walking towards his death. He KNEW that if he would go to Jerusalem he would be killed. He knew it. Yet every day, each step bringing him closer and closer to death, Jesus taught, healed, and performed miracles.

Finally, he reaches Jerusalem, and he celebrates the Passover with his Disciples in the upper room. There he gives some of the most crucial teachings in his entire ministry. Jesus pours his heart out to the disciples about his relationship to the Father, and how the disciples are to be in relationship--to each other, to the Father, the Spirit, and himself.

Again and again Jesus echoes his central message of love and relationship. On the eve of his betrayal he hones in on the central and foundational issues that he wants the disciples to remember and know, and 2000 years later, we can read these words, and take them to heart.

A Healing and a Raising

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is the account found in Matthew 9:18-26, and Mark 5:21-43. It’s the story of Jesus healing a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years and raising a synagogue ruler’s daughter from the dead.

This story can be found in both these gospels and in Luke as well. Interestingly, the stories are always paired together. No gospel writer wanted to leave on in without the other. While Jesus is on the way to heal this girl who is about to die, a woman touches Jesus in the middle of the crowd. Something that the people there would have known that we don’t automatically pick up on when we read it is what this woman had just done was SCANDALOUS.

For the past twelve years she’s been bleeding, thus making her ceremonially unclean. If anyone touches her, they are rendered ceremonially unclean. When she goes out in the streets she has to declare herself unclean so that people will know to be sure not to touch her. She’s been ostracized by her community because of this illness, and she places her entire faith on Jesus healing her. She sneaks through the crowd, RENDERING EVERYONE SHE TOUCHED UNCLEAN, all to get to Jesus. Then she TOUCHED THE RABBI—making him ceremonially unclean. But with Jesus, he made HER clean.

Jesus publically healed this woman, because this is what she would need. He declared publically in front of everyone who had been avoiding her for the past 12 years, “She is now clean, welcome her back!” You see, Jesus is about complete healing. The word used in the Greek in Mark means “saved” spiritually. Jesus addressed her problem, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Jesus is about complete healing.

He then goes on to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. This time, he acts in secrecy. Could it be that he didn’t want that little girl to grow up as the freak who was dead, but came back to life? Some would argue that he kept it a secret like so many other things in order to preserve his secret of being the Messiah. I think it could be both, but I know this for SURE—when Jesus raised her from the dead, SHE was his concern, just as the woman who was bleeding was his concern, NOT seeming impressive, or making a statement. Jesus healed them to make them whole.

NT Wright Chapter 2

This chapter of Wright’s book fascinated me. I love listening to Wright as he speaks as an authoritative 1st Century scholar. He brings light into the context that Jesus was speaking. So often we look at the text of the Gospels without truly understanding the meta-narrative of the first century. And when you take the text out of context, all you’re left with is a con!

The larger picture that Wright refers to is that of Israel’s story of being rescued out of Egypt, being told and retold in different contexts. In Jesus’ day, this narrative was told with the Roman Empire signifying Egypt and Israel waited to be rescued by the Lord. Jesus spoke into this with his new Kingdom message. He ushered in this new Kingdom himself. He brought it by his presence, his ministry, and his death on the cross. But it didn’t stop there, he passed on his sacred mission to the disciples after his resurrection and by sending the Holy Spirit.

It’s an interesting perspective to look at everything Jesus said through the lens of the first century. I believe that they were spoken in the context of the day, but at the same time are somehow eternal and applicable today. I don’t think one needs to be a rigorous scholar of the first century to understand Jesus message, but I am so grateful for N.T. Wright and his contemporaries who help the rest of us along in our journeys to understand what Jesus meant.

Out of Egypt

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is a very well written book by Anne Rice. The novel covers just over a year of Jesus’ life as a boy growing up during the ages of seven and eight. The story starts out in Egypt with Jesus living with his family there. Then they return to Israel and are in Jerusalem during the start of a great revolt. Traveling out of the city they go through the war torn areas of the nation as the Romans are fighting to put down the revolutions. Finally, they make it to Nazareth and begin life there. After a year has gone by they return to the temple for Passover and this time bloodshed will not drive them away. All throughout this journey Jesus is trying to figure out what the big secret his parents are keeping from him.

Through bits and pieces throughout the story he learns of special occurrences and circumstances surrounding his birth. Also, Jesus learns that he has the power to give or take life. He can heal and control the weather at will. In this, Jesus knows there is something his parents are keeping from him but they don’t tell him. Finally at Jerusalem for the second time he finds out the whole story of his birth, from the amazing circumstances to Herod murdering all those children in order to try and find him. By the end, Jesus realizes that he is the Christ.

