The Challenge of Jesus: Asking the Questions

More and more in recent months, I’ve been challenged to ask questions about my beliefs and convictions. They are not questions demanding an evidence for our faith as Christians. They are not questions that insist on a rational explanation for what we hold on to so that I can package them up into neat little boxes. They are, however, questions that challenge the core (or at least what I’ve always thought to be the core) of my beliefs. These are simple questions. Many Christians would consider them very basic, answerable by any Sunday school kid. But when given a little more thought, they can turn out to be very difficult to answer. Whatever it is, they are very important questions, because they will affect my worldviews. They will determine how I think, as well as what I say and do.

What was Jesus’ mission? What was this gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus went around preaching? What was Jesus aiming to do in His years of ministry? Why did Jesus die? What did Jesus know about His own mission and his relation to God the Father? Did Jesus know or believe that He was God? What does the resurrection of Jesus mean? What is the Church? What was the original purpose and role of the Church? How do we define a Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian? What is our mission as a Christian and as the Church? What is the message of the good news that we have been called to proclaim? How are we to live as Christians?

I think N. T Wright has produced a marvelous book quite accessible to laypersons like me in which he attempts to answer many of these questions, not solely from a traditional evangelical perspective, but from a historical one as well. How would have the first-century Jews understood Jesus’ message and actions? How does Israel in the Old Testament, Jesus and the Church come together to form the big picture of God’s overarching story? How do we interpret Paul’s epistles in light of the gospels instead of interpreting the gospels through the lenses of Paul as we’ve been doing? Many of Wright’s ideas are somewhat unique. They are quite fresh. But one of the dangers is to assume that I can come out with the answers myself, apart from the community of Christians (past, present and future) and the Spirit of God. These are questions that have been raised again and again in the Church as different generations of Christians have been challenged to discover what it means to follow Christ in their particular cultural and historical context. So I guess getting involved in some of the ongoing conversations would be good... I'm planning to go for the upcoming Emergent Malaysia open meeting this weekend to participate in one of such conversations!