He Jesus’d Us
“Did you watch it?”, ”What did you think?”, “Did you see Rob Bell?” – Messages I got last night.
Yep, I watched it. And I walked around (I was watching & grilling) smiling most of the time.
The pervading thought for me for the night first hit me about 15 minutes in and stayed with me the whole interview,….
“He Jesus’d them.”
Rob did what Rob does well;
I think it’s the thing that make some of us love him and what drives some people absolutely up the wall: he answered questions with questions.
I think this is why many skeptical/questioning young adults love him.
It’s why older or very structured/dogmatic/”this is the way it is & you don’t question it” people don’t get him.
I love this because…
1) It makes you think & dig to see what is really there & why you believe what you believe.
2) Anyone who spends time with people (pastoring/shepherding) them…if honest, at moments knows that the pat, trite, religious answers simply fall short. We often have more questions from our questions. That’s life and to just regurgitate simple answers doesn’t at all get to the depth of the human experience nor does it breed trust in God. Simple answers lead to trust in us or a plan or a book. Living with the questions forces us to trust God
3) It was engrained in me years ago from a former mentor that much of the scriptures (and I would argue life) come in tension filled pairs. Our job is to walk in the light we have from our study of the Scriptures, our time with God and what the Spirit shows us. Rob did a great job with this in the exclusive/inclusive picture of Jesus early on or his statement in believing in a real heaven and it having a bleed in to now.
So All in All I Think…
1) For one hour I think we got a glimpse of what the pharisees & religious leaders must have felt like. Rob is simply brilliant at this. It is a gift; not that he is in anyway Jesus. He over & over embraced the ambiguity and answered questions with questions…pushing the discussion down the road. He Jesus’d them/us. Over & over again I thought about heaping coals being placed on peoples heads. I know that for some people this was brilliant but for some it was torturous.
2) The people who understood Rob before probably still do now; the ones who didn’t like him before probably still don’t now.
3) I was reminded that questions are okay. I never want to be the person who has all the answers. The people who have it all figured out scare me. Two thoughts here…
Didn’t the religious leaders of Jesus’ day think they had the whole thing figured out? I am afraid we are there again. We have pockets of people who are sure they absolutely have this thing figured out. I hope that we are never so sure that we miss him working or coming among us again.
A friend wrote what I think is a brilliant paragraph this past week. We now have a movement of people, the neo-reformed movement, who have become what their heroes railed against. The Reformers were against tradition and church determining dogma; all we need is scripture. This group now like the Catholic church of old only seem to quote the reformers & seem to not acknowledge Christianity before or any other stream of interpretation. They are the new magisterium; they alone determine what is in bounds and if you don’t agree you are evil and a heretic. Simply ironic.
4) Over & over again I heard traces of C.S. Lewis…
God turning us over to what we want.
In the end (after life) many will simply choose what they have been choosing all along. (I invite you all to read
The Great Divorce)Love is about freedom.
Stories tell the story better than dogmatics any day.
And Finally, I got the book last night. I’m about half way through it & hope to finish after today’s meetings. I’ll post some thoughts on it soon.
Peace ~
