The Jesus Creed for Students -- Review

THE JESUS CREED FOR STUDENTS: Loving God, Loving Others. By Scot McKnight with Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2011. 107 pages.

What defines the Christian faith? Historically, councils, denominations, bishops, congregations, and theologians have attempted to answer that question with creeds, systemic theologies, credos, and other statements of faith. Some have been relatively brief and others have been extensive, and what’s essential to one might not be essential to another. History also shows that not everyone follows the dictum of Rupert Meldenius that in “essentials unity, in nonessentials, liberty, and in all things charity.”

An evangelical college professor (North Park University), biblical scholar, author (The Blue Parakeet, among others), and blogger (Jesus Creed), Scot McKnight has proposed an answer to this question, which he calls the Jesus Creed. That creed can be simply stated as “loving God, loving others,” which briefly restates the two great commandments established in the Pentateuch and reaffirmed by Jesus (Mk. 12:29-31). The Jesus Creed for Students takes this concept, which McKnight first developed in The Jesus Creed (Paraclete, 2004), and applies it to the needs of high school students – with the assistance of Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas. Folmsbee, director of a youth ministry training organization called Barefoot Ministries, and Thomas, a youth pastor in Lake Forest, IL, are credited with helping McKnight focus the book toward a younger audience than he’s probably used to working with. Thus, the concepts and basic framework are McKnight’s but the style is somewhat different from what I’ve become accustomed to as I’ve read his other work.

Being that it’s been a while since I was either a high school student or a youth minister, I decided to read this book from the perspective of a left of center Mainline Protestant pastor who’s been asked to recommend for resources for youth to use in deepening their faith. As I began to read the book, I started with the assumption that the author stands to my theological right (although I didn’t read the original Jesus Creed book, I’ve read enough of his works to get a good sense of his theology). From that standpoint, I decided that this book would be very appropriate for most Mainline Protestants. That’s not to say that it is liberal. It’s just straightforward biblically based wisdom.

The point of the book is to help high school students understand what it means to love God and love others. He does this by not only focusing his attention on the great two commandments, but also the Sermon on the Mount, which stands at the heart of this conversation. In the course of this conversation he discusses the beatitudes, wherein he distinguishes between blessedness and happiness, which he says “describes the person whose central principle is ‘love myself’” (p. 21). The discussion continues on by addressing Jesus’ expectations (Jesus’ expansion of the law) and what he calls spiritual branding, by which he means seeking to impress God and other people with our spirituality. Later chapters explore the Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness, one’s priorities in life, discipleship, and how one understands the person of Jesus. Finally, he invites the reader to be a “boundary breaker.” In this final chapter McKnight he invites the reader to consider what it means to follow Jesus by taking up a life of ministry (not professional ministry, but ministry in general), a calling that three characteristics: forgiveness, fellowship, and freedom. In the closing sentences of this chapter he suggests that “loving God and loving others is the path we are made to travel, and that when we love others genuinely, forgiveness and fellowship and freedom flow like a river” (p. 100).

Although this book could be used in a bible study, it’s really designed for personal use. McKnight invites the reader to begin each day by reciting the Jesus Creed and then recite the Lord’s Prayer each evening, so that these foundational Christian statements can penetrate the heart and mind. Again, the idea here is to establish habits (reciting the Jesus Creed in the morning and the Lord’s Prayer at bedtime) that will inform the moral vision of the young person.

Although I’m neither a youth nor a youth minister, and so I can’t speak to whether the style is appropriate to the audience, I do believe that this book should prove to be a valuable resource for helping young people develop a moral vision and a deeply rooted Christian faith, whether they’re Evangelical, Catholic, or Mainline Protestant. I might quibble with something that’s said here or there, but there’s nothing that stands out as a barrier to this being used by youth in my church. After all the premise here is to imbibe the vision that we are called to love God and love others!

This book was provided for review by Paraclete Press

 



Who Are You? – a Lenten Blog Tour Meditation

 

The chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. They didn’t find anything they could use from the many false witnesses who were willing to come forward. But finally they found two who said, “This man said, ‘I can destroy God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.’”

Then the high priest stood and said to Jesus, “Aren’t you going to respond to the testimony these people have brought against you?”

But Jesus was silent.

The high priest said, “By the living God, I demand that you tell us whether you are the Christ, God’s Son.”

“You said it,” Jesus replied. “But I say to you that from now on you’ll see the Human One sitting on the right side of the Almighty and coming on the heavenly clouds.”

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He’s insulting God! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, you’ve heard his insult against God. What do you think?”

