Monday, January 21, 2013

Simply Jesus

Chapter 3 - The Perfect Storm

1.  Ever the master of focused analogies, Wright introduces this chapter by giving us the analogy of "The Perfect Storm."  What do you remember of this actual event from October of 1991?  Did you see the movie?

2.  He continues, "Those of us who study and write about Jesus find ourselves at the mercy of our own perfect storm."  He then goes on to illustrate the various "winds and cyclones" produced by the very mention of Jesus.  Taking Wright's lead, how would you characterize this "tropical storm" we presently experience around us?

3.  Next, Wright discusses "The Distortions of Skepticism and Conservatism."  Quite accurately, he summarizes our common dilemma: we oversimplify complex problems.  Bingo!  "Jesus, as always, gets caught in the middle - along with a good number of his followers."  As you reflect on your own history, what kind of exposure or involvement have you had with either or both camps?  How does this convenient rush to "oversimplification" serve to widen our gulf of understanding and squash our desire to seek common ground?

4.  In "Two Jesus Myths," Wright describes the true nature of these two camps:  the first myth, the high-pressure system of conservative Christianity...and second, the skeptical new classic modernist myth.  By "myths," Wright means "a story that purports to be in some sense 'historical' and that encapsulates and reinforces the strongly hold beliefs of the community that tells it."  He goes on, "The underlying problem with both these myths is that they pose the question in the wrong place."  Where do you see these two "myths" at odds with each other in our context?

5.  The third element of this perfect storm is "the sheer historical complexity of speaking about Jesus."  Wright aptly draws another excellent analogy with the life and death of John F. Kennedy.  Here's the catch:  "If we don't make the effort to do this reconstruction, we will, without a shadow of doubt, assume that what Jesus did and said makes the sense it might have made in some other context - perhaps our own." He continues, "If, trying to make things simple, we fail to recognize this multilayered complexity, we will simply repeat the age-old mistake of imagining Jesus in our own image or at least placing him, by implication, in our own culture."  Bingo again!  

So...what are the major barriers today to doing real history and discarding perpetual ignorance and bias?  How do we meet this challenge together?  (Don't you just love easy questions?!)

6.  Wright concludes, "What matters...is that we need to understand how world views work."  Ah, but that requires some real work on our part...perhaps even a subsequent change of view and values.  Risky and time-consuming stuff, indeed!  "So how can we go about the task of trying to understand Jesus himself?"  Wright replies to his own question: "There comes a time when it may be appropriate to stand back, having heard it all, and to have another shot at saying, 'Actually, I think this was what was going on.'  This, I think, is one of those times."  This includes "getting our minds and imaginations into Jesus' own day by examining another 'perfect storm,' the one into which Jesus himself was walking."

Where is Jesus leading you to further deepen your understanding and appreciation of his life, his mission, and his invitation to believe and follow?

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