Wendell Berry - I love this guy.
The Christian Century: "I will begin by dealing with the embarrassing questions that the Gospels impose, I imagine, upon any serious reader. There are two of these, and the first is this: If you had been living in Jesus' time and had heard him teaching, would you have been one of his followers?
To be an honest taker of this test, I think you have to try to forget that you have read the Gospels and that Jesus has been a 'big name' for 2,000 years. You have to imagine instead that you are walking past the local courthouse and you come upon a crowd listening to a man named Joe Green or Green Joe, depending on judgments whispered among the listeners on the fringe. You too stop to listen, and you soon realize that Joe Green is saying something utterly scandalous, utterly unexpectable from the premises of modern society. He is saying: 'Don't resist evil. If somebody slaps your right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too. Love your enemies. When people curse you, you must bless them. When people hate you, you must treat them kindly. When people mistrust you, you must pray for them. This is the way you must act if you want to be children of God.' Well, you know how happily that would be received, not only in the White House and the Capitol, but among most of your neighbors. And then suppose this Joe Green looks at you over the heads of the crowd, calls you by name and says, 'I want to come to dinner at your house.'
I suppose that you, like me, hope very much that you would say, 'Come ahead.' But I suppose also that you, like me, had better not be too sure. You will remember that in Jesus' lifetime even his most intimate friends could hardly be described as overconfident."
To be an honest taker of this test, I think you have to try to forget that you have read the Gospels and that Jesus has been a 'big name' for 2,000 years. You have to imagine instead that you are walking past the local courthouse and you come upon a crowd listening to a man named Joe Green or Green Joe, depending on judgments whispered among the listeners on the fringe. You too stop to listen, and you soon realize that Joe Green is saying something utterly scandalous, utterly unexpectable from the premises of modern society. He is saying: 'Don't resist evil. If somebody slaps your right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too. Love your enemies. When people curse you, you must bless them. When people hate you, you must treat them kindly. When people mistrust you, you must pray for them. This is the way you must act if you want to be children of God.' Well, you know how happily that would be received, not only in the White House and the Capitol, but among most of your neighbors. And then suppose this Joe Green looks at you over the heads of the crowd, calls you by name and says, 'I want to come to dinner at your house.'
I suppose that you, like me, hope very much that you would say, 'Come ahead.' But I suppose also that you, like me, had better not be too sure. You will remember that in Jesus' lifetime even his most intimate friends could hardly be described as overconfident."
16 Comments:
This was something I blogged on awhile back, and is a topic that fascinates me so much. It's not even the "turn the other cheek" statements that get me, but imagine being with an average looking guy in flesh and blood who says, "I am the only way to know God. You can't know the Father except through me. Drop everything and follow me."
On a good day, I'd probably pass them off as crazy, and on a bad day, I might berate them. I honestly don't know if I would have followed Jesus as he walked amongst us. I wish I could say I would have left everything behind... but I know myself a little better than that.
It make the fact that He died for us while we were still sinners all the more real and potent. Good post!
Hi there Black Sheep, I was just traveling through looking for some interesting stuff on New Testament and I came upon your Blog. I haven’t seen what I was after regarding Wendell Berry - I love this guy., but I’m going to carry on searching for more information on New Testament related stuff. By the way your Blogs great.
I think Black Sheep has a great blog! I've been surfing around everywhere and just love to read all this stuff. I don't have a blog to contribute to but found a place where you can get a free target gift card. I think they are limiting it so you may wanna hurry on over. the site is Target Gift Card Keep up the great work, I love Blogger!!!
I think Black Sheep has a great blog! I've been surfing around everywhere and just love to read all this stuff. I don't have a blog to contribute to but found a place where you can get a free target gift card. I think they are limiting it so you may wanna hurry on over. the site is Target Gift Card Keep up the great work, I love Blogger!!!
I think Black Sheep has a great blog! I've been surfing around everywhere and just love to read all this stuff. I don't have a blog to contribute to but found a place where you can get a free target gift card. I think they are limiting it so you may wanna hurry on over. the site is Target Gift Card Keep up the great work, I love Blogger!!!
Wendell Berry - I love this guy. is a fun title to find. It just amused me when I came across it on my search
for Sacred Sites in these blogs. Amazing what you can find and where you end up.
Hi there Black Sheep, I was just cruising searching for the latest information on Prayer and came across this great blog. Although Wendell Berry - I love this guy. wasn’t quite what I was looking for, it has excellent articles. I see now why I found your page when I was looking for Prayer related topics. I’m glad I stopped by this is a great Blog, keep up the good work. You are most welcomed to visit my site at Prayer
Hey this blog is not about pimples
I have been doing hours of research on 'acne' and it brought me to your blog on Wendell Berry - I love this guy.. Anyways, Black Sheep I was reading your blog and I think it is really cool. It’s really a pleasure reading your posts! Keep up the great work.
Keep blogging away :-)
Wendell Berry - I love this guy. is a fun title to find. It just amused me when I came across it on my search
for Muslim in these blogs. Amazing what you can find and where you end up.
Hi Black Sheep, I just dropped in on my way back to my Sacred Sites site. I liked what I
found and thought that I would leave you a note for your efforts in creating Wendell Berry - I love this guy.. It
is amazing what you find looking through these blogs, and the links from them. Have
you ever done that?
Hi Black Sheep,
I was just passing looking for Christian links on the blogger site and found your Wendell Berry - I love this guy. blog. Your blog was not quite what I was looking for, but I enjoyed my visit all the same.
Hi Black Sheep, I just dropped in on my way back to my Cathedral site. I liked what I
found and thought that I would leave you a note for your efforts in creating Wendell Berry - I love this guy.. It
is amazing what you find looking through these blogs, and the links from them. Have
you ever done that?
Good thoughts.
One of the main reasons I'm having a hard time even using the word "christian" these days...
If you're interested in some similar dialogue, check out the "Bare Ass Dialogue about Jesus over a bottle of Yellow tail" podcast at my podcast site...
http://bleedingpurplepodcast.blogspot.com
or the feed
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bleedingpurple
Thanks for the great blog!
That is certainly a point of view I had never considered.
best new acne treatments
Nice story as for me. I'd like to read something more concerning this topic.
BTW look at the design I've made myself Overnight escort
Nice post, thanks for sharing this wonderful and useful information
with us.
Green Tea Diet
Post a Comment
<< Home