This year we will be blogging on topics and reading assignments as an entire class.
I am excited to announce that Ron Barnard will be blogging on the book "The Jesus I Never Knew" weekly. He will blog on the book chapter by chapter throughout the semester and it will be part of your class assignments to comment and ask questions by blog weekly.
Other pastors and writers will be blogging on other topics as well and I will announce those writers as the semester moves on.
For now sign in and sign up and get ready to blog about the kingdom and your relationship with Jesus!
Thanks and God bless
coach
Oh man! It's on like donkey kong ping pong. That's right I did a double ryhme I do it from time to time.
ReplyDeleteYancey talks a lot about how we don't know what Jesus looked like. I keep wondering as I read Yancey's book, "What would Jesus look like if I got to meet him in person? What if I could talk to him and ask him whatever I wanted to?" Yancey points out that there are a lot of different positions and theories about how Jesus might have looked. It's kinda scary thinking about the possibility that some of them could be correct, such as the "Hippie in a world of Augustine yuppies".
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting that the "facts of biography considered essential to modern readers simply did not concern the gospel writers" in relation to Jesus' life.
If I met Jesus in person, how would my current perception of him be changed?
In the book, Yancey talks about Jesus feeling more deeply than people. Other people affected him in their actions and characteristics and he was more emotional,spontaneous, and passionate than regular people. I never thought of Him being that way, and I wonder if I could, in some small way, connect with Him on that level since I believe I am the same way. (Of course, not on the same level).
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the first chapter, Jesus is portrayed as being contradictory to the time in which he lived. I found this both interesting and a bit confusing. The only way that I try to explain this to myself is that Jesus is so complex, there is no way that I can explain what he says and does, all I can do is to follow in faith and remember that, as a human, he was as complex as us, and, as God, was infinitely more complex than we will ever be. Thanks be to God for his infinite complexity and wisdom!
Who is the Jesus I think I know? This is the question Yancey wants us to wrestle with in reading chapter one of "The Jesus I Never Knew." For me personally, this is an exercise that I need to undertake on a fairly regular basis.
ReplyDeleteWhy? Because I tend to view things in a very self-serving manner. Whatever makes me feel better and more secure about myself and my understanding of life's big questions is where I tend to default. I have a need to feel clever and aware when it comes to God and absolutely nothing about this tendency serves me well when it comes to really knowing Jesus.
So maybe like you, I need to strip away even what I think I know and re-approach the Person of Jesus with as many of my preconceptions set aside as possible.
Re-reading this book while I once again examine and teach on the Book of John is amazingly powerful for me.
For me, I tend to forget about the absolute power of the Personality of Jesus. Probably because He walked so meekly through life... I forget that he actually scared religious authorities enough that they plotted murder. The moral religious leaders of His day actually plotted to kill Him because He upset the status quo so much. I tend to miss that untamed part of Jesus, and in a sense maybe de-claw the lion a bit. I tend to forget that all that Truth and all that Grace in one person while greatly comforting to many was also very disturbing in many ways to many as well.
How do you need to be challenged?
What insights or questions has chapter one raised for you?
God bless
coach
I feel like a loser cause almost no one has commented, but....here we go. Who I think jesus is? Physically, I've had this certain image in my head ever since i watched some certain documentary about what jesus would have looked like, based on a cloth they found that was supposed to have been put on Jesus' face when he died. Most of it was a lot of weird scientific dating and coloration, but the finished product of "what jesus looked like" was what an average Jewish man would have looked like beck then. But while i'm thinking about what jesus looked like, i can't help feel like I'm wasting my time. (mabye not wasting it, it was the best word i could think of). Not because its not important, but not as important as other things to me. I don't worry as much about Jesus' skin complexion as i should i guess.
ReplyDeleteI don't really imagine Jesus in person, i see him more and a shadow of a person living in between layers of humanity, well, not in between but more like through all layers. I feel like if i saw jesus, i would never really see him with my eyes.
