Lately I've been reading Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola's Jesus Manifesto. It is a fascinating read and one of the points they make has had me thinking for weeks. It is the idea of imitation vs. implantation. Most of my adult life I have struggled with the idea of following Jesus and exactly what that means. Jesus was perfect in every way and if the call is to be perfect, then I can never do it. If the call is to do exactly what Jesus did, then I'm pretty sure I'll always fall short. However, if the call is to host the presence of Christ within me an as Jesus incarnate implant myself into the world with Christ as my director, then together with others doing the same we can change the world.
I strongly believe that when Jesus commanded his disciples to "come, follow me" that he wasn't asking them to look just like him. In fact I think that Jesus was more concerned with his disciples following God's will than worshipping his human body. Now that's a big statement, so you might want to read it again. If Jesus thought it was all about him, then he would have had no problem falling into Satan's temptation to prove how great and divine he was. He would have had no problem allowing and even promoting that those he healed herald his name loudly. He would have had not problem calling down the legions of angels to set things right on the crucifixion day. However, what Jesus did, constantly did was use his human form to point to the divine reality; that it is about God and worship to Him.
Does this mean that Jesus wasn't divine? No, of course he was divine! Does this mean that we shouldn't follow the savior and Lord? No, of course we should follow God's son! Does it mean we shouldn't give up when we don't achieve perfection each day? Yes!! Jesus wants us to be caught up in the passion to bring people to the father. Jesus wants us to help those along the path to join our journey to the divine. Jesus wants us to implant ourselves into the world with him in our eyes, on our ears, on the tip of our tongue, drenched in his aroma, and at the tip of our fingers. We need to know and embody Jesus Christ!
While we do this in the world around us may God deliver us from our own selfish ambitions, narcissitic tendencies, and boring gospel. May we have ears to hear, eyes to see, and bold spirits.
We need to rethink imitation and focus on implantation (next post)...otherwise we just end up being something less than the original. And let's be honest...no one wants to join that journey!
I strongly believe that when Jesus commanded his disciples to "come, follow me" that he wasn't asking them to look just like him. In fact I think that Jesus was more concerned with his disciples following God's will than worshipping his human body. Now that's a big statement, so you might want to read it again. If Jesus thought it was all about him, then he would have had no problem falling into Satan's temptation to prove how great and divine he was. He would have had no problem allowing and even promoting that those he healed herald his name loudly. He would have had not problem calling down the legions of angels to set things right on the crucifixion day. However, what Jesus did, constantly did was use his human form to point to the divine reality; that it is about God and worship to Him.
Does this mean that Jesus wasn't divine? No, of course he was divine! Does this mean that we shouldn't follow the savior and Lord? No, of course we should follow God's son! Does it mean we shouldn't give up when we don't achieve perfection each day? Yes!! Jesus wants us to be caught up in the passion to bring people to the father. Jesus wants us to help those along the path to join our journey to the divine. Jesus wants us to implant ourselves into the world with him in our eyes, on our ears, on the tip of our tongue, drenched in his aroma, and at the tip of our fingers. We need to know and embody Jesus Christ!
While we do this in the world around us may God deliver us from our own selfish ambitions, narcissitic tendencies, and boring gospel. May we have ears to hear, eyes to see, and bold spirits.
We need to rethink imitation and focus on implantation (next post)...otherwise we just end up being something less than the original. And let's be honest...no one wants to join that journey!
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