Saving Jesus, part 1

Over the past weeks John's sermons have worked to create a portrait of Jesus as unlike the deity often embraced by many mainstream religious groups. In the telling of the parable of the dishonest manager (Luke 16:1-8) Jesus reveals his beliefs about the privileged and their values toward the accumulation of wealth. His opinion of these self-serving members of the upper socioeconomic class is low one. In the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:2-6) we hear Jesus describing a powerful judge who neither fears God or cares for the opinions of people. Jesus advocates for the needy, the members of the lower socioeconomic strata, who insist that they receive justice. And in the story of the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30) Jesus initially insults a gentile mother, and when she wise-cracks back at him, he changes his mind.
All of these images of Jesus -- the despiser of the wealthy, the advocate of those deserving justice, a man who reflects on his prejudice and then changes his mind -- are at strong variance with the popular, mainstream view of Jesus-the-God-and-second-member-of-the-trinity. These less common images form a more approachable Jesus, a more human, a more like us Jesus that seems worth a deeper look. They bear a message worth hearing. To this end, the Living the Questions group has produced a study series entitled "Saving Jesus, Redux". This series, prepared with the usual high level of thought, expertise and intelligent adult polish, presents Jesus in a role more related to his advocacy of social justice and less that of deity as personal savior. It is an engaging production done well, and one sure to stimulate some discussion.
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