I guess that could be a problem for me, because i need to "ground" my vision of Jesus to make him a person...or more...person-like. But still, i can't help but think of him as something more than that, because...he was...
But even easier for me, is not to think of ancient-times jesus, or some sort of powerful entity (as in more like God) but just thinking of cool Jesus. I need to rephrase that. I'm reading a series of books, maybe the series is Hero! Anyway, the premise is that jesus never came to the world, and that the current day world is still waiting for Jesus. Anyway, it basiclly tells the gospel through a modern day lens with a government agent looking through. In the book you obviously meet jesus, and the description that they give of him in there, is the one i imagine talking to during quiet time or whatever.
Mabye my problem is that i separate jesus and God too much....or mabye i've just become too comfortable with God and Jesus....i really don't know what you're looking for us to blog coach! i'm sorry!
I picture God like the picture on the cover of the book, not because of the book, but because that is what I've seen all of my life. As far as character goes, I do consider him as a younger Mr. Rogers, a lamb-cradling, long-haired, blue-eyed guy with some sort of acoustic guitar. not literally, but it's that kind of idea. I usually fail to acknowledge his Jewishness, in terms of his culture and also physical appearance. I guess I need to challenge those perceptions, and realize that he is not so easily fit into the box that I want to put him in in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI think alot of times its easier for me to limit Jesus and think of him as someone i can go to with my problems but not one that can really fix any of them.
ReplyDeleteIts so obvious that he has the power to do anything and everything for me, as he displays for us in the gospels, that sometimes i miss it. I guess i tend to think of his miracles as only pertaining to the people they affected in his time on earth, and that he does not work in such vibrant ways today.
In some ways i guess this is true, its not often that we see people rising from the graves today, but at the same time Jesus is still at work in outward ways. In addition to working in or hearts, he expresses his power through the answering of our prayers. I don't have trouble pray for what i want and need, i have trouble believing that Jesus will answer these prayers. so i guess in a way i limit him by not trusting him.
I need to be challenged to give everything over to him and really trust and believe that he will answer my prayers. In some ways i see the stubborn disbelief of the Israelites in myself. I have seen God answer prayer again and again, but i still have trouble when it comes to not worrying about any of it and leaning on him.
But i guess i'm getting into the person of God now...I find it interesting how the Christian world today has become so concerned and enveloped in the physical appearance of Jesus. What does it really matter? I think that when we try to picture Jesus in our heads, without any real evidence, we limit him. Yes, we know that he was not particularly attractive, and that he probably looked like an average Jew. so why isn't that enough? Do we really have to spend time speculating his appearance. I feel like our time could be better spent looking at his spiritual attributes and appearance, rather than his physical.
Well, I'm not exactly sure how I view Jesus and how that limits me. I guess in general I view Jesus (and God the Father too) as not nearly as BIG and "In control" as he really is. I think lots of times we put Jesus in a box, and we think that he did things a certain way but if we totally step away form that we can see that he can do more that we can imagine and is soooo much bigger than we can imagine. I think when we get to heaven and ask Jesus "how did you do..." or "why did you do...." We will be totally amazed cause it won't be anything we ever thought of before, or even that our human mind could handle.
ReplyDeleteSo about Jesus specifically I guess one thing that I kinda see when I read about him is that sometimes he did things that we would call "mean". I guess I sometimes wonder about that because he is so gracious and yet he did and said some things even to his disciples that could be sorta demeaning to them or something. Sometimes when people are trying to figure out stuff about him he does not answer, or gives them a very round about answer, and I'm kinda like "Well, why did you do that?". But I think it is the people who ask him sceptically that he doesn't give answers too. Those who ask in faith (Jesus is a BIG fan of faith) he has mercy on and shows them some of himself. I know that God was perfectly Holy and gracious. I mean he was gracious to the lowly sinners, it was the self-righteous that he got angry at. I guess I have always seen Jesus as a loving, forgiving and gracious God, but it is clear that he is pretty darn serious about sin too and he doesn't take it lightly.
