Although I didn’t care for the rhetoric of the post, I was saddened to read here about the Christian pastor who loves “authoritative” Jesus but has no time for “vulnerable” Jesus: He has said in a magazine interview…
“Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity. “
He cannot worship a guy he can beat up… I guess the Roman guards thought the same thing.
“Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spat on him, and took the staff and struckhim on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” Matthew 27:27-31, TNIV
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Ah, the infamous Mark Driscoll! I guessed as much before following the link. See what I and other have been writing about him.
Let me preface my comment by saying that I’m not fan of Mark Driscoll, but I don’t think we can really fault him for his hyperbolic language here (espceially because it’s something he’s known for). I think his point is simply that no matter how meek, Jesus was not soft. He was not unsure of himself or his mission. Jesus spoke and acted with authority, and as such was extremely strong. I don’t know that we can take him too literally on the “beating up” bit, as I’m quite sure he’s familiar with the Passion Narratives.
I read Halden’s post when he originally wrote it and quite honestly it caused me to remove him from my feed reader. I think his invective toward Dricoll revealed far more about himself than it did about Driscoll.
I have to agree that Halden’s post did feel like he was responding to physical machismo with intellectual machismo, basically trying to beat Driscoll up with words…
I suppose I just want to recall that the Jesus of Revelation who has a sword in his hand and is ready to judge, already wears a robe that has been dipped in his own blood – and consistently in Revelation, that’s the reason he is worshipped: Because he is the lamb who died.
It’s a good point that Jesus wasn’t lamely unsure of his mission – he did set his face firmly to go to Jerusalem… and I do appreciate the point that there may be hyperbole taken out of context here…
I guess my own reflection, though, is this: We do worship Jesus because he had a commitment to make someone bleed – but that someone was, first and foremost, himself.
Well said, Amen.
We do worship Jesus because he had a commitment to make someone bleed – but that someone was, first and foremost, himself.
oooh, that’s pithy…
Matt, the Lion is the Lamb. I believe that sums it all up. By the way, Prince Caspian is coming out today, and I noticed Aslan. The Lion is indeed the Lamb.
We have a balance in CS Lewis Aslan.
Prince Caspian is out already? I could go some Narnia right now…
Matthew, my wife and I saw the movie last night. I posted on it-Prince Caspian. I promise you that it would not ruin it for you!