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Click here to access articles from other past issues of the SGM Journal/Newsletter: Archives.
We place a nearly complete selection of key articles from each issue of Refresh on the SGM website. Printed copies of the full Journal is available by mail. There is a suggested donation of $5 per issue (New Zealand subscribers) to help cover costs of publication and postage. Simply email our Administrator, Carole Hunt, with your name, postal address and email address and you will be added to our mailing list:
We are never without another major challenge to the Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ. The books, film and ongoing debate around Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is the most recent. The publication of 3rd century Gnostic gospels, the “Jesus papers” and novels purporting to throw new light on the life and family of Judas Iscariot have come one after the other. This issue of Refresh is not intended as a rebuttal of this recent barrage, rather a response that focuses us again on the richness of the New Testament witness to him in his birth, life, obedience, death, resurrection and ongoing presence.
Whatever our form of devotion to Jesus, and there are many that have arisen in the life of the church and beyond, there is one simple truth we can't ignore. And it is that whenever we read the Gospel stories we enter into a moment of encounter with this one who has so gripped people's imaginations that he can't be ignored.
It's as if we meet Jesus again and again for the first time (as Marcus Borg puts it so aptly) as he woos, probes, encourages, stirs, blesses and invites us to engage more deeply, affectively and intellectually with him in our situations of life and faith. He won't lie down or go away! He can't be tamed or petted like a zoo exhibit. He can't be banished to the museum of history. He keeps on getting his hooks into us and fascinating us again and again.
In this issue of Refresh we are seeking to encourage fresh insights into Jesus, fresh engagements with him in the wide breadth of who he is portrayed to be in the New Testament documents. Philip Yancey's book title of The Jesus I Never Knew makes the obvious, but oft forgotten truth, that we never can encompass him in all his reality and that there is so much more of him to discover. One of the limitations of the various forms of Jesus devotion is that they tend to limit our understanding of him to the particular way being promoted or presented, often out of a particular historic context, person's experience or event. Other limitations centre around theological stance and doctrinal formulations which, important though they are, can be very concrete ways of controlling him and who he wants to be to us, for us. Even “modernity” and this scientific age distort and confuse who and how he is for us by limiting the mystical and miraculous.
So, devotion to Jesus, fellowship with him and engagement with the New Testament material about him, have to be seen as a lifelong exploration with new insights and vistas, fresh angles of encounter that keep unfolding.
Our suggestion in this issue is to engage with him in all the variety and richness of who he wants to be for us over a lifetime and not be caught, and therefore limited, by any one way however rich it may have been. This is an activity that is particularly suited to a contemplative, reflective, devotional approach. It nourishes a more mystical stance to life and faith and shifts intellectual challenges away from the issues of modernity and a scientific view as sacrosanct, back to the immensity of incarnation, cross and resurrection and the implications for life today.
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the Prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had born a son; and he named him Jesus.
(Matthew's Gospel 1:18-25. NRSV 1990.)
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. …
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” …
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
(Luke's Gospel. 1:1-4; 26-38. NRSV 1990.)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ….
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. … From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
(John's Gospel 1:1-5; 14, 16-18. NRSV 1990.)
But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage.
(Galatians 4:4-5. The Message. Navpress. 2002)
It has long seemed to me that Jesus as a credible human being, let alone a divine being, has been badly let down by his human presenters. Anxious to impress his significance on their contemporaries, theologians, church authorities and artists have combined to create a number of classic images - stereotypes, now -which may still impress the faithful but look oddly irrelevant today among the billions of pictures which clog our minds and imaginations, thanks to the media.
The Byzantine Christ in Majesty stares down from the mosaics with apparently frowning face and unseeing eyes; the Man of Sorrows wears his crown of thorns at a cocky angle on the latest Easter Listener, his mild eyes and cosmetically enhanced face showing little sign of real suffering or sorrow; and I am drawn to remember a childhood Sunday School poster-image of a handsome, bearded, white Jesus in a beautiful garden, wearing a white robe and surrounded by adoring children, one of whom asks 'Why do you have those holes in your hands?' The holes are virtually invisible; in direct contrast to the Mel Gibson caricature of a human body almost obliterated by sadistic and prolonged torture.