As for points that challenged me or broadened my thinking, I’ve been having trouble identifying parts of this novel that did this. I’m trying to approach this in humility, and not in the arrogance of “I know so much,” or “I am so firm in my beliefs that NOTHING can change what I believe.” In the same breath, I’m not sure exactly how this book is supposed to challenge my faith. Whether or not Jesus killed a boy doesn’t challenge my faith. I don’t believe he did it, but even if he did, apparently he can still be the pure lamb sacrificed on the cross for our sins, to redeem creation to himself. If he is still that, then who cares what he did as a kid, as long as it’s congruent with that.

Or even her belief that Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life, how catholic of Anne Rice! Again, whether or not that’s true has zero impact on my walk with my Lord. I believe that she had sex with Joseph and had other kids by him, but no big deal if that’s not true. I feel like people get hung up on these minor details all the time and forget to see the big picture. I loved the book. I thought it was wonderful and it helped me imagine the environment of Jesus life!
The greatest gift that the novel gave me was to picture Jerusalem and the Temple in my mind. Reading scripture makes it hard to imagine, and diagrams in my Bible (even the ones in color!) don’t help me see it the way that First Century Jews did. On the other hand, I am an avid reader with a colorful imagination and for Anne Rice to do so much research on the temple and to put her imagination into writing helps me picture what the temple must have been like during Jesus time on this earth.

My favorite parts of the Gospels are the ones that put dust in the sandals and smell to the cloaks of the people. I love knowing that just as real and colorful as our world is today, so it was back then. I think it’s wonderful how God created humans, people, with personality, charm, humor, and all the other wonderful characteristics, and we have been interacting with each other from the beginning of time. It helps me walk with Jesus daily, remembering that he walked this earth too. He’s felt the prickle and soft of walking on grass, he understands the hot days and the rainy showers. I love remembering the humanity of Christ; it brings him closer to my heart, and draws me nearer to him. My Lord came as a baby to this earth. He is not a high priest I that doesn’t understand my trials and temptations, but rather he is an advocate for me before the Father. He is my savior, my friend, and I cannot wait for the day, in New Jerusalem where we can walk together by the Sea of Galilee! It’s going to be a good day.

The Gospel of John 2

The Upper Room Discourse

From Chapter 13 through Chapter 17 Jesus is in the upper room for the last supper. He dines with the disciples and shares so much of his spirit with them.

He starts the entire meal by washing the feet of the disciples, serving and loving. He teaches the disciples so much of himself during the entire dinner. He shows them how to serve, and loves them completely in the process.

He shares how he is the only way to the Father. How he is central to the whole faith. And in chapter 15 -my absolute favorite chapter of the upper room discourse, he talks of his relationship with the Father and his desire for his disciples to have that same relationship with the Father.

It's so amazing. The whole dinner is centered on everybody's position to one another, starting with Jesus knowing he is all powerful basically, and then washing feet, and ending with Jesus "high priestly prayer" where he asks the Father for the same connection for the disciples.

It's wonderful how he lays out for the disciples and now us, where he is, where the Father is, and where we are ALL IN RELATIONSHIP TO ONE ANOTHER.

We are the branches. He is the vine. The Father is the vine dresser. I think it shows God's GREAT DESIRE for us to be in communion with him. For us to grow in an intimate relationship with our maker. He created us for relationship and through Jesus gave us the CHANCE for that relationship!

God is so in love with us. And I am SO in love with him!

The Gospel of John 1

I love this Gospel. This is the Gospel that makes my heart glow, draws me closer to my maker and savior. I love this Gospel.

The conversations recorded of Jesus in John that aren't recorded in any other Gospel are the ones that ring closest to my soul.

Of COURSE, when Jesus talks to Nicodemus at night is one of my favorite conversations in the Bible, but a quick second to Jesus speaking directly and privately to the woman at the well.

It's as if the other Gospels record Jesus from afar, yet in John Jesus is so privet and close. From the opening of the book on the Word made flesh, and on to the upper-room discourse, again and again Jesus is so close it seems a secret at first. But as you read deeper and deeper you become ensconced in the intimate friendship of Jesus and those closest to him.

The other Gospels spend so much time talking about the Kingdom of God whereas John mentions the phrase to Nicodemus but remains silent on the issue during the rest of the book. It's as if the other authors were focused on the Kingdom because of Jesus' emphasis on it, but John was so close to the the King it would have been redundant or silly to write on the Kingdom. To try and talk about the Kingdom would be a step back from the deep nature of knowing the King. So John writes, and writes beautifully about this King, this King that is so close....

The Challenge of Jesus 1

I love the search for the historical Jesus. I think that Wright challenges us to a higher understanding of who Jesus was and I really appreciate this. Because of my experience growing up in the Albanian culture, I feel like I have insight into certain passages of scripture that are highly cultural. Through the similarities between Albania and 1st Century Israel, I can see maybe what certain passages are trying to communicate.

