The radical call of Jesus

May 24, 2013 Commentary Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

While growing up in the church, I did not grasp the radical nature of Jesus as he encountered the world in which he lived.

We think that things are so much different today as compared to Jesus’ world. But are they? If the people of the Jesus’ world were alive today what would it look like?

Jesus would have gone to Wall Street or perhaps Washington, D. C. to recruit Matthew. James, John and Peter would have been found at the Union Hall, standing around the bed of a pickup truck with a cooler full of cold drinks. Jesus would have pulled Judas from an Ivy League business school.

Pharisees would be using conservative talk radio to get out their message of pulling yourself up by your theological and economic bootstraps. The Sadducees would be on NPR preaching their message of universal tolerance. The Zealots would be buying land in Idaho and arming themselves to prepare to overthrow the oppressive government. Name any other broad category of people in Jesus’ day and you can find a modern parallel.

The point is that Jesus called men from various backgrounds and pointed them all in a new and completely different direction.

In 21st Century America, we too often come to Jesus and add him to our current lifestyle rather than allow him to redirect our lives. Conservatives seek support for their economic policies in the Old Testament. Liberals seek support for their agenda from some of Jesus’ statements.

The Son of God is not a liberal or a conservative, he is not pro democracy nor is he a socialist. Jesus did not fit into any of the popular categories of his day, nor does he fit into the categories in ours. He defies the world’s categories and sets up one new one. We are either completely his or we are not.

Too often we Christians group ourselves into bodies based on our preferences that have nothing to do with the Gospel. We associate with people who look and act just like us. But look at the diversity in the first disciples of Jesus. For example, Matthew was a tax collector and a de facto supporter of Rome. Simon was a zealot who wanted to break the grip of Rome. Apart from Jesus, these two would be mortal enemies. But as a result of the call of Jesus, they lived and worked together.

Jesus was a radical. He did not fit into any of the categories of the world around him. If we are comfortable in any of the categories in our world then perhaps we’ve missed something in our understanding of Jesus’ call.

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Your Father knows what you need, then why ask?

The question is, why should we pray if God already knows what we need? It is not like I am going to provide God with a missing piece of data without which he could not make a good choice.

It is worth doing badly

The fact that I sometimes do the Christian life badly does not diminish the truth of who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish. The Christian life is worth living, even if I fall short of where I think I ought to be in my level of spiritual maturity.

What Nehemiah can tell us about apologetics in the church

I have heard that there are those in the church who do not feel that apologetics should be part of the discipleship process for believers . . . A statement in the book of Nehemiah got me thinking about defending our faith and the need for such defense.

Tim Keller on Christian Preaching

Christians are either engaged in preaching or will regularly hear preaching in their churches. While the following paragraphs are written with the intent of challenging preachers, those of us who listen to preaching can also be encouraged by them.

A response to Hungry Atheist

On July 9 of this year, I wrote a post entitled, A follow-up to some comments. One of the comments I received on that post was from someone calling himself (or herself) Hungry Atheist. I thought that I would selectively quote the comment and provide response to the points that were raised in that comment.