Jesus in childhood fares no better: there he lies swaddled in a white cocoon, or rests (good little baby) in Mary's arms, or sits upright in the Temple, meek and mild, surrounded by attentive and adoring old priests - one wonders, were any of the Jewish priesthood ever young? Indeed, was Jesus ever a boy who ran and jumped for joy, who turned cartwheels in the sand, who showed any of the wild whirling energy and undisciplined emotions of any real human child? No, most of us apparently prefer the passive Jesus, the meek and mild Jesus, the God-possessed, unlaughing man, the kindly friend, the helpless hanging victim. No wonder that the English poet Swinburne railed against the 'pale Galilean' who had blighted the red-blooded passionate lives of his fellow Victorians.
My sense of this Jesus is altogether different, and I have tried to express it in a hymn. The text draws on many sources: Charles Causley's Ballad of the Bread Man, the pumpkin-headed scarecrow in Hayao Miyazaki's animé film, Howl's Moving Castle, the wonderful children's picture book, Jesus' Day Off, by Nicholas Allan, and best of all my own grandchildren's frenetic rushing about and play-acting and unrestrained tears and laughter. Isn't it time the Christian Church gifted its own Wondrous Boy with at least such human energy and delight? We might even begin to interest the unbelieving world again.
In my church we premiered this hymn with Sunday-school children bouncing on three small trampolines. Try it for yourself, at least in your head.
JUMPING JESUS!
Jumping Jesus, Jumping Jesus, jumping up all over the place, doing cart-wheels, turning hand-stands, leaping up with a smile on his face. Jumping like a Jack in the Box jumped right out of a hole in the rocks. Jumping out ahead he goes; if we follow where he shows he will keep us on our toes, jumping Jesus.
Jumping Jesus, Jumping Jesus, jumps between the earth and sky, fills my head with dreams and visions, makes me think that I can fly. Jumping like I jump on the bed; jumping with me, as he said. jumping through my days and years, jumping through my hopes and fears, jumping through my joys and tears, jumping Jesus.
Jumping Jesus, Jumping Jesus, puts the bounce into my life, takes my hand and whispers softly, 'love's the thing, not war and strife'. We will leap together so: jumping, jumping, here I go! Learning how he does that trick, bouncing on his Pogo stick; off he goes - I'd best be quick - Jumping Jesus.
Colin Gibson
“Who are the people saying I am?”
Matthew 16:13
Who were you, Jesus to the people of your day? Up and coming healer miracle after miracle building your reputation Grade one magician producing endless bread and fish from empty desert hats Forthright speaker challenging the hierarchy's crooked leading
Who were you, Jesus? John, Jeremiah, Elijah offered as they tried to pin you down fit you into a mould they could all understand
Who were you, Jesus? Son of Mary Son of Man Son of God True picture of earth's Creator blasting forever the stern, unfeeling God-idea so firmly believed allowing them to hear to see to touch the flesh and blood that throbbed with life and hope and love
Who are you, Jesus? Deeply significant historical figure no longer relevant in today's fast moving world your name on lips of millions but not in prayer? Pal, buddy, mate casually taken for granted by modern believers?
Are you an add-on a bit on the side that gives our lives more zing, pizzazz?
As we move one day closer to Eternity who are you, Jesus?
Anna Johnstone The God Walk.
Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13 + footnote. NRSV
WHEN DID FAITH IN JESUS BEGIN? by James Dunn
The significance of the step being advocated here … should not be missed. For it is tantamount to asserting that faith goes back to the very origins of the Jesus tradition, that the Jesus tradition emerged from the very first as the expression of faith. In so saying I do not mean that the tradition was formulated only in the light of Easter faith, as Wrede and the kerygmatic theologians have assumed. I am referring to the first stirrings of faith which constituted the initial, pre-Easter disciple-response. I am asserting that the teaching of events of Jesus' ministry did not suddenly become significant in the light of Easter - much more significant … as various markers in the gospels indicate, but not significant for the first time. The suggestion that the remembered Jesus was wholly insignificant, unfascinating and unintriguing, having no real impact prior to his death and resurrection, is simply incredible. Peter and the others did not first become disciples on Easter day. There was already a response of faith, already a bond of trust, inspired by what they first and subsequently heard and saw Jesus say and do. … Only so can we explain how the Jesus tradition is so rich and full as it is - hardly the deposit of casual and vague memories first jerked into faith by Easter. … it is the recognition that Jesus can be perceived only through the impact he made on his first disciples (that is, their faith) which is the key to a historical recognition (and assessment) of that impact.
James D. G. Dunn. Jesus Remembered. Eerdmans Pub. 2003. 132
Marcus Borg tells the story of being invited to talk to a men's group about Jesus and to make it personal.
“Nobody had ever asked me to do that before. I had given hundreds of lectures about Jesus, but nobody had ever said, “Make it personal.” It was a challenge. Not being sure how to proceed, I wrote the words Me and Jesus on a piece of paper, began to think about them, and was led to memories and reflections about Jesus in my own life. It was a rich and illuminating experience, and I encourage you to try this yourself sometime. Simply begin, as I did, with your earliest childhood memories of Jesus, track them through adolescence and into adulthood, and then see what happened to your image of Jesus over the years.” Borg. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. 1995 p3.
As you read these articles and are reminded of your own first discoveries of Jesus we invite you to do a Me and Jesus reflection over the time you have known him and see how this has developed and how it is now.
Was Jesus born in this Bethlehem spot?
Not a nice stable at the back of an inn, but the animal end of an ordinary house-cave among the dung and the feed? Did Mary breathe deep, hold and push
in this underground
smoke
Did Joseph stand helpless among the men safe away from the blood, pain and tears around a fire warmed against the winter chill?
Did the whenua of God lie on this star shaped spot where millions have prayed?
Is it here God inhaled that life - giving breath, and exhaled that first joyful cry?
I don't know! And none of it matters … Unless Jesus is born in me this Christmas Unless I breathe life afresh with God Unless I leave the helpless men at the safe end of my cave and join the woman in the messy hand dirtying work of giving birth to God's world today.
John Hebenton
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
“You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
Not only that - count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens - give a cheer, even! - for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”
Matthew 5:1-12. The Message. NavPress. 2002
JESUS THE STORY-TELLER AND POET by Adrienne Thompson
A child and his mother wander through fields at the edge of town. Their eyes scan the ground for twigs, dry leaves and scraps of rubbish, anything that could feed their little cooking fire. It's a daily chore, but also a daily companionable walk.
At the beach a woman slips off her engagement ring and puts it on to the wing of her glasses which she leaves on her towel as she goes for a swim. Later, coming blindly out of the water she snatches at her glasses, forgetting the ring which flies off into the sand. The woman, her husband and children hunt for what seems like hours, sifting sand through their fingers, but the ring is never found. The children remember the anxiety of that hunt and the sadness in their mother's eyes.
A parent listens to the news and hears of the catastrophic collapse of a building which has killed several people. Aghast she thinks - I've been there! That could have been me or one of my kids.
These are stories of events I've experienced or observed. Stories dredged out of memory because I want to make a particular point. Stories I have spent time on, choosing the words in which I tell them, shaping them for my audience. In a minor way I am, or try to be, a story teller.
So I wonder, what did it mean for Jesus to tell stories?
Words from my childhood have stuck in my mind. It's nearly 40 years since I stopped reading my King James Version of the Bible. But the phrase floated into memory: “the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth”. (And courtesy of Google and the Bible Gateway website I even found the reference: Luke 4:22.)
