Jesus is under
attack. As perhaps never before in Christian history, skeptics and liberal scholars
seek to undermine and destroy the Gospel accounts. An important new book by
12 Adventist scholars, The Essential Jesus, gives a ringing defense of the biblical
Jesus and shows how He impacts life today. We here reproduce two selections
from the book: the opening pages, written by William G. Johnsson, and a portion
from chapter 10, by Andrea T. Luxton. Read the introduction to this compelling book.
The
Influence of Jesus
N A RECENT
BOOK LEE STROBEL describes a revealing moment during a conversation with a renowned
atheist.
Strobel, a trial
lawyer and journalist, arranged to interview Charles Templeton in preparing
the manuscript for what became The Case for Faith (Zondervan, 2000).
Templeton was once a Christian minister and a close friend and associate of
Billy Graham. But he began to doubt the reliability of the Bible and shared
his arguments with the young Graham. Graham wrestled with the concerns raised
by his friend, decided that the Bible was trustworthy, and went into the Los
Angeles evangelistic campaign that catapulted him on a long and remarkable career
as the preacher who would speak to more people worldwide than any person in
the history of Christianity. Templeton, however, chose the opposite course:
he resigned from the ministry and devoted his life to attacking belief in God.
As Strobel probed
the critical points in Templeton's journey, Templeton revealed that a picture
of a starving child in drought-stricken Africa first led him to doubt the existence
of God. If there were a God, all He had to do was send rain; but no rain came.
So, Templeton concluded, God didn't exist, or if He did exist, He was either
powerless to help or a monster. It would be the first of a plethora of arguments
Templeton, now in his 80s, would marshal during the course of a long life.
It was late in
the interview, and Templeton had laid out a compelling case for his rejection
of faith. Then Strobel put forth a question that abruptly changed the tenor
of the conversation: "And so how do you assess this Jesus?" The change
in the avowed atheist was dramatic.
"Templeton's
body language softened. It was as if he suddenly felt relaxed and comfortable
in talking about an old and dear friend. His voice, which at times had displayed
such a sharp and insistent edge, now took on a melancholy and reflective tone.
His guard seemingly down, he spoke in an unhurried pace, almost nostalgically,
carefully choosing his words as he talked about Jesus.
"'He was,'
Templeton began, 'the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral
genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person
that I've ever encountered in my life or in my readings. His commitment was
total and led to his own death, much to the detriment of the world. What could
one say about him except that this was a form of greatness?'
"I was taken
aback. 'You sound like you really care about him,' I said.
"'Well, yes,
he's the most important thing in my life,' came his reply. 'I . . . I . . .
I,' he stuttered, searching for the right word, 'I know it may sound strange,
but I have to say . . . I adore him!'
"I wasn't
sure how to respond. 'You say that with some emotion,' I said.
"'Well, yes.
Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I
learned from Jesus. Yes . . . yes. And tough! Just look at Jesus. He castigated
people. He was angry. People don't think of him that way, but they don't read
the Bible. He had a righteous anger. He cared for the oppressed and exploited.
There's no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity,
the greatest compassion, of any human being in history. There have been many
other wonderful people, but Jesus is Jesus.'
"'And so
the world would do well to emulate him?'
"'Oh, yes!
I have tried-and try is as far as I can go-to act as I have believed he would
act. That doesn't mean I could read his mind, because one of the most fascinating
things about him was that he often did the opposite thing you'd expect-'
"Abruptly
Templeton cut short his thoughts. There was a brief pause, almost as if he was
uncertain whether he should continue.
"'Uh . .
. but . . . no,' he said slowly, 'he's the most . . .' He stopped, then started
again. 'In my view,' he declared, 'he is the most important human being who
has ever existed.'
"That's when
Templeton uttered the words I never expected to hear from him. 'And if I may
put it this way,' he said as his voice began to crack, 'I . . . miss . . . him!'
"With that
tears flooded his eyes. He turned his head and looked downward, raising his
left hand to shield his face from me. His shoulders bobbed as he wept"
(pp. 17, 18).
After more than
a half century of convincing himself and trying to convince others that the
Christian faith was nonsense, Templeton had not escaped the influence of Jesus
Christ. The mention of Jesus' name brought back associations of a friendship
once treasured but long severed and still longed for.
I agree with Templeton's
assessment, and would only modify it to assert that Jesus was not only the most
important person who ever lived, but by far the most important.
Embracing Belief
Jesus invites human beings through the ages to accept His gifts and to risk
facing the truth. Neither of these experiences, however, is likely to be a reality
without an individual daring to commit himself or herself to believe. The need
to believe remains central to all Gospel accounts of Jesus interacting positively
and successfully with any human being.
It is this question
of belief that is the focus of John's Gospel. At the very beginning of his explanation
of who Jesus is are two responses to Christ's person and the purpose of His
incarnation: those who do not recognize Him or receive Him (John 1:10, 11),
and those who do receive Him and believe in Him (verse 12). For the remainder
of his Gospel John invites his readers to experience for themselves the fulfillment
of belief that was reflected in his own life. The challenge to believe is no
more clearly explored than in the final miracle recorded in the Gospel of John-the
miracle that stands right in the center of his Gospel and lies at its heart,
and that introduces the last events leading to Christ's death.
The Essential
Jesus
The Essential
Jesus, published jointly by Pacific Press and Signs Publishing Company,
was released in April. Coedited by Bryan W. Ball and William G. Johnsson, it
consists of 13 chapters that take up the Jesus of history, the virgin birth,
Jesus' divinity, death, resurrection, victory, second coming, impact on history
and on our lives today, and so on.
