Heads up, folks. Scot McKnight is starting a series of posts on Brian McLaren's new book, Everything Must Change. He's asking some very interesting questions, both in the post as well as the comments:Did Jesus address the Roman Empire’s biggest questions? Did he address the world’s biggest problems? Did he address Israel’s biggest problems? Did he address the Galilee’s biggest problems?
Now another: Does Jesus provide for us a way to address the world’s biggest problems?
And:
What I’m getting at here is “Did Jesus scan the area to see the problems and then go after those?” or, “Did he already know the story and try to get others into that story?”
And:
Did he already know the problem or did he scan the evidence to discover the problem? Did Jesus know Torah, know how Israel was to live, say “We are not matching up,” or did he inquire about the problem?
There is, in my judgment, more for Jesus in the former than the latter — not to say he didn’t see needs and then respond to those needs.
And:
If Jesus’ message of the kingdom is the solution, what was the problem he was addressing?
Think about this long and hard because it is counter-intuitive for many who already know what the problem is.
Good, good stuff.