To understand Jesus we have to know who he is and was. We need to understand infinite becoming finite. Almighty God, taking on a human body. He took on looks, personality, being male, AND being a 1st Century Jew.

All the above play huge roles in understanding the nature of our Lord. Wright challenges pastors, lay people, ALL CHRISTIANS to seek and understand this Jesus. What a noble cause. Sometimes we hide behind these "very clear" scriptures without understanding the context. Others say, "It's unknowable! There's too much! We can never understand!"

Wright challenges BOTH these positions and says, "There IS context to who Jesus was, AND it's knowable, AND it's OUR RESPONSIBILITY to find him in it."

I look forward to spending a semester seeking a deeper understanding of our Lord, who is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

The Journey to Death in Luke

Luke is such a LONG but wonderful gospel. I love how much teaching Jesus does, but how much ministry is coupled with that. He heals, he casts out demons, and performs miracles, but the thing that caught my attention most in Luke was his journey to Jerusalem. At the end of chapter 9, verse 51 says, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

There are only 9 chapters in Luke about his birth, entering ministry, and then a little bit of his three years of ministry. After that, from 9 to 19, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem, knowing he is headed to his death. I LOVE this about Luke. From 9 on to 19 everything Jesus does, I see as a man who is walking closer each day to death. What a powerful story for Luke to map out for us. The majority of Luke is centered around Jesus death. Starting in 9 the journey begins, then 19 to 21 he’s ministering in Jerusalem and in 22-24 is the crucifixion story. Luke caps it off then with Jesus’ resurrection in 24, but again, it’s amazing how focused Luke is on the story of Jesus death.

This journey towards death adds so much more weight and meaning to the things that Jesus said, and dealt with on his way to Jerusalem. He knew very well his time with the disciples was coming to a close and he was teaching and imparting the essentials, the foundations, and the example of Kingdom living.

I wonder what I would do if I knew my time on earth was drawing to a close...

Who would I spend time with? Would I focus all my time on enjoying my friends? Would I seek to minister and give as much of myself as possible? It's an interesting challenge that Jesus lays out before us.

Matthew Part 2

So much goes on in the rest of the book of Matthew but in keeping with my Albanian Jesus theme, I want to focus on Matthew 21:18-22, where Jesus curses a fig tree.

Since coming to America, I have only had figs once in my almost 2 and a half years here. It was this summer at a friends house, they had figs and I got to enjoy the taste of figs again! It was not quite as good as the figs we used to eat in Albania, and they were much smaller, but figs they remained. It's not that we had figs often at my house, but I remember in our neighborhood when I was growing up, there was a fig tree about fifty yards from our house. It was a giant tree and from what I remember one of the biggest trees in the neighborhood. It had great branches and very distinct large green leaves.

If you cut one of the branches a white creamy fluid, the tree's sap, would ooze out. I remember being about 5 or 6 when my older brother very knowingly explained to me that if that sap got in your eye it would make you go blind. He ordered me to never look up while I walked under a fig tree in case it's sap would drip in my eye and make me go blind. As a dutiful younger brother I did so faithfully for years! I have no idea if it really makes you go blind or not, but whenever I read about fig trees in the Bible, I always picture these lush, huge big trees that were so fun to play in, but also my brother's stern warning to not look up.

It makes me wonder if the disciples had talked about these things as kids like my brother and I. Maybe they had the same affection towards fig trees as myself, but it must have been a powerful lesson to see a lush fig tree wither so drastically because of Jesus command. I'm sure they never forgot it. I know I never would.

Matthew Part 1

I love the Gospel according to Matthew. It has always struck a deep chord inside my being and made me realize the greatness of our Lord. Matthew opens with a long geneology linking Christ all the way back to David, but traces it through the kings of Israel and Judah. From the get go, Matthew seeks to show that Jesus of Nazareth was our King.

Then Matthew covers most fully Jesus brilliant sermon on the mount. In this sermon, spanning from Matthew 5 to 7, Jesus lays out the way of the Kingdom of Heaven. He calls his disciples to a higher calling, a deeper understanding, and living as close to Life as possible. In Texas there are ranchers who don't use fences to herd their cattle. Because these parts of Texas are so dry, the ranchers use wells to keep the cows in certain areas. Fences aren't even necessary because the cows know that the wells are LIFE GIVING and to wander away is death. I think that's what Jesus is saying throughout the sermon. In the same way, yes there are fences BUT HERE IS THE WELL! Drink! Live abundantly! This is the calling of the Kingdom of Heaven, not higher stronger fences, but deeper, cooler, sweeter wells.

