teachings,+the+secret+message+of+Jesus+(1)

Troubling Questions about Jesus
(Kai Stormwalker) (An excerpt and questions from chapter one of "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian McLaren. This is a terrific book. If you are interested, you should look for it.)

“What if Jesus of Nazareth was right - more right, and right in different ways, than we have ever realized? What if Jesus had a message that truly could change the world, but we’re prone to miss the point of it? What if we have developed a religion that makes reverent and honoring statements about Jesus but doesn’t teach what Jesus taught in the manner he taught it? What if the religion generally associated with Jesus neither expects nor trains its adherents to actually live in the way of Jesus? What if the core message of Jesus has been unintentionally misunderstood or intentionally distorted? What if many have sincerely valued some aspects of Jesus’ message while missing or even suppressing other more important dimensions? What if many have carried on a religion that faithfully celebrates Jesus in ritual and art, teaches about Jesus in sermons and books, sings about Jesus in songs and hymns, and theorizes about Jesus in seminaries and classrooms. . . but somewhere along the way missed rich and radical treasures hidden in the essential message of Jesus? What if many of today’s religious leaders - among whom I must be counted - are among the last to get the message of Jesus and the first to reduce, oppose, distort, or suppress it, just as they did in Jesus’ day? What if Jesus had actually concealed his deepest message, not trying to make it overt and obvious but intentionally hiding it as a treasure one must seek in order to find? If that’s the case, why would Jesus ever do such a thing? How would we find his message if he had indeed hidden it? What if Jesus secret message reveals a secret plan? What if he didn’t come to start a new religion - but rather came to start a political, social, religious, artistic, economic, intellectual, and spiritual revolution that would give birth to a new world? What if his secret message had practical implications for such issues as how you live your daily life, how you earn and spend money, how you treat people of other races and religions, and how the nations of the world conduct their foreign policy? What if his message directly or indirectly addressed issues like advertising, environmentalism, terrorism, economics, sexuality, marriage, parenting, the quest for happiness and peace, and racial reconciliation? Would we want to know what that message is? How much? Would we be willing to look hard, think deeply, and search long in order to find it? Would we be willing to rethink our assumptions? What if the message of Jesus was good news - not just for Christians but also for Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, New Agers, agnostics, and atheists? And what if the message of Jesus also contained warnings - for Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, New Agers, agnostics, atheists - and for Christians too? What difference could it make in the lives of individuals, in their families and neighborhoods and circles of friends, and in the world at large? Those are the questions we are going to explore…”

- Brian D. McLaren

A. Have you ever thought about any of these things?

B. Do you think there could be deeper meanings to the teachings of Jesus than we usually encounter?

C. Is it possible that some traditional meanings of the teachings of Jesus could become distorted and passed on from generation to generation without question?

D. Do you think there could be some teachings of Jesus that aren’t being taught in most churches, or at least not being taught the way Jesus would teach them? What might they be?

E. Could there be “rich and radical treasures” in the teachings of Jesus that we are missing? What might they be?

F. Have you ever noticed who Jesus chastises? ( see Matthew 23)

G. How did Jesus treat the average people that he encountered? (see John 8:11)

H. What could this scripture mean? “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” - John 1:17