The Radical Jesus

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving all! We had a really great big dinner earlier today, all 50 of us. We each cooked an assigned dish and all chowed down together. Overall, it was pretty American. We had 6 turkeys, mash potatoes and gravy, homemade stuffing, mac and cheese, bread, veggies, and apple pie. What I’ll miss the most about this Thanksgiving is Grandma’s cranberries and yams, (I don’t even think they have them here) Auntie Joy’s pumpkin cheesecake, and a good salad (I think mom usually makes it). Ok, take a deep breath ‘cause here comes the deep stuff…

I’ve been reading a book for the last week and a half that has completely rocked my world. And when I say that, I don’t mean it’s simply a good book. It’s a book that has completely turned my perspective about life and the church upside down and calls me to action. I know this may seem cliché, but I’m serious! If you want to have a paradigm shift about who Jesus REALLY is and how he ACTUALLY wants us to spend our lives, check out Exiles by Michael Frost. And keep reading…

After reading this book, I feel as though I’ve never really read the Gospels as they were intended. Just reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John will shake things up. Jesus was a radical! He did not live His life idly; He did not simply sit in a pew in the temple for an hour and a half each week and listen to a preacher. He truly lived; He messed up people’s lives. Most of the time, we tell the awesome revolutionary stories of the Bible as children’s bedtime stories. We talk about Jonah getting swallowed by a whale in a soft, sweet voice and tell little kids that they, too, need to listen to God’s voice. But do we really hear ourselves?? Do we believe what we’re preaching? How about the fact that Jesus gave sight to the blind, fed thousands, healed the infirm, and raised the dead on a daily basis! Does that ever cross our minds? Sometimes we make Jesus into this super of-course-He-could-do-all-these-things-because-He-was-God, man. But remember, though He was 100% God, He was also 100% man. Ok, my head’s spinning already and I’m just getting started, but stay with me.

In light of all this, the apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of the same name, wrote two important things that I want to note. First, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” John 21:25. Jesus performed even more miracles than were recorded! He began a revolution.

Now here’s the kicker, this one gets me every time. Jesus tells us that we will do even GREATER things than He! Here are His words: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” John 14:12. Jesus is talking about miracles here. He believes in us so much that WE will do even greater things than He. Because Jesus no longer lives on earth, but has gone to the Father and, thus, sent His Spirit to guide us and be with us as we perform “greater things.”

So let me try to sort this out. While Jesus was on earth, this God-man, He performed miracle after miracle. And He calls us to follow Him? And He says that we’ll do even greater things? YES! We have a tendency to over deify Jesus and proclaim that we could never live up to His example. Guess what? That answer is also YES!-we can never live up to what He was, but he calls us to try and follow in his footsteps. He says that we will have an impact on this world. He was 100% man. He cried, got angry, frustrated, found joy in the small things, and had many other emotions, so we know that it is possible for us. We forget that Jesus was normal! He spent the most time with hookers, the poor, and the lost. He never forgot them; they have His heart.

So what is required? Well, if we go back to John 14:12, all that is required is faith in Him. The One who gives us power, the One who has sent His Spirit, the One who performs miracles.