The second great part of Matthew dedicated to the Kingdom of Heaven is chapter 13. In chapter 13 Jesus tells parable after parable describing the Kingdom. It's like he's looking at all the different facets of a beautiful jewel and describing each one. It's like the UNSTOPPABLE mustard plant! Did you know that only mustard farmers were allowed to grow mustard under Roman rule in Palestine? People were not allowed to grow it in their yards because of the nature of the plant to GROW, and take over neighbors yards and entire sections of towns! I LOVE that Jesus describes the kingdom almost as a weed you cannot get rid of, because it's true! The world can never weed out the Kingdom of Heaven! Especially, as Matthew points out, with Jesus as our King!

Mark 1:29-34

I guess this would be a good place to explain the name of my blog, "Albanian Jesus." The reasoning behind it is that Albanian culture is very much a Mediterranean/Eastern culture. We have olives trees covering our mountains and fig trees in the valleys. We have the Adriatic sea in the west and the Balkans in the east. In the ancient world Albania was known as Illyricum and the people were the Illyrians. Culturally, geographically, Albania is not far from Jesus time on earth.

I was reminded of this again in reading through Mark. A story that has always stood out to me in this regard is when Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law. I think I used to imagine Jesus walking into the room and taking her hand slowly saying, "Rise, be healed" or something formal and impressive like that. But after a while in Albania, I began to recognize the similarities in culture and people between the Jews of the Bible and Albanians! Then in my head, I rethought our what would have happened if Jesus healed an Albanian woman. He grabs her hand, helps her up off the couch, and she grabs his head and starts kissing his cheeks and his forehead over and over again saying, "oh thank you thank you thank you." Then of COURSE she can't let him leave without feeding him and letting him stay the night! It's her DUTY and especially now that she's capable of it she makes sure Jesus is comfortable and won't go anywhere then busies herself with preparing the nights meal. She is grateful to have been healed, and so excited for the chance to serve.

That's how I imagine the story, and I like to believe it's not too far off from reality. When I think of Jesus in this way, he's so tangible and real to me. He becomes closer to me, and closer to my life when I think how he's concerned with a fever, then he must be concerned with my homework, and all other aspects of my life as well. Of course afterwards he must stay for dinner. :)

Jesus and Me

So, my name is Daniel, and I guess the most interesting part of my life is that I grew up in the little country of Albania. I was born in Greece because my parents were missionaries in the region and when I was 13 months old we moved to Tirana, the capital of Albania. I lived there until I moved to Portland two years ago to start attending George Fox. I'm a political science major here at Fox and have thoroughly enjoyed it! Political science challenges me, makes me think, and I really enjoy the study of it. On top of all that, I really love the Bible and teaching on it. Teaching is one of the ways I feel like I can serve others around me and I work hard at it. I grew up in a nondenominational church and now attend a nondenominational church as well. Both churches are marked by unity, love, and guided by the scriptures.

This blog is all about Jesus. False. Actually it’s about me interacting with Jesus, authors and their ideas about Jesus, and my Life of Christ class. I guess the focus is definitely geared towards Jesus though. Who is Jesus? Gee, where to start. First the facts: he was a man that lived in Galilee about two thousand years ago. He was a teacher and was crucified on a cross by the Romans. After this is gets personal to what I believe, but to me, he wasn’t just a teacher and a rabbi. He was the Christ and is the Christ because he rose again and lives today. He’s our savior, and died on the cross to redeem creation, and reunite us with God.

I think one of the most meaningful stories about Jesus to me is the story where he is asleep on the boat and they get trapped in a storm at sea. The disciples, as some were expert fishermen, knew by the type of storm and severity of the wind and waves that they were doomed. They had grown up on this sea, and were probably still telling stories about the time Uncle Bartholomew went out into a storm like this and didn’t come back! In the world they lived in, this storm meant death. They wake Jesus up and he calms the winds and the seas, then turns to the disciples and asks, “Why were you afraid? Oh you of little faith.” I love that story because it reminds me that Jesus reality functions in a different way than my reality, and if I let him, he makes his reality my reality too.

I love the style of this class. The interaction with Jesus and the authors who are brilliant thinkers is truly how I learn. This type of learning is what I do on my own time so I’m really looking forward to expanding my thinking, building new pathways in my brain, and examining the person of Jesus in a deeper way.

Things that challenge me about Jesus? Well, what doesn’t challenge me about Jesus! In Sheldon’s famous book In His Steps, characters try to make every decision in a fashion that Jesus would for a year. This leads to hard decisions, and good decisions. Honestly, I think it’s Jesus holiness that challenges me the most. His purity and upright nature, call me onward, inward, and upward. Also, I think how he took on the very nature of a servant calls me to greater character transformation, to that of a true, humble servant.