students of jesus

Here’s one thing I like about Jesus: he doesn’t use big words. I can understand him. Isn’t this cool? The smartest person who ever lived used plain, simple words.

Jesus talks about lost sheep, lost coins and lost sons. He tells me the Father ran to his son and hugged him. I get it: he doesn’t give up on us. Jesus doesn’t dodge the hard questions. He talks about taxes and coins. It’s like listening to NPR except you can follow the conversation.

This is worth thinking about. The same God who made everything and knows everything came to earth and ended up talking about the wind, the flowers of the field and the birds of the air. He isn’t talking down to us, he’s laying it out for us in bright vivid colors. (He rarely used three syllable words like, say, “peacemakers.” We are still having a hard time with that one.)

Poor us. We want to make it hard. We want to know about multiple matrimony and the eschaton. If we make following Jesus about going to the head of the class, only the smart guys will be in charge. The words Systematic Theology are both four syllables. Have you ever tried to read systematic theology?

Here are two sentences from a book I read. They are from a guy who loves Jesus and is really, really smart:

“We have now articulated an alternative to the person-as-thinker and person-as-believer models in the person-as-lover model. We have highlighted four key elements of this model: Human persons are intentional creatures whose fundamental way of ‘intending’ the world is love or desire.”

I think he means we are born to go hard after the things we love. I agree (I think).

Jesus said, “My burden is easy, my yoke is light." I'm so happy he kept it simple.