 Contributors:
Roy Adams, Bryan W. Ball, Ivan T. Blazen, Raoul F. Dederen, William G. Johnsson,
Andrea T. Luxton, David N. Marshall, Jan Paulsen, Steven Thompson, Laurence
A. Turner, Norman H. Young, and Nancy J. Vyhmeister. General Conference president
Jan Paulsen also wrote the preface.
This 307-page
book is available through Adventist Book Centers for U.S.$14.95 (Can
$23.99).
Read the introduction to this compelling book.
|
On one level,
the record of the raising of Lazarus from the dead prefigures the death and
resurrection of Christ that is to follow. If Lazarus can be raised from the
dead, so can Christ. That in itself is a reason for belief. This story, though,
can be seen as less about reasons for belief than about the human struggle to
find belief amid the unknown, frightening, and sometimes threatening environment
to faith. This again reaches right to the heart of the complexity of the interaction
between Jesus and ourselves. Belief involves the intellect, but more than that
it touches our fears and demands our vulnerability. It invites us to remove
our safety barriers and not seek limitations to our understanding of God or
our relationship with Him.
Mary and Martha
are key characters in this story, and those we would most expect to exemplify
belief. They are some of Jesus' closest friends. They know Him; they love Him.
He has changed their lives dramatically, and nobody is more likely to believe
in His promises than these two sisters and their brother, Lazarus. And yet they
are suddenly faced with a doubly unknown and frightening situation. Jesus, who
as their friend they might well have expected to come immediately to their help
as soon as He heard Lazarus was sick, did not come. So their brother died. It
is not surprising that when Jesus eventually arrived, both sisters separately
expressed their disappointment at His delay: "If you had been here, my
brother would not have died" (John 11: 21, 32).*
However, it is
Martha's response that is perhaps most interesting, for she continues, "But
I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask" (verse 22). No
doubt Martha means exactly what she says, but Jesus immediately challenges her,
"Your brother will rise again" (verse 23). Yes, "at the last
day," Martha responds, putting limits on her belief and evoking from Christ
a response that contains one of His most far-reaching claims: "I am the
resurrection and the life. . . . Do You believe this?" (verses 24-26).
Yes, You are the Son of God, Martha affirms. She believes. Yet standing by her
brother's tomb a few moments later, Jesus asks for the gravestone to be taken
away, and her very natural human response belies her earlier statement of faith.
But there will be a bad smell, she says-he has been dead four days. And Jesus
gently says, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the
glory of God?" (verse 40). And the unbelievable, that which is beyond even
Martha's faith in her friend and Savior, happens.
The disciples
also struggle with belief in this incident. They want to understand, but Christ's
actions belie their limited comprehension. First of all, Jesus does not go immediately
to His friend when the message of his sickness arrives, and then when He does
go it is after He knows that Lazarus is dead, and through a region where His
own life has recently been threatened. Jesus' explanation does little to convince
the disciples. Although they go with Him, it is not because they believe that
they will be safe or even because they are convinced that He knows what He is
doing, but as Thomas says: "Let us also go, that we may die with him"
(verse 16)-a wonderful expression of friendship, if not of belief. Here is another
group of individuals who know Christ well, yet who also find that belief is
threatening and difficult to grasp or put into practice.
There is a third
group of individuals who are also important in this story: the mourners by Lazarus's
tomb. From the time John first describes them to us, he separates them into
two camps: those who are willing to see the best in Christ ("See how he
loved him!" [verse 36]) and those who take the critical approach ("Could
not he . . . have kept this man from dying?" [verse 37]). The two groups
continue to respond differently to what they see happen, for after the resurrection
of Lazarus one group will believe in Christ's Messiahship, and the other will
see the miracle as a reason for deciding that He must be destroyed. We do not
know exactly who those who believed were; we do know that the sparse support
Jesus received at the time of His death would unfortunately suggest that their
amazement at this act did not change their long-term natural human instinct
for self-preservation and propensity for doubt.
Jesus' claims,
when accepted as true, demand a level of belief difficult for humans to comprehend
and more difficult still to live out in practice. In this short story we see
several human dilemmas. There is a call to believe that the laws of nature we
have learned to take for granted do not limit this Man. There is a call to accept
that belief in Christ may mean moving outside the limits of our own logic to
accept apparently unreasonable conclusions. There is a call to believe in miracles,
and also to believe that if miracles do not happen, Jesus is no less the Christ.
And there is a call to believe at all costs, despite the threat that that belief
might pose to our sense of security.
One of the greatest
encouragements in the Lazarus story, however, is the evidence that when Jesus
calls us to believe, it is not without understanding how difficult that call
is. How gently Jesus treats the disciples and the two sisters with their deep
desire to believe and their love of their friend and Savior, and yet still possessing
a limited faith. Jesus raises Lazarus despite Martha's limits of faith, and
He continues with His disciples toward Jerusalem despite their remaining fears.
And in the account Jesus makes it clear that much of what happens is in fact
not primarily for this group of followers and believers, but for those who are
standing by, watching and finding it hard to believe at all.
The difficulty
of belief is present for all who are confronted with the daily call of Christ.
Like the disciples and Martha, some will discover that their response, which
seems great in faith, instead only denies the full extent of the love and power
of the Savior. Some will doubt their ability to believe in the first place and
will not even find the limited confidence shown by these friends of Jesus. However,
the reality of the gospel message is that even the seeming impossibility of
belief is made possible with Christ. The one who personally called forth Lazarus,
by name, from the dead and performed the impossible miracle also personally
calls all individuals by name to belief. In the strength He supplies, the impossible
can happen.
* Bible references
in this article are from the New International Version.
_________________________
William G. Johnsson is editor of the Adventist Review. Andrea T. Luxton
is vice president for academic administration at Canadian University College
in Alberta, Canada.
