Spiritual Hiccups - Making Sense of Jesus

Reading the gospels it's pretty clear that lots of people didn't know what to make of Jesus.  I'm not sure things have changed all that much, except perhaps that people now have to contend with lots of Christian versions of Jesus that don't necessarily look all that much like the Jesus of the Bible.

Today's reading in John tells us that people were arguing about Jesus, some saying he was crazy and others wanting to know how a crazy person could heal a blind man.  Finally, they ask Jesus to help them. "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."  But Jesus' answer is a bit indirect.  He says that he has already told them, but they haven't believed him, adding, "The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me."  I guess he means that healing a blind man is a pretty straightforward answer.

In our day trying to figure out who Jesus is can be even more difficult because of all us Christians who say so many contradictory things about him.  Depending on who you're listening to, Jesus hates gays, wants women to be subject to men, and thinks tax policies should favor "job creators," or he favors the poor, prefers the company of sinners, and won't allow his followers to use force or violence.

Maybe we'd do well to take Jesus' advice in today's gospel, to look at what he does and says letting these things testify to who he is.  This is sort of how we Protestants got started half a millennium ago.  Luther and Calvin and others looked at the Jesus they saw in the Bible and thought, "Hey, this isn't the same Jesus we've heard about from Christians, from the Church."

There's a chapter in Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz where he's talking about an atheist friend who has struggled with the idea of God and faith.  Apparently God has been pursuing her anyway, and after much wrestling with her emotions, this friend has spent the evening reading Matthew. Then, unable to stop, she read Mark's gospel, too.  Early in the morning, she emailed Miller, telling him about all this.  She concludes, "This Jesus of yours is either a madman or the Son of God.  Somewhere in the middle of Mark I realized he was the Son of God. I suppose this makes me a Christian.  I feel much better now.  Come to campus tonight and let's get coffee."

Either madman or Son of God; that sounds about right.  And I wonder if we don't all need to come to a moment like that.  If this Jesus business has never seemed a little bit crazy, I wonder if we've really met him.

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