Book Review: Who is This Man

Time for another book review.

Information about the book
Title:  Who is this man?:  The unpreditable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus
Author:  John Ortberg
Publisher:  Zondervan (a division of HarperCollins)
Copyright:  2012
Links:  I read the book as a kindle book, so Amazon was my source.  When I went to get the link from Amazon, I saw that the kindle version is priced (today - who knows what it will be tomorrow) at $2.99.  That's much less than I paid for it.
Website for author:  I can't find a site for Ortberg, but he is a contributor to Christianity Today, and they have a nice page about him.

Summary 
The forward to this book is written by Condeleeza Rice, who says, "In Who is this Man? John has written a powerful testament to the impact that Jesus has had on human history, on the human condition, and on our understanding of the obligations of one human being to another."  

In this book, Ortberg explores the difference Jesus has made on humanity and life here on earth. For example, how has humanity's treatment of women been changed by the life and example of Christ.  Topics explored include how Jesus changed the treatment of the oppressed, the value of a person, the struggle to understand truth, the concept of greatness, our treatment of our enemies, the idea of power and authority, the definition of goodness, the limits of our mission in the world, marriage, and art.  Suffice it to say, Jesus changed the world -- every aspect of it.  Ortberg's book explores that change.
 
Impressions
I bought the book solely because Ortberg wrote it.  I have read several books by him and have taught a couple of classes based on his books.  I've liked all of them, and this one was no exception.

For me, the books was full of ah-ha moments.  Do you know those times when you are reading, and you read a sentence or paragraph and know that something you didn't know before has been revealed to you?  Or that something you believed has been exquisitely phrased by what you have read?  Those are ah-ha moments, and for me they are the special gifts that a book can bring when you read it.

Ortberg has a wonderful voice in his writing.  His books, including this one, are engaging and interesting.  They are well researched, but don't feel like a text book.  He is funny - surprisingly so - the laughter will sneak up on you.  He is insightful, and he is a "truth-teller."

The great thing about a kindle book is that I am able to highlight those passages that "speak" to me as I read.  It's great for blogging, because I can go back and write posts from what I marked.  The Kindle software compiles these highlights into a notebook.  I was going to tell you how many highlights I have from this book, but it is truthfully too many to count.  There are probably at least 150 passages highlighted.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book as a good one to read on your own.  I would also recommend it a book for a book study, and I think there is material available to help facilitate that.

Posts
This link will take you to the posts I have written on the blog inspired by this book.
Also, over the years I have written numerous blog posts based on other Ortberg books; you'll find links to those in the sidebar.

Saturdays

What is Saturday like?  For me, the best Saturdays are often the ones that aren't planned out.  Those are the Saturdays when I can sleep late, or I can get up before the rest of the family, knit and watch reruns on TV.  The best Saturdays are the ones when we wonder around and dream, thinking about the possibilities of what might be.  How would we redecorate the family room?  When we have the time to redo the bathroom, how will we do it?  Saturdays with a movie thrown in are great.  Saturdays with dinner out, maybe with some friends, are a bonus.

But that's not the kind of Saturday I mean.

What about the Saturdays between Good Friday and Easter?  I'm (still) reading "Who is this man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus" by John Ortberg.  The chapter I read this morning was called Saturday.  He says:  "On Saturday, in addition to the pain of Friday, there is the silence and absence of God."  What about those kind of Saturdays?  What about the time of grief when God seems absent?

He goes on to say:

The Apostle's Creed says Jesus descended into hell.  Somehow no suffering you go through is suffering Jesus will not endure in order to save you.

Ortberg asks if we can see the miracle of Saturday in the bright brilliance of the miracle of Resurrection Sunday.

Now on Saturday the angels look down and see what?  God in a tomb.  The miracle of Sunday is that a dead man lives.  The miracle of Saturday is that the eternal Son of God lies dead.

Prevenient grace is such that even when we don't realize the presence of God, even when we would swear God is absent, God is there.

Ligaments

Today I was reading a chapter from John Ortberg's book, Who is This Man:  The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus. He writes:

The very word religion is related to our word for "ligament" -- that which holds a body together.

I haven't looked up the word origins of the two words to give you the original data, but I like the idea.  Religion is the ligament that holds the body together.

Religion sometimes has a bad reputation.  We hear comments like, "I believe in God, but I don't believe in religion."

Truthfully, I don't think it is religion that is the "bad guy" in this story -- it's the believers, who use religion as a tool to harm or judge people.  It is the misuse of religion that is the problem, not the religion itself.

I believe in God, and I believe in the value of religion to connect us.  To organize us.  To increase our impact in manifold ways.  Religion, when we use it right, can further God's purposes.  Go into your garden and commune with God, strengthening your faith and your relationship.  Go to church and, when we are being the church, strengthen the faith of your community.  Open doors for people to find God.

We are not meant to be solitary.  We are part of a body of Christ.

Science and Faith

Have you ever encountered the idea that belief in God and acceptance that the theory of evolution hold some truth are diametrically opposed?  Have you ever spoken to a scientist who seemed to be "above" faith in God?  Do you think science and faith are mutually exclusive?

