What is your image of Jesus? A friendly bearded guy carrying a lamb on his back? A happy story teller that wandered the countryside? A trouble maker?

My favorite heretic…

JESUS the CHRIST

Jesus lived as a Jew and a Rabbi for most of his life representing and practicing the accepted beliefs of his time and his religion. Up until he began His ministry…the new covenant.

From that point forward Jesus did not get along very well with the religious leaders, who ultimately had Him put to death.

Luke 13:10 (the message)

10 He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath.11 There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn’t even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years.12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over. “Woman, you’re free!”13 He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.14 The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”15 But Jesus shot back, “You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it.16 So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?”

Matt 23:23 (the message)

23 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required.24 Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?25 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony.

Jesus was clearly a heretic in his day and time…

What I know about the American middle class church…we too would consider Jesus a complete heretic!

Who is your favorite heretic?

I got hung up on this story in John 12 where Jesus stops off on His way to Jerusalem, in a town called Bethany. You see, there in Bethany, live some of Jesus’ closest friends;Lazarus, Martha and Mary. Most everyone in the story thinks this is kind of a routine trip until Mary breaks out this very expensive (one years wages) perfume and starts poring it all over Jesus feet.

I think a lot of us have heard or remember the story. But what strikes me is that of all the people around Jesus…apostles, disciples and such, the only one that really gets what is going on is Mary. She somehow knew that Jesus was going to Jerusalem and was going to be killed there. Nobody else figured that out?

After pondering on that story for a couple of weeks now…here are two things that are becoming clear to me:

*Mary was close enough to Jesus, so much so, that she felt the pain and anguish that He was feeling. Her spirit picked up on what was going on in His.

*When she realized that He was going to die for her…there was NOTHING that was expensive enough to love him back in the measure that he was loving her.

This is an emotional week for the people that really believe that they are Christian…

If you were around Christian music in the late 80′s and early 90′s then you know the name Rich Mullins. If you went to almost any protestant church in last 30 years then you know or have heard one or both of these two songs…”Awesome God” and “Step by Step“. Rich was an insightful songwriter and a wonderful musician who’s life was tragically cut short by a car wreck in September 1997. Rich lived what he believed and that is what has drawn me back to him these past couple of months.  I ran across this video of him on YouTube. I keep going back to it and listening to what he says in it. Funny part is it is not him singing…it’s him talking. I find that I keep going back to it and playing it again. I want to invite you to listen to it and see if it touches your heart too. It was shot at a concert of his in Lufkin, Texas shortly before he passed. It is about a 9 minute video…if you don’t have 9 minutes then come back later when you do…it’s worth it. 

This is the part I can’t get loose from…

“Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think.

That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor.

This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken….”

Do you believe that?

If you believe it do you live like you do?

In the Evangelical churches that I have attended I never remembered the Nicene Creed being a part of what I was to believe. I admit, they could have been saying it between the Sunday school report and the hell, fire and brimstone preaching…but I don’t remember it. Even after I stepped out of the denominational infighting churches and switched my church going habit to the liberating Non-denominational brand, we still didn’t hear much about this creed deal. I guess it’s because the creed is not in the Bible and we all know God ONLY speaks to us through the Bible? Really?

I have a confession, I have been quietly attending the early Eucharist at a neighborhood Episcopal Church for the past six months and it has been very refreshing and very worshipful. Entering the service quietly and in prayer is a great way to prepare your heart to be with God. It’s not passive…I get to kneel and pray out loud. They have this book called The Book of Common Prayer and it is full of these sayings and prayers. This Nicene Creed is one that we seem to say a lot…this is how it reads…  

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen. 

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen. 

If you read it fast please reread it slowly thinking about what you are saying…is that rich or is it just me? Come to find out it was written a few years ago (325AD) by some pretty smart and holy men. I am humbled by those words and I am humbled by reciting them with other believers in worship. Now that you know that I am a closet Episcopalian…let me say that I firmly believe in the Nicene Creed…do you?