I hope that that made some sense :)
PS.. ditto to what Bethany said. I totally agree that I don't have trouble praying with my problems, but I do have trouble believing that God will answer those prayers. In South Africa
ReplyDelete(I know I say that a lot) the people (the few I know) pray and then have faith. The know God will answer their prayers, and I think that is so cool.
I'd say my image of Jesus is this pretty burly mountain man. He's not husky like paul bunyan but he's not skinny either. Pretty much average weight and build. Then he has a kind face, not one that you would want to stare at for hours, like Patrick Dempsey, but a kinda face. Pretty much his face looks like the kinda guy you could talk to, but not the kinda guy you will die if you dont atleast introduce yourself to, like Peyton Manning or Russell Crowe. In my mind Jesus also has a swanky, slightly uncouth, yet manageable beard. Then he has dark, wavy, long locks. And for some reason I've always pictured him with a semi-uni-brow. Don't know if that makes any sense... And last, but certainly not least, he has super caloused hands.
ReplyDeleteHopefully that makes a little sense...
and by "pretty burly man" i meant "burly man"
ReplyDeleteI have trouble casting Jesus as having a divine will. It's probably just because of the Christian lingo I have been used to, but I really only see God the Father as having this plan, this will. For me, the Father has this will, Jesus was just obedient to it.. I don't really know how this limits me- I guess I just see God as having having three personalities, many traits of which overlap, but each works a bit differently. According to John 1 though, the Word=Jesus=God so I guess all of the attributes of one of the trinity apply to the other two. Once again, I don't really know how this limits me.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that last class made me realize is that I kinda have made up two different Jesuses in my head. The Jesus that came to earth 2,000 years ago (we will cal him Jesus 1)... and the Jesus that interacts with me today (Jesus 2). In my mind, Jesus 1 was a Jewish man who was also God and did a bunch of stuff, and died for the world's sins. Jesus 2 existed before the world with God, and exists and interacts with the world today.
That post was posted before I wanted it to...
ReplyDeleteas I was saying...
I hope to be able to kinda combine these two people back into the right Jesus (one without multiple personality disorder) as the year progresses.
Really cool comments so far!
ReplyDeleteRemember the question for you guys is how do your impressions of Jesus, the way you think about and or see him in your mind, perhaps limit your understanding of who He really is.
Remember the idea here is to explore the One who is fully human and fully divine. Something it is really tough to get our minds and hearts around.
Generally speaking, most of us tend to see Him more one way than the other. Sometimes thinking about His physical characteristics on earth helps you see His humanity better. Sometimes re-reading John 1 helps you get a handle on His divinity better.
Thanks guys
God bless
coach
I find it hard to sit down and say "Hmmm, let's think if a bad preconception we have about Jesus today." In my mind, things like preconceptions and prejuices you can only really find when you run into them or come upon them, and if you try to manufacture them and just up and thik of them, you're doing yourself more of a disservice than a favor and limiting yourself even more. That's my apology if what I say is really dumb. So here goes... One thing I think I view wrong about Jesus is that when I see him in the gospels in human form, I set him as suboordinate to God, rather than equal to him. I mean, I know he is equal, but when he's portrayed in the Gospels, I think I think of him more like obedient to God and the Perfect Son of God, rather than God himself, totally in control of the situation. I'm kinda with Darrah on the Jesus 1 and Jesus 2 thing. Obviously I know there aren't two Jesuses, but my first impressions of human 2,000 years ago Jesus are different from my first impressions of today Jesus. I also agree with Bethany that people get too hung up on figuring out exactly what Jesus looked like. I know that it's important to at least think about it because it helps us understand his humanity more, but we shouldn't focus on it. I think getting all obsessed with whether Jesus had straight hair or curly hair or big ears or little ears is silly. In my opinion, spending too much time on his physical appearance is like looking at the brushstrokes on a Monet from an inch away. It's a great thing to do because it makes you see the tiny components that made up the masterpiece and makes the artist feel more present in the painting. But more important that the brush strokes is that you stand back and look at the picture as a whole to see the beauty of it. I guess the way my preconception limits me could be something like looking at the brushstrokes and the painting, but missing that they are the same work of art.
