In his fourth question Brian McLaren asks who Jesus is and why he is important. Asking such a question would suggest that he is actually opening up a debate on the nature of Jesus’ humanity and/or divinity – but this is not something he does. Rather he responds to some of the pictures drawn of Jesus in the US particularly – suggesting that they find their roots more in the Greco-Roman and Platonic meta-narrative referred to in his first question.

Roots
The two versions of Jesus that he deals with under this topic is Jesus the Warrior and Jesus the Saviour of individuals from hell. It may well be that the first has more resonance in the US especially among those who advocate a more macho faith in order to appeal to men, but the second is a figure that is recognisable throughout the western world. Unsurprisingly he dismisses both versions as being versions of Jesus that are grounded in the wrong meta-narrative and the wrong way of reading the Bible. When these first issues are dealt with it is then possible to address the Jesus question and this has to begin by rooting Jesus in his Jewish background. From there the two images are addressed.

Warrior Jesus
In addressing the Jesus-as-Warrior image McLaren underlines the New Testament emphasis on peace, humility, servanthood, and giving, and most of all the fact that Jesus was the one who accepted violence against him rather used it for his own benefit. He says, ‘He (Jesus) hasn’t sold the humble donkey (Luke 19:28ff) on eBay and purchased chariots, war horses, tanks, landmines and B-1s instead’.

Jesus saves
In the second image he addresses those who claim that Jesus has no social agenda to pursue. For these Jesus is merely here to save souls from this earth so that they can be with God in heaven for eternity. McLaren recoils from such a belief and impresses upon the reader how much emphasis both Jesus and other NT figures put on helping the poor, the marginalised, and the oppressed. In rejecting the neoplatonic foundations on which this Jesus figure is built McLaren bases his version on the three dimensioned meta-narrative introduced under his first question. From the Gospel of John he draws parallels from both the Genesis and Exodus stories about creation and liberation and then goes on to talk about the vision of a new heaven and earth first expressed by the prophets and which then has taken its first step into reality in the resurrection of Jesus. This vision has at its core, not some disembodied salvation for the soul, but a restoration of creation with God present in its midst.

At the centre of all of this, of course, is the person of Jesus, for none of it would be possible without him. He – his life of obedience, his death, and his resurrection – is absolutely crucial to whole scheme. And so this is who Jesus is and why he is so important.

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