The Bible is inspired, Jesus was inspired, Jesus taught about God. Words “proceeded from his mouth” and I had a mental image of inspiration being entirely external and magical. In another verse “He opened his mouth, and taught them,” says Matthew 5:2 (KJV again). As if the words were all there, pre-packaged in his brain and all his mouth had to do was recite them. Those were my assumptions and I never gave much thought to them. But that changed when on my first silent retreat I immersed myself in the Gospel of Mark and began to try, with intellect and imagination, to understand the man Jesus. A mechanically - inspired mouthpiece of God didn't inspire me at all. I began to wonder.
Here was a man passionate about a great Idea - the Kingdom of God. Did he ponder and brood and chew on it, absorbed in its many-coloured, multi-textured implications? Did he seek for the words and stories that would express and explain it? As he walked and watched, did images fix themselves in his mind? Birds on the path ahead of him, pecking up seeds. Pure, thirst-quenching spring water bubbling out of the ground. A woman taking a handful of leaven and mixing it through stone-ground flour, stirring and kneading dough until it is smooth and elastic, letting it rest and rise. Did Jesus know the creative joy of playing with images, tossing them around his mind, savouring each one? Did he experience that click in the brain or thump in the heart that says “Yes! This is how I can tell it. This is how it will work!”?
Jesus was story teller certainly, and probably poet as well. I'm told that translated back from the Greek into Aramaic his recorded words have a memorable poetic cadence. There's evidence that he loved the Psalms; he quoted them even on the cross. Did his mother, who sang her Magnificat before his birth, sing more songs of her own making to the child Jesus? As he learned to read and recite in the synagogue, (rows of little boys cross legged on the ground swaying back and forth as they chant in unison) did the words of ancient Scripture become the store room from which he would draw treasure? (Matthew 13:52).
Jesus observed: the farmer ploughing and planting, the gardener pruning and fertilising; the housekeeper lamp-lighting, mending, bread-making; the fishermen sorting their catch; the employer taking on staff; the children playing at weddings and funerals. Every-day routines became for him, and then for his hearers, metaphors of God's kingdom infiltrating among us. Jesus listened to people talk: reports of disasters like the collapsing tower (Luke 13:4); debates about political issues; conversation about social events; even discussions about party manners. And perhaps Jesus remembered. Did he, like children I've watched in Bangladesh, go with his mother to pick grass for the oven? Did he watch and help as my children have watched and helped me as I knead and shape dough ? Was it his mum or one of her friends who hunted so desperately for a lost treasure that she became for Jesus an image of God's searching love? From memories, observations, and everyday interactions, Jesus shaped his stories. Thinking about Jesus as poet and story teller has added a new dimension to my relationship with him. God's creativity, blazing in stars or secret in seed-pods, has always held me in awe. It's wonderful because it's beyond my reach. But Jesus' creativity is expressed in human words. Stories. Word-pictures. Jokes (who wouldn't laugh at the idea of someone gulping down a hairy, humpy camel?). Poetry. Pungent one-liners. I can relate to that creative process. Jesus becomes for me not a remote, divine figure but a real person who used his creative energies to communicate astounding ideas to real people. Like me.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same.? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:43-48. NRSV 1990. He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”
Mark 8:34-37. NRSV. 1989
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” The he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Mark 9:35-37. NRSV. 1989.
“Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
Luke 6:24-26. NRSV. 1989.
“Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?”
Luke 6:39. NRSV. 1989.
A scarecrow hoisted high, A nonsense pointing nowhere, To all who hurry by.
Can such a clown of sorrows still bring a useful word? Where faith and love seem phantom, and every hope absurd.
Can he give help and comfort to lives of comfort bound, When drums of dazzling progress give hollow worldly sound?
Yet love that freely entered the pit of life's despair, Can name our hidden darkness, And suffer with us there.
O Lord, now that you are risen, Help all who long for light Give me your hand of promise, As I walk into the night.
Brian Wren |