And they answered, “He deserves to die!” Then they spit in his face and beat him. They hit him and said, “Prophesy for us, Christ! Who hit you?” (Matthew 26:57-68, Common English Bible).

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I answered the call to write a meditation for the Common English Bible Lenten Blog Tour, and due to a misreading of the schedule, I wrote a meditation on Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Fortunately, I realized my error in time to take up the assigned text, which is the one that follows after the arrest of Jesus. In the former story, a sword wielding mob, led by one of Jesus own disciples, comes looking for Jesus in the night so that they might arrest him. We watch as Judas betrays him with a kiss, while another disciple lashes out with his sword. In the end Jesus is taken into custody and his disciples flee into the night, though as see in the passage under consideration today, Peter does follow the crowd at a distance, and then finds a seat in the company of the officers of the guard. In their company, at a distance, he watches as Caiaphas the High Priest seeks to find a way of getting rid of Jesus.

The “trial,” like the arrest, takes place under the cover of darkness, reminding us that this is all a battle between light and darkness, good and evil. As we watch this trial unfold – at a distance – perhaps our thoughts will go back to the prayer that Jesus taught Disciples (Matthew 6:9-13), wherein he instructs followers to make this request of God: “And don’t lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one” (Mt. 6:13). This phrase from the prayer is important, because Jesus now finds himself in that very place of being tempted by evil. I realize that in making this assessment I have to be careful, because there’s a long tradition of using passages like this to tar the Jewish people with blame for Jesus’ death on the cross. While it’s true that Matthew couches this “trial” in doctrinal terms, we must remember that Caiaphas serves at the behest of the Roman government, and though they are looking for an excuse to kill him, any authority to do so must come from Rome, and Rome really doesn’t care about intra-Jewish doctrinal debates. They are, however, interested in political rabble-rousers, and in the eyes of both the Temple Leadership and the Imperial Leadership, Jesus has the marks of a troublemaker.

What is very interesting in Matthew’s portrayal of this trial is that the leadership is acting in ways that are contrary to the very Law they are sworn to uphold – not Roman Law, but the Commandments of God. In suborning perjury, which they’re doing as they seek out false witnesses to provide suitable evidence to send him on for execution, they face the dilemma of needing two witnesses who will agree in order to convict (Deut. 17:6). Although they find two witnesses who testify that Jesus allegedly said that he would destroy the temple and then rebuild it in three days (no textual evidence for this), they had what they needed, even though in getting it they break one of the Ten Commandments – the command to not bear false witness (Deut. 5:20). This encounter reminds us that it’s easy to fall prey to temptation, if it seems to achieve our desired results.

There’s another issue, however, that stands out in this passage and it’s the one that triggered the question that forms the title of this meditation. Caiaphas thinks he has an answer to the question of Jesus identity, and to paraphrase, he says to Jesus I believe that you believe that you are “the Christ, God’s Son?” So, own it, won’t you! What’s interesting in this “accusation” is that Caiaphas is quoting, in a sense, Peter’s Good Confession (Mt. 16:16), the one Peter made in answer to Jesus’ question – who do you say that I am?

All that Jesus will answer is –“You said it.” That is, you’ve made the confession, but do you believe it? The fact that Caiaphas is grilling Jesus in this possibly illegal “trial” makes it clear that Caiaphas is making no such confession. What gets Caiaphas really upset is Jesus’ next statement, which takes on an apocalyptic tone. Jesus says in essence, I am the Human One (Son of Man) and soon I’ll be sitting at the right hand of the Almighty (that is, next to the judgment seat of God), and I’ll be returning riding on the heavenly clouds. You have the sense here that Jesus is promising to get his revenge. Now, of course, that kind of language makes me uncomfortable, so I have to wrestle with it. As for Caiaphas, this is all he needs – Jesus has blasphemed God, or to use the CEB rendering – he is “insulting God.”

As we continue our journey toward Good Friday and then Easter, the question that Caiaphas raises still stands: Who is Jesus? This is an important question, because how I answer that question will help define my identity. Am I like Caiaphas and find Jesus’ claims to be God’s right hand blasphemous? Or is this my own confession of faith? But pushing this farther, how does this conversation fit with the question that Jesus posed to Peter, which elicited from Peter to confession that Jesus was the Christ and God’s Son (Matthew 26:69ff). But not only that, when we make such a confession are we willing to go all the way with it, or as we see with Peter in the passage that follows, will we deny even knowing him? Perhaps not in words, but in deeds? Or, maybe, going back to the beginning of this passage, are we simply follow Jesus at a distance?

