Ted Grimsrud—April 29, 2021

I suspect there is a very fine line between growing up to be a sociopath and growing up to be a prophet. I know of a story from about sixty years ago. There’s this little first grader, let’s call him Teddy. His teacher thinks he has done something severely wrong and confronts him. He denies everything, vociferously. You did too!, she snaps. No, I didn’t! Then the teacher pulls the trump card available to teachers in that time and place—she hits him. What’s interesting is how Teddy reacts. It makes him mad, and he never imagines that he was in the wrong. It certainly didn’t scare him to get into trouble—at least not when he was mad. This could be a sign that he would grow up to be a sociopath, or, maybe a prophet. Or maybe a little of both.

Now the story we have from Jesus’ youth is a little different. But we do see that when he was twelve already he showed a lack of fear about getting in trouble. To his parents’ chagrin and without their permission, he stays behind to visit with the teachers in the temple. Maybe one way to see this story is as part of his training in becoming a troublemaker.

Jesus as troublemaker

Several years ago, I came across the idea that, in trying to figure out what Jesus was about, we have one clear historical fact. He was killed as a troublemaker, executed by the Roman state as a rebel. So, whatever else we might want to say about Jesus, if we are to take his life seriously, we must account for that event. What did (and what does) it mean that in such a fundamental way, Jesus was a troublemaker?

Let’s note several biblical passages that seem to speak to the troublemaking theme in the broader biblical story.

The word of the Lord came to me saying, “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “I am only a boy.” But the Lord said to me, “you shall go to all to whom I send you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you. Out of the north disaster shall break out. I will utter my judgments against my people, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have worshiped the works of their own hands. But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. They will fight against you; but I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1:4-8, 14-19

You, O Lord, are my refuge; you have redeemed me, faithful God. I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. I am the scorn of my adversaries, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” Psalm 31

The high priest arrested the apostles. During the night an angel opened the prison doors and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” The next day, they were arrested again. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things.” Acts 5:17-32

Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answered, “John the Baptist, or Elijah, or an ancient prophet arisen.” He asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus sternly stated, “I must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the leaders of our people, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Then he said, “If any of you want to be one of my followers, you must deny yourselves and take up your cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:18-25

Continue reading “The Troublemaker [Jesus story #8]” →

Ted Grimsrud—April 26, 2021

I stumbled across a quote from James Thurber, the American humorist who died about 50 years ago: “All people should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.” That’s a good word about understanding Jesus’s identity—one who lived a life of running toward mercy, the path to what matters most. Then I found another quote, a profound thought from a great philosopher—Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” In our story of Jesus, he comes to a fork in the road and takes it. And challenges us to do the same. Our question, as we read the story, is: What is this fork a choice between? Another way to ask the question: What about Jesus’s choice led to his death?

Why pay attention to Jesus?

I continue to ask the question, why do we pay attention to Jesus? Remember Albert Schweitzer’s image of modern-day people seeking to discover the historical Jesus. Modern historians peer down into the well of history and see a face and think they have found the actual face of Jesus—and don’t realize that the face they see is just their own. Schweitzer’s point is that historians, like everyone else, project themselves onto whatever image of Jesus they think they are recovering.

Now, I believe this kind of projection is not a fatal problem; we can’t help but see ourselves in Jesus. We wouldn’t pay attention to Jesus if we did not somehow think that he can help us understand ourselves, see ourselves better, become our best selves. Of course, we also wouldn’t pay attention to Jesus if we didn’t think there is in him something beyond ourselves, if we didn’t think that it is indeed possible to see something true, something of God, something that actually challenges us.

Continue reading “Jesus’s identity—and ours [Jesus story #7]” →

Ted Grimsrud—April 12, 2021

One way to read the history of Christianity is as a constant, and consistent, effort to evade the actual message of Jesus with formal theology and with alliances with kings and emperors. Yet time after time, the gospel struggles forth, and people are reminded, yes, he calls us to love our neighbors, he calls us to resist domination, and he calls us to care for our children—and all other children.

A common way that Christians have answered the question, why do we pay attention to Jesus, is with a kind of slogan: “He’s the Son of God.” In this post, I want to take that slogan very seriously. Yes, he is the Son of God. But what does that mean, to say Jesus is the Son of God?

