Simply Jesus...by N.T. Wright

Chapter 2 – The Three Puzzles

N.T. Wright states right from the get-go that “Jesus is unavoidable.”  Where, outside of your own church activity, have you seen Jesus lifted up in our culture and the world?  How does this very public (both religious and secular) depiction of Jesus differ from your understanding and worship of Jesus?

Wright also notes that Jesus is deeply mysterious:  “Jesus puzzled people then, and he puzzles us still.”  Three reasons are given…

First, Jesus’ world is a strange, foreign country.   Most of us in the West find the people and customs of the Middle East to differ significantly from our way of life.  Pushing those differences back to biblical times creates for us even greater confusion. 

Where do you struggle the most to comprehend the life, language, and goals of Middle Eastern culture…both now and then?

Second, Jesus’ God is strange to us.  Wright says, “It isn’t enough to ask whether someone believes or does not believe ‘in God.’  The key question is which God we’re talking about.”  (I recently came across a T-shirt that read, “May the God of your choice bless you!”)  In Jesus’ case, his depictions of God were not only different, but completely new.

How do you react to your pastors (who you love and trust implicitly) when their preaching or teaching presents some aspect of God or Jesus in a new way to you?  (Eschatology quickly comes to mind here!)  What process allows you to integrate learning and expanded understanding into your thinking and believing?

Third, Jesus spoke and acted as if he was in charge.  In other words, Jesus wasn’t afraid to lead…despite the violent reactions and outcome.  Remarkably, Jesus’ death did not diminish his effect on the world…it only became stronger.  Jesus had now launched “the transformative new project this God had planned all along.  And his followers really believed it had happened.” 

Such talk of someone new being in charge has always been dangerous…remember Al Haig?  While our culture seeks to keep politics and religion separated, this wasn’t the case for Jesus and his culture.  If Jesus presided over both worlds then, how does he seek to lead us in all aspects of life now?  What are the barriers we erect to subjugate this?  What can we do to be a part of the ongoing transformation of the world Jesus seeks today?