The Relevance of Jesus

I have to give credit for the seminal idea of this blog to Dr. Tom Lawson of Ozark Christian College.  In a recent post on his www.adorate.org website, he wrote a great article on the issue of relevance.  As Dr. Lawson is a dear mentor and fabulous writer, I thank him for the inspiration for this creation.  I, on the other hand, will gladly bear the burden of any negative effects of this blog today or in the future. 

I am struck by the notion of "relevance" as we understand it in ministerial and congregational terms today.  Relevance seems to be the intentional act of discerning someone's background, values, interests, dislikes, bigotries, biases, and inner angst and formulating a means by which to connect to that person.  While intuitive, I wonder if this was the approach of Jesus?

Jesus certainly dealt with people "where they were."  His approach though does not seem concerned with his personal attachment to their situation but His personal call for them to join Him in the life of God.  While he appropriately communicated with sinners, He did not employ the "I know where you are coming from" startegy that we seem so quick to use today. 

I don't think the point of the incarnation was that Jesus could better understand our fallenness as a human.  I believe the incarnation demonstrated the Kingdom of God in the life of a human.  Jesus was like us in every way but sin.  This seems to point to an incarnational model that connects us with other humans through our initial creational position with God, not our fallen secondary position.  We were created as the highest order of God's creation, and we are redeemed in order to regain our appropriate place in that order.  Why should we find our community bonds in the lowest part of our reality?  Jesus' life serves more as a judgment upon our weakness than a sympathetic embracing of our fallenness.

Jesus called people out of the darkness into the light.  He did not go into the darkness to drag them into the light.  He took the light and disspelled the darkness. 

For me, the relevance of Jesus is found in the reality that I can be everything God created me to be only in Christ.  We may have "all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," but I am the only one who can be what God intended me to be for His glory.  While that is my personal solo, it is our shared anthem.  We were all created for His glory!  Amen!!!  Even the Son came to give the Father glory.

Which is more relevant, our shared past transgressions or our shared future glory?