So I have been reading this book called The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. I hate it. Every time I pick it up I read something that I argue with for hours only to come to the conclusion that he is right. Right now I am in a chapter solely on Jesus. One of his main points for the chapter is the humanness of Jesus, which after arguing with myself over the way he said it I have decided is right. He believes that this side of Jesus is almost completely forgotten by many as of late. One of the points that he made that hit me was such, "We do not think that Jesus thought that the purpose of his life, his vocation, was his death. His purpose was what he was doing as a healer, wisdom teacher, social prophet, and movement initiator. His death was the consequence of what he was doing, but not the purpose." How often are we taught the opposite? That Jesus came to die for us and now we can go to heaven. Okay that's great and true, but we are missing something. We are focusing on the, and to use another thought from Borg, post-Easter Jesus. God the Son raised from the dead. But there is a whole big chunk we forget that Jesus was human.
Jesus came to this world to show us how God would look like in human form. God would love, heal, and teach others how to do the same. Honestly if we could fully get things right, follow Jesus's way, there would be no need for death.
I love this thought because it affirms the need to make Christianity a way not just a set of beliefs. Who gives a crap about whether you believe Jesus died, if you do not turn it into an action. When you no longer care about getting to heaven you start worrying about how to make this world a better place.
I am sorry for the lack of clear purpose to this blog, it is late and my mind keeps jumping tracks. I guess what I wanted to say is that I forget that Jesus was human. He did not want to die. He die because He lived a life as God meant life to be, and was killed for such. And because He lived a holy life we can also. Who cares what happens after death, I want to be known for a holy full life here and now. I want to be known for my love of others, my caring for the sick, my helping the widows.
P.S, please critique this
These are good thoughts. There's a song that says, "I thank you for the time in between." Just saying that we have to appreciate the 33 years before Christ's death. Although, at the same time, we must still hang on to Christ's death AND resurrection because that is what makes the "all human" God also "all God." Does that make sense? Both parts of Him are equally important. Without the human element, He was not a proper sacrifice, nor was He acquainted with all of our grief, as prophesy says. And without the resurrection, then there would be nothing to make Him any different than all the other "gods" and prophets that had gone before Him. This victory over death is where our hope lies. It was the ransom that He paid, buying us back.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Christian!
Thank you, and yes I am in no way wanting to dilute or get rid of the resurrection. Only trying to remember there was a human side. Without the resurrection we would all be dead, but we have it so we need to act on it.
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