Let’s read parts of several biblical passages that directly or indirectly speak to this question:

The kings of the earth set themselves…against the Lord and his anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” [This king says,] “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you. I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” (Psalm 2:1-9)

Here is my servant, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching. Thus says God; I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isa 42:1-9)

I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll. Then one of the elders said to me, “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb standing as if it had been slain. He went and took the scroll. “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you freed for God saints of every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:1-10)

Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority. If you will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” When the devil had finished, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time. (Luke 4:1-13)

In light of these texts, what are some words or phrases that come to mind to say what you think of when you think of Jesus as “Son of God”?

Continue reading “Son of Adam, Son of God [Jesus story #3]” →

Ted Grimsrud—April 9, 2021

A number of years ago in some South American country, so the story goes, there was a white wall on the side of a grocery store where the face of Jesus suddenly appeared after a thunderstorm. Hundreds of people came to pray to the image of Jesus and some of the sick went away cured. But then, a few days later, there was another thunderstorm, and this Jesus figure was revealed to actually be just a picture of Willie Nelson—there had been a poster of Willie on the wall that had been painted over some time before and the rain had washed the paint off. Now Willie’s pretty cool, but it was the picture of Jesus that brought the crowds. People do pay attention to Jesus.

With this post, I want to continue further reflections on why we pay attention to Jesus, what about his message brings us good news. I suggested in my first post in this series that many elements of the popular interest in Jesus in our society and actually around the world do contain quite a bit of wisdom. The motivations that fuel paying attention to Jesus for many people (Christian and non) often flow out of a desire to embrace life, to live compassionately, and to impact the world for the better.

I hope in these posts to look more closely at the actual gospel story of Jesus, maybe in part to challenge, deepen, and correct the popular impulses—but I think, also, to confirm and affirm those impulses.

Jesus and the Bible’s songs

Our first step in approaching Jesus, I think, should be to situate him in the broader biblical story. Now we could do this in various ways—a barrage of historical facts, a litany of prophesies, or finding biblical groundings for the doctrines and creeds of Christendom. I want to take a different approach, though. Let’s look quickly at a few of the Bible’s songs—words of poetry, words of singing. Now, we will see, I think—as we should expect—when we look at songs, we look at a form of communication notable for its vulnerability, its emphasis on emotion, on intuition, on hope, and on longing.

Continue reading “Singing Down Mercy [Jesus story #2]” →

Ted Grimsrud—April 6, 2021

I recently looked back over the more than ten years I have been blogging at ThinkingPacifism.net. I realized that I have written quite a bit over these years about pacifism, Christian faith, politics, and other topics that have caught my attention (323 posts and counting). But in all that, I haven’t written very much about Jesus. I don’t plan to analyze why, but I am challenged to think about how the story of Jesus might be relevant to thinking about pacifism. So, I am starting a series of posts that will look at the story of Jesus as found in the gospel of Luke.

Jesus as a famous person

Jesus is a pretty amazing guy. Here’s this ancient character in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire. He barely made it to his thirties and then joined countless other expendable people who the Empire considered worth executing.

Yet, in his afterlife, he became surely the most famous human being in world history. I guess somebody had to be the “most famous person,” but you wouldn’t expect it would be a character like this. Now, certainly, the story of Jesus has been twisted and turned, exploited for evil purposes, corrupted almost beyond recognition—but somehow sprouts keep shooting up through the rubble, bringing forth flowers, revealing something of the beauty of the original vision of this prophet who history can’t let go of.

Of course, I doubt I need to persuade my readers of the beauty of this vision—it seems self-evident, if we are going to think about pacifism we will want to think about Jesus. But we don’t necessarily think carefully about Jesus. I think it’s good to bring to the surface our convictions, our reasons for paying attention to Jesus.

But let’s start with a moment of reflection—what is your gut response to this question: “Why do you pay attention to Jesus?” To stimulate your thought, here are a couple of Bible passages—the first, from Isaiah, speaks of a vision the prophet was given about an agent of God’s healing, a vision Christians later related to Jesus. Second, a statement from Jesus himself from the gospel of Luke that in a sense addresses this question of why we should pay attention to him. It is his response to being asked about his own identity.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching. (Isaiah 42:1-4)

The disciples of John [the Baptist] reported all these things [that is, Jesus’ teachings and healings,] to him. So, John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” When the men had come to [Jesus], they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’” Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” (Luke 7:18-23)

Continue reading “Why we pay attention to Jesus? [Jesus story #1]” →