Why Are People So Mad at Jesus?
This comes from our Cell Wednesday night 1/18, Joe’s Teaching from “More Than a Carpenter,” chapter 1.
Why must the postmodern be so dogmatic and judgmental? It is an amazing and glaring hypocrisy which somehow escapes the enlightened scrutiny of the postmodern world. (The most difficult weakness to see is personal weakness, no matter how glaring.)
Joe found a blog where some postmodernist was raging with the usual pretense of great enlightened inclusiveness, and Joe asked the guy for one simple clarification (a fair question) about the guy’s postmodern dogma, and behold! What a stream of vindictive rhetoric he drew! All the marvels of enlightened inclusiveness is so very fragile and skin-deep, if anyone scratches the surface what bloody wrath suddenly gushes out! Postmodernism reminds me of early Nazism which numbed the minds of the most educated nation on earth, at the time, with incessant sloganeering and dogmatic intolerance–now aimed at Christians, not Jews.
The postmodern view of Jesus is often quite positive because he taught love and acceptance, and this is widely known. Yet people are reluctant to talk about Jesus because sooner or later they stumble across this side of Jesus:
“I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”
The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” John 10:30-33
And then:
The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?”
But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”
Tearing his clothes, the high priest said*, “What further need do we have of witnesses?
“You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. Mark 14:60-64
Why get so caught-up in such rage? It happened then, and still today, despite our many millenia of enlightened thought. If Jesus is a fraud, so what? Why fear such a fool? Does Jesus take any money or expect anything in return? No, in fact it is His clear and simple message:
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
Now what is so threatening about that?
Andy teaches next Cell Group.
Everybody needs to know about the Cell Group retreat in one week from Saturday night. It begins at 4 pm.