I love exploring the world through the eye of science.  I enjoy playing with the math of physics as it calculates the force of an object striking the ground.  I stood in awe of the possibilities of snipping genes in a bacteria and sequencing their make-up.  How fascinating is it that cells in our eyes can detect light and transform the photons into electrical energy to travel up a nerve to the brain -- and then! - and then our brains turn the electrical energy into thought as we marvel at the blue of an ocean while listening to the sounds of the waves.  Science is fascinating.

I love digging into my faith, reading biblical texts and then enriching my understanding of them by reading what others have written and engaging in conversations about the texts with other believers.  I relish handing someone a piece of communion bread and telling him that it is a gift of God.  I am strengthened when I listen to others speak about their encounters with the living God.  I believe in God, and am nurtured by expanding my faith.

I don't compartmentalize those two aspects of myself.  They are entwined together, each part of myself enhanced by the other.

I'm still reading Ortbertg's book about the Inescapable Jesus.  Did you know:
1.  According to Konrad Burdack, the Renaissance was not in opposition to Christian religions but instead grew out of the "vitality of religious revival"?
2.  Technology was developed because Jesus taught there is a difference between work and toil.  Using "creative reason to liberate people from toil is part of the redemptive work of Jesus."
3.  Science fundamentally arose because of a belief that God is a rational God.  Why study something that is a random accident?

Jesus told his disciples to love God with all they are, including their minds.  Kepler wrote, "God, like a Master builder, has laid the foundation of the world according to law and order.  God wanted us to recognize those laws by creating us after His image so that we could share in His own thought."  The study of science is pursuing the thoughts of God.

When we look at evolution, we see God's road map for creation.  We are seeing God's work in the world, and it is indeed fascinating.

I am a biologist.  I am a theologian.  I am a child of God.

A Life-transforming Decision

What difference has Jesus made in the lives of women?  In the way women are seen?  Treated?  These questions came to my mind as I read the next chapter of Orberg's book, Who is this man?.

Consider the story of Mary and Martha in the Gospel.  Martha was doing all of the work while Mary sat at Jesus' feet, listening.  Martha gets upset, but Jesus tells her that Mary has chosen the better way.

We read this story and make it about busyness versus learning from Jesus.  We make it a comparison of a woman who is doing housework versus one who is stretching her faith, and we nod wisely and say, "Yes, one must take time to sit at Jesus' feet."  In our interpretation, we see it as some kind of balancing act, certain that when Mary is finished with her daily devotions, she'll go back in the kitchen and cook.  We don't see Mary's choice as life changing; instead we see it as wise time management.

But that's not what it's about.  Mary's decision was radical.  Mary decides to not be who she was and to be someone else -- to be a disciple, sitting at Jesus' feet and learning from him.  Ortberg writes, "Marthda did what the culture valued in women: cleaned the house and cooked the food.  Mary did what the culture valued in men: became a disciple".

It's a life transforming decision.  And Jesus approved.

Unbidden and Unwanted?

"The first person to write about him (Jesus) -- who would become known as Paul -- said that Jesus appeared to him unbidden and unwanted. And he had a strange way of continuing to show up where he was not always sought or even welcome." John Ortberg

A few years ago I was attending a meeting of the Board of Directors of our local Walk to Emmaus Community. We were discussing whether to loan out part of our equipment to an unrelated entity that needed it. We went back and forth, looking at pros and cons. Finally, one of the pastors in the room, brought up the idea of ministry and serving. I said, "Oh, alright, if you're going to bring Jesus into it." I was kidding, but there was a grain of truth in what I said. We, as a Board, had placed Jesus off to the side so that we could look at the issue outside of Jesus' perspective.

Do we do that? Do we move Jesus out of the way sometimes? Does Jesus enter into our lives unbidden and unwanted?

In some ways that is disturbing. We want to remain in control -- we want to say when Jesus walks into a situation, and when he doesn't. Jesus doesn't work that way, though. He is always there. We can choose to try to ignore him, but since we are the church, and dependent on each other, someone will notice him, and bring our attention back to him. We don't always want that, but Jesus continues to show up.

On the other hand, it is comforting. When I forget to look for him, when I close my eyes to God-possibilities, Jesus can show up anyway. I'm glad his presence isn't dependent on my permission. I need him to show up even when I don't ask.

In the Image

I just started a new book. It's called Who is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus by John Ortberg.

Image what it was like to live in the time of Herod the Great. Read this quote:
"The king was divine, or semi-divine. The king was understood to be made in the image of the god who created him. Only the king was made in the image of the god....This is the Dignity Gap."

And then this one: "Imagine what it did to the hearts of the dregs of humanity to be told that not just the king but they too were created in the image of the one great God."

What happened? Jesus happened.

"There are gradations of talent, strength, intelligence and beauty. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, 'There are no gradations of the image of God.'"

What does it do to our lives to see all others as made in the image of God? What did it do to society -- this influence that the inescapable Jesus had? Women became human beings. It became wrong to leave unwanted children on the dung heap to die. The downtrodden were finally seen as having worth -- the same worth as the king.

That worth is not gained because of the family into which we are born or by the amount of money we have or by our gender, race, faith, orientation, age or career. We have worth because God has given it to us. Each of us. All of us.

How does that change how we see each other? How should it change how we treat each other?