#170

In his 2010 book, “Jesus, Unleashed,” Joel Killon quotes from social science professor and catholic priest, Andrew Greeley.

    “Much of the history of Christianity has been devoted to
     domesticating Jesus, to reducing that elusive, enigmatic,
     paradoxical person to dimensions we can comprehend,
     understand and convert to our own purposes.”

To put it other words, and in the form of a question, “Have we tended to dumb down Jesus?” We all believe and try to show the relevance of Jesus and His teachings to today’s world. In so doing, have we gone too far? Have we made Him so much “one of us” that we have lost the significance of who He truly is?

The Jews of His day were looking for someone totally different to what they were experiencing. Jesus came into this world as a radical – a spiritual radical. That would make Him hard to explain in human terms. Words would fail us.

Jesus comes into this world, healing, facing down the religious leaders, touching the wounded and afflicted, accepting the outcasts, giving His life, leaving the tomb, sitting at God’s right hand, and somehow we think we can explain all of that inhuman activity in human terms.

There is something more than special about being supernatural - Certain aspects of Jesus remaining an enigma make Him just that much more out of this world. We have tended to say that Jesus was all human and all God. That’s hard, if not impossible, to explain, and that is the way it should be.

I have reached the conclusion that I don’t need to try to explain everything about Jesus. I can’t do it. I want to believe it, enjoy it, bask in it, and tell it to others.

Do we really want a “domesticated Jesus,’ or do we want a glorious supernatural mysterious Savior?