ReplyDeleteJessica
ReplyDeleteThat was anything but stupid kiddo! That was great.
Really neat insights...
Coach
Well.... I'm not too sure how to word this, but I'll give it a shot. I suppose I have several impressions of Jesus. But I think the ones that limit me are that I forget how huge his sacrifice was for me. I don't tend to think to myself that He gave up His life for me and how impotant it is to realize that. When I think of Jesus I forget that He is of the same magnitude of God, equally as important.To me, Jesus is closer to God than anybody on the earth, but He was also human, with the same feelings and emotions, and maybe even thoughts of other people. I tend to forget(I say that often) that He was both sent from God(not sure if that is exactly what I mean) and a person like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, Coach, this question makes very little sense to me. Well, it makes sense, but I have no clue what my answer is. I guess I'll figure it out sometime. But part of the way you phrased this questiony thing one time made me come to the conclusion that my image of Jesus could limit something because I've trained myself to picture Jesus basically exactly how Samuel described it, which is most likely what He looked like, so then it'd be dumb to picture Him another way, so I'm not really open to picturing Him much differently because that's probably right. But are we even talking about our physical image of Jesus or like our overall image/impression/what the heck I'm so confused.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess I've never really thought hard about what Jesus looked like physically. And I think that's a good thing, because if we get all caught up on wondering what he looked like, we miss out on who He is personally. And knowing Him is alot more important than speculating about his appearance.
ReplyDeleteI don't really think of Him as a Jew, but I think if I tried to, it wouldn't help me relate to Him any better than I already do. For the most part, I see Him much more as God, the Divine Being up in the sky who wants us all to live good lives and love Him above all else. I know all that's true and there's nothing inherently wrong with it at all, but I tend to focus in on that image and completely miss the fact that Jesus understands what life is like for us as humans, and that He cares about even the small things in my life.
I hope that was the right sort of thing you were looking for, Coach. Thats pretty much all I've got
Alright. I'm new to the blogging thing but here goes..
ReplyDeleteWhen I picture Jesus, as far as physical appearence I see him as more the steryotype Jesus that you'd see in pictures and on books. Or even how he's sometimes depicted on the cross. I feel like what I do wrong the most is picture Jesus as only in the flesh. And only as dying for me. Which although its still alot. I don't really put into play my relationship with him. Or really think of him as part of that. I would say I more think of having a relationship with God, and that Jesus is simply the one who died for my sins. Leaving out why he made that sacrafice. And how much it should mean to me, mainly because my thoughts about him are limited to his life on the Earth.
Thats all I got...
When I picture Jesus, I picture that Last Supper, solemn, reserved, eyes closed Jesus, and though that was a good part of his character, I think the spin I put on it limits my view of him. I definitely see him as infinitely merciful and loving and beautifully sacrificial, but I have a REALLY hard time picturing Jesus as joyful. I think that this view is due in part to the way we are taught to think of Jesus and talk with him. Not that we aren't supposed to be extremely thankful for what he's done for us, but I think that I revere and respect Jesus in the wrong way a little bit. It is very difficult for me to imagine Jesus beaming from ear to ear or even really laughing just because of the way I understand (or rather misunderstand) his character. And when, in bible class, Coach talked about wine representing both blood and joy, that was what really brought me to this realisation. That was difficult for me to verbalise but hopefully you get the point.
