Not new, but often overlooked

The Secret Message of Jesus Brian D. McLaren. W Publishing Group, 2006.

Driving to Gathering 2006 with a pastor from my church this summer, I spotted Brian McLaren’s latest book in his backpack. The title – The Secret Message of Jesus – seemed too provocative. It sounded gnostic or geared for those intrigued by historical cover-ups.

At Gathering, Tim Geddert of MB Biblical Seminary delivered a pair of lectures on demystifying and remystifying the kingdom of God. He described a secretly-arriving kingdom, one glimpsed through hidden miracles, riddles, and parables.

These lectures caused me to reconsider my impulsive reaction, and soon after Gathering I read McLaren’s book for myself. I hadn’t grappled with why Jesus said more to his disciples than to the crowds, why his words were often cryptic and only later understood, and why his parables pointed to a kingdom likened to hidden treasure, a small covered seed, or a bit of yeast buried in dough. McLaren asks whether the kingdom isn’t “less like an advertising slogan . . . and more like a poem whose meaning only comes subtly and quietly to those who read slowly, think long and deeply, and refuse to give up.”

Many of the “secrets” in McLaren’s book are not new, but too often overlooked. Belief can’t be isolated from a life of discipleship. The kingdom Jesus spoke of isn’t just about heaven but rather, the kingdom of this world will become (and is becoming) the kingdom of our Lord. When this life is over, our hope is for resurrection (not a disembodied existence) and a restored creation released from its bondage.

Our culture has obscured some concepts that earlier ages grasped. It is now common to view God as an engineer relating to creation as a machine. McLaren points to the more biblical metaphor of a king relating to his kingdom. Through this lens, miracles don’t require outside intervention, since the king is an active part of his kingdom, but his subjects also have the freedom to obey or rebel. Unlike the engineer metaphor, God’s hands aren’t tied and our wills aren’t irrelevant.

McLaren expands this into more contentious territory by suggesting that prophetic messages are warnings and promises from God rather than coded blueprints for the future. For instance, the Olivet Discourse contained warnings that were not heeded, leading to the destruction of the temple and the end of Jewishness as it formerly existed.

Some of the middle chapters of this book present a cursory view of Jesus’ character and teaching. Philip Yancey’s excellent The Jesus I Never Knew digs deeper into the same ground. Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis also uncovers new insights here, especially about the Jewish culture Jesus entered.

Those of us with Anabaptist sympathies will enjoy seeing McLaren (and Yancey) come to familiar conclusions. He suggests reading Paul through the lens of Christ instead of vice versa – not because they teach two gospels, but because Paul expanded on the kingdom message by writing within the new situation Jesus created. He notes our society’s trend towards individualism and stresses the value of learning and living in community, for Jesus’ message is personal but not private and touches on all realms, including the political.

And, while “the so-called just war theory is better than unjust war theory,” Jesus’ message calls us to something better yet: active peacemaking that imitates his love. McLaren quotes Martin Luther King Jr.: “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

What’s leading many people to these same revelations about Jesus’ message? Rather than relegating Jesus’ life to an earlier dispensation or dwelling so much on his death that we miss his life, the key seems to be to listen to what Jesus taught and modelled during those three or so years of ministry. It’s not a matter of ignoring Paul, heaven, or the cross, but of hearing the whole story.

Little in this book is entirely new or previously secret, yet I have not integrated many of its challenges into how I think and live. I also discovered a greater appreciation for my need to “have an ear” to hear what Jesus says.

Marshall Janzen lives in Regina and attends Parliament Community Church. He is webmaster for the Canadian MB Conference.