As I was thinking about how to deal with this passage I picked up Stanley Hauerwas’s theological commentary on Matthew and I came upon this intriguing comment:

“Following at a distance” is a wonderful description of the way most of us follow Jesus. We want, as Peter wanted, to see how all this will end before we commit ourselves. Unfortunately, that strategy means that we cannot help but end up sitting with the guardians of the established order. (Hauerwas, Matthew, pp. 225-226)

So, where are we in this mix? Are we back with Peter making the Good Confession (Matthew 16:16)? Are we denying we know Jesus? Or, are we simply hanging back, waiting to see how this thing plays out before committing ourselves to something? And if we do the latter, do we not, as Hauerwas suggests, place ourselves at the disposal of the established order?

These are questions that are worth considering as we make our way through Holy Week and wrestle with the question – who is Jesus and what does my answer to that question demand of me as a person of faith?

Important note:

This meditation on Jesus’ trial is provided as part of the Lenten Blog Tour that is designed to highlight and support the new Common English Bible. During this Lenten tour, 41 bloggers have offered their own reflections on the biblical text, using the CEB as their starting point. (See all of the reflections here.) The people from the CEB have offered to provide a copy of the CEB New Testament to a random commenter willing to provide me with their email address.

Sheathing the Sword – a Holy Week Meditation

While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came. With him was a large crowd carrying swords and clubs. They had been sent by the chief priests and elders of the people. His betrayer had given them a sign: Arrest the man I kiss. Just then he came to Jesus and said, “Hello, Rabbi.” Then he kissed him.

But Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came and grabbed Jesus and arrested him.

One of those with Jesus reached for his sword. Striking the high priest’s slave, he cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put the sword back into its place. All those who use the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I’m not able to ask my Father and he will send to me more than twelve battle groups? But if I did that, how would the scriptures be fulfilled that say this must happen? ” Then Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come with swords and clubs to arrest me, like a thief? Day after day, I sat in the temple teaching, but you didn’t arrest me. But all this has happened so that what the prophets said in the scriptures might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Jesus and ran away. (Matthew 26:47-36 Common English Bible)

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I accepted an opportunity to write a meditation for the Common English Bible Lenten Blog Tour, and so I worked on the assigned passage – only to discover that I had read the schedule wrong and wrote a meditation for the text assigned a day earlier to someone else. So, I would like to share this meditation with you and invite you to return tomorrow to read the continuing story of Jesus’ Holy Week Journey.

During the Lenten season we are continually reminded that the path of discipleship is a difficult road to navigate. As Jesus reminds us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) it is a narrow path that few are willing to embark upon, for it costs us much to take this path. It can involve facing insults and even persecution. Indeed, if one continues reading past the end of the story above, it becomes clear that the road can lead to death.

In the passage we are invited to contemplate today we find Jesus facing betrayal, abandonment, and arrest. It is clear that, at least for this moment in time, Jesus is forced to take this narrow path alone, having been betrayed and abandoned by those closest to him.

As we consider this passage our attention is quickly grabbed by the mob that comes looking for Jesus in the night. They’re led by one of Jesus’ own disciples, who betrays him with a kiss – that most intimate of gestures. At the end of the story, Jesus is arrested and the disciples flee. There are two other images, however, that I’d like to lift up. The first is the contrast between light and darkness, and the second is the sword.

It is important to note that this event occurs under the cover of darkness. As Jesus points out to those who come to arrest him, he had been teaching openly in the Temple – in the daytime – but that’s not when they came to arrest him. Instead they come at night, in the darkness, armed with swords and clubs, as if he is a thief in the night. By pointing this out, he shines a light on their efforts. They operate under the influence of darkness.

The other image is that of the sword, which in many ways also functions as a symbol of darkness. The mob itself comes armed with swords and clubs, with which they intend to demonstrate their power to control the situation. We’ve seen mobs like this beating protesters in Syria, Iran, Egypt, Libya, Zimbabwe, and Ivory Coast. A generation ago in this country the mob beat civil rights marchers – and many times these violent mobs wore the marks of the state. But the mob isn’t the only carrier of the sword. Here in Matthew 26, we read that one of the disciples pulls out his sword and strikes the servant of the High Priest. The person isn’t named here, and Mark is even less clear, with the bearer of the sword apparently a bystander, and interestingly, John goes the other direction and names Peter as the sword bearer. Whoever this person is, Jesus tells him to put his sword away, for he is not in need of their defense. After all, if necessary God would send twelve battle groups/legions of angels to defend him, but all of this takes place in fulfillment of the scriptures.