ReplyDeletemy picture of Jesus is that of a loving, caring accepting and kind man, all of which is true however i also associate him with safety and or comfort. which can be a problem for me because following Jesus is neither really safe or all that comfortable at times. there are countless times that i have felt prompted by the holy spirit to talk to include someone in a conversation or talk about my faith with someone because that would require me stepping out of my comfort zone and my version of Jesus wouldntr want me to be uncomfortable so i decide not to. but really Jesus was not someone that was easy to hang out with he seemed to be constantly reading thoughts pointing out flaws and generally making people uncomfortable
ReplyDeleteOkay! First blog post for the 2nd chapter!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I never really thought about angels as being the fearsome creatures that they are, I always thought of them as shiny creatures with laughing, smiling faces, much like cupid. I also never thought about Chjristmas from the angels' viewpoint. It must have been the best feeling in the world for them the moment Jesus was born. Such indescribable joy!
Also I never thought about the various social, religious, economic and all other problems Jesus, Mary, and Joseph must have faced during their time on earth. I never thought about the differences between Mary's and Elizabeth's miraculous pregnancies; Elizabeth had a "legitimate" pregnancy with John that was enveloped in warmth and kindness from her friends, she had seemingly no social problems to deal with because she was already married when she had John. On the other hand, Mary had Jesus illegitimately. He was, (I'm sorry to put it this way) a bastard son. Mary must have gone her entire life thinking of the shame of her "illegitimate" pregnancy, yet through all of this she still was able to talk it all in stride with much more dignity than I could accredit to her and let God work in her through all of her shame. "She was the first person to accept Jesus on his own terms, regardless of personal cost.": (pg. 32)
"I tremble to think of the fate of the world resting on the responses of two rural teenagers."
I never even thought about how Joseph thought about this whole scandal/debacle. He must have lived his entire life in a bad position, he must have had all sorts of problems associated with being betrothed to Mary, when she got pregnant with Jesus.
In addition, I never thought about Jesus' childhood,the shame he could have felt because he was literally a "bastard/illegitimate son." No wonder he hung out with the social outcasts of His day! Yet, at the same time, he was able to talk with the pharisees/ Sadducees and even refute them! My misconception of His childhood was that he had a perfect life down in Egypt, while He didn't have to see all that had happened with Herod's "The slaughter of the innocents". In relation to this, I always minimized the effect and atrocity of what Herod did, the full impact of what happened has never fully hit me.
I am awed by God's impeccable timing. If Jesus had been born today, He probably would have been aborted. "Thus our generation, needing a Savior more, perhaps, than any that has ever existed, would be too humane to allow one to be born" (pg. 32)
I kinda laugh at the fact that Herod Antipas and Pontious Pilate not believing that Christianity could outlast the Roman Empire.
And I am reviled by the fact that today's world has watered down Christmas a season of Christmas cards and Santa Clause.
I am humbled by the fact that god made himself nothing for me so that he could be with me.
God chose to send the angels on the night Christ was born to nobodies who were guarding sheep. He chose to tell the lowest of the low the best news on Earth FIRST!
God is approachable, he made himself like us so that we could get to know him. not so that we would be in fear of him "in Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear." he made himself approachable by making himself a baby.
The idea of Christ as the underdog, God making himself the lowest of the low. God came to the least receptive corner of the world in the worst social and economic (and every other way possible) circumstances.
I am thankful for Christ courage, if He wasn't courageous, the things that happened would not have occurred and I would not be who I am today. "The need for such courage began with Jesus' first night on earth and did not end until his last."
It blows my mind to think of the many viewpoint of the first Christmas (God's, the angels, Mary's...etc) and the different social problems Jesus faced during His lifetime. The meaning of the phrase "The word became flesh" has more meaning for me now that I have started reading this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks Coach!
Thanks be to God and His amazing preordained plan.
May Jesus reign!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Coach's query,
ReplyDeleteI need to be challenged to see Jesus completely and follow Him in the areas of my life that I've been neglecting to follow Him in.
As to the question of how I see Jesus,
I see Him as a scary backwoods guy with a huge beard and a uni brow. I basically picture the way Sam described His appearance. I tend to put Jesus in the misconceived box of Him being "just a great prophet." I have trouble seeing His Deity and His identity as the Lion of Judah.
