Simply Jesus - Preface

This week we'll begin working through N.T.Wright's book, Simply Jesus. Though there are many wonderful books about Jesus that I could have picked from, I chose this one in particular because I wanted to see through the eyes of a follower of Jesus who doesn't look at Him with exactly the same lenses that we American evangelicals do. From what I have read and heard about N.T.Wright, I understand him to be a true man of God who has wrestled with many issues related to the New Testament and Jesus.

Because I was formed and discipled in the American evangelical/holiness/charismatic stream of Christianity, much of my view of Jesus has been limited to seeing Him as my personal Savior and Sanctifier. While I am very grateful for that understanding, I now realize that Jesus is so much more, and this is impacting my mindsets in significant ways! As Wright says in this book, "We (the churches) have reduced the kingdom of God to private piety; the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience; Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark tale. Piety, conscience, and ultimate happiness are important, but not nearly as important as Jesus himself."

Again, if you want the book for yourself, it's available at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Jesus-Vision-What-Matters/dp/0062084399#reader_006208439.

In his preface, Wright explains how the attempt to approach the subject of Jesus simply is not simple. He gives the illustration of someone who pulls up to you in a car to ask directions to Glasgow. You could give him simple directions like, "Keep heading west and a bit south, and you can't miss it," and that would be true. But because the roads aren't straight, he could easily go wrong somewhere along the way. Telling him about landmarks and obstacles and towns, etc., that he'll go through will pay off when he's actually on the way, and he will then appreciate a little complexity in your instructions.

"I set out to write a 'simple' book about Jesus. But Jesus was not simple in his own time, and he is not simple now."

Wright outlines the book as follows:

• Part One (chapters 1-5) - explaining what the key questions are, why they matter, and why we today find them difficult to answer.
• Part Two (chapters 6-14) - what Jesus' public career was all about, what He was trying to accomplish, and how He went about it.
• Part Three (chapter 15) - what does it all mean for us now?

God bless you this week!