But, whoever this person is, and whatever protective measures Jesus might call upon, I find it interesting, and even troubling that a follower of the Prince of Peace is carrying a sword. I wonder where did this sword come from, and why is this person wielding it? Did this disciple not understand Jesus when he taught them in the Sermon on the Mount to not retaliate, but instead turn the other cheek? As I think of this person, I think as well of those gun toting preachers we’ve been hearing about.

Despite the turmoil of the moment, Jesus doesn’t let a teachable moment get away from him, and so he tells the crowd: “All those who use the sword will die by the sword.” In making this claim, Jesus doesn’t leave any wiggle room. There are no exceptions to this rule. Indeed, he doesn’t even exempt the military or the police. There’s no clause that gives permission for self-defense. He simply reminds us that if you choose the way of the sword, then you will find yourself in an endless cycle of violence.

If we choose to live by the sword, then eventually we’ll suffer the consequences of that choice. And history is full of examples of this truth. One war leads to another. When World War I was launched it was supposed to be the war to end all wars, and yet, just a two decades later, the World was again embroiled in war. Many thought that the end of World War II would usher in an era of peace, but that didn’t last long. And now, the nation of my birth, is fully engaged in two wars and living on the edge of another. Conflict rages across the world leading to death and destruction in region after region. Yes, when we embrace the way of the sword, it is difficult to walk away.

As for me, I hear in this word a call to embrace nonviolence. I believe that it is the way of the Kingdom. I will admit that the realist in me has kept me from embracing pacifism, but as I move toward Good Friday and then Easter, I hear this challenge very clearly, and I wonder what this means for the way I live my faith in public? What does it mean for me to truly follow the one who calls for the sword to be sheathed even as he faced death on the cross. And I hear this question raised in the context of Jesus contrast of darkness and light, and I wonder, am I ready to walk in the light?

Living within the Reign of God: Sermons on the Sermon on the Mount

The “Sermon on the Mount” is the best known and perhaps most challenging speeches/sermons from the Gospels. It’s not a mere compilation of sayings attributed to Jesus, but in the hands of Matthew it becomes a tightly organized and powerful speech that lays out for us Jesus’ vision of what life in God’s Realm should like. It is a rather radical, even revolutionary vision that challenges the way we live our lives in this world. It calls on us to examine our allegiances, and asks us whether we’re willing to live for God or for some other claimant – including our nation. It is to be noted that standing at the center of this sermon is the Lord’s Prayer, which serves as a pledge of allegiance to God and the cause of God’s reign. In the course of Jesus’ sermon, he touches on our calling to be salt and light, reworks the nature of the Law, refocuses our worship, and calls on us to live lives of loving kindness. It closes with warnings of judgment and a call to build our lives of faith on strong foundations.

Although this sermon series begins with Matthew 5:1, the setting for the sermons begins in Matthew 4:23 and continues through 4:25:

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan

Having ministered among the people of Galilee and with people coming from as far away as Jerusalem in the south and Syria to the north, Jesus gathers the people together on the mountain top (in Luke it is on a plain), and shares his message of what God’s kingdom looks like.

In the course of nine sermons that preached through the last portion of Epiphany and through Lent, I explored with Central Woodward Christian Church this important statement of what is often called the “Kingdom Ethic.” I now offer it to you as we begin Holy Week.  Below you will find links to each of the sermons as published here at Ponderings on a Faith Journey (audio is available for many of the sermons at the CWCC sermon page).

The question is – are we meant to live it now, or must we await a different age when we no longer face the challenges and temptations of this life? That is, should we simply admire the idea, but leave it aside as being unrealistic for the present day? Or, should we model our lives upon its statement?

January 30 Happy People? Matthew 5:1-12

February 6 Light Bearing Faith Matthew 5:13-20

February 13 Law and Order Matthew 5:21-37

February 27 The Law of Love Matthew 5:38-48

March 13 Putting on a Show Matthew 6:1-18

March 20 What Should I Desire Most? Matthew 6:19-34
March 27 Judge not, lest Ye . . . Matthew 7:1-14

April 3 Judgment Day Matthew 7:15-23

April 10 Laying Strong Foundations Matthew 7:24-29

“The faith-community of the blessed is the community of the Crucified. With him they lost everything, and with him they found everything. Now the word comes down from the cross: blessed, blessed.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship. DBW Vol. 4. (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 109].