When I think of Jesus, I tend to think of him as this huge all powerful bearded man that can strike someone down with the point of a finger. But then I hear people always say jesus is a friend and stuff like that, so I try to think of him as a friend that I can go to with my problems and all the exciting stuff that happens in my life. But I always tend to get lost in that softer side of Jesus and forget exactly what all he can do. I forget especially that he can answer my prayers. I try not to think of Jesus and what he's like physically, honestly it's kind of hard to picture and to me it doesn't really matter what he looked like. He looked like a normal man according to the Bible, and i'll definitely take its word for it.Jesus in my mind is amazing. He died for my sins because of his love for all of us. He is worthy, powerful,caring, LOVING, all knowing, and patient, and trustworthy. It is at times hard to trust that he'll get us through,but all you can do in those hard times is keep your faith and pray. He has the power to get us through anything and everything that comes our way.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of all of the scandalous people in Jesus' royal bloodline, just that makes me appreciate all the more that he came for a sinner like me! I never the ordinariness of Jesus' name, sure, i've probably heard of it one place or another, but i never really thought about it to myself. Jesus was just a "regular joe" with a regular name at that time in history. I also never thought of Herod's massacre of the innocents being pretty much the same as a pogrom; and other instances in his life that were similar to the Holocaust.
ReplyDeleteI also never thought about the reasons that Yancey talks about why the Jews shied away from Christianity after a few years. It never occurred to me why they would all of a sudden not become Christians after some of them had initially been followers.
I also never thought about the similarities and differences between Islam, Judaism and, and Christianity. I always thought of Islam and Judaism as just being plain bad or wrong. I always believed that "I'm right, their wrong"; never beginning to ask or question my own thoughts about these other religions.
I still wonder about why Jesus chose that specific time period, geographical area, race, and culture to come to earth; if he had come today or even a few decades ago, maybe even the 1800s, his message would have gotten out more, or so I would think. That excluding the way today's culture is.
When i think of all that Yancey talks about happened before Jesus came, i can't help but wonder why the Jews didn't like Jesus, technically He was an answer to prayer.
I never thought about the fact that Jesus could have used a lot of stuff from His cultural and geographical background in his ministry.
To think that Galilee was the most disrespected section of the country in Jesus' time makes me think a lot about all of the different things God had planned to make all of what Jesus did in His time come to pass.
I never thought about the entire web of cultural diversity and the entire recent history before Jesus' time in how it related to Jesus' life and ministry. No wonder HE was hated by the Jews. I also can relate to the Pharisees now that I know what they had to go through. No wonder they were afraid of Jesus! I always thought of the pharisees as the "bad guys" in the Bible, so this chapter kinda changed my view of them.
I am not a carpenter, but I try to be one over the summers. That is I work in carpentry and construction when I am not teaching. When I think about all the carpenters I know, most of them have dirty clothes they wear to work most days, gnarly scars from years of working with their hands (some even have missing appendages) and an overall indifference to dirt filled environments.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about Jesus I get the I think of a Jewish carpenter's son, who probably was helping his dad out and learning the trade when he wasn't schooling rabbi's at the synagogue.
So my impression of Jesus is that he had many of the characteristic of my carpenter friends. Being Jewish he would have known the Torah laws of cleanliness, but I don't think he would have closely resembled the lamb touting, white robe wearing, blue eyed Jesus illustrated in most Western depictions.
Don't get me wrong, I am sure Jesus tossed a few lambs in his day working on projects if they got in the way (besides who doesn't love to toss a lamb, they sound funny when they land), but I think he was more Jewish and carpentery than most people think.
This helps me because when I think of Jesus I see his humanity in the fact that he worked with his hands, but I also see the divine side as depicted in the Gospels through all his ministry.
But many times I have to remind myself to look at my manly carpenter friends to help me remember the humanity of Jesus, and in doing so it makes me feel a little less manly, and a little less holy.