Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, "who delivered us
from the dominion of sin and reconciled us to God by humbling himself and
becoming obedient unto death on a cross."
He is resurrected, the exalted slaughtered Lamb, ascended and reigning
with God in glory, the Messiah, Savior of the world, head of the church, Lord
of all.
The Mennonites value Jesus above everything else in
Scripture, including his life, teachings, death, resurrection, ascension, and
present ruling of his church. Today, we
in the US tend to strip Jesus of his power.
We sing "washed in the blood of the Lamb" and imagine this to
be like a holy shower by which we become clean, are able to go sin as much as
we want, then come back and wash off again.
We think that Jesus does not call out our deepest fears and ask us to
follow him through and beyond those fears -fears such as being secure
and safe, staying alive, and remaining in material satisfaction.
Yet, that is just what Jesus does all through the
gospels. He says, "Pick up your
cross and follow me" and "Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you" (Mt 5:44; Mt 16:24-28).
Unfortunately, we tend to think since Jesus lived back in the day he
wasn't very smart and didn't realize just how hard these things would be - so
we trivialize their power by suggesting Jesus really didn't mean them. Into this culture, the Mennonites follow
Jesus, backs bowed with the cross, loving friends and enemies, offering
peace, reconciliation, and love, even if it means their deaths. Why?
It's exactly what Jesus did to reconcile us to himself, and by following
Jesus we enact the living hope for God's new world.
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