The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne

Okay, I'm about 5 chapters into this book and I've decided to put it down for a couple of days because I was starting to make plans like...let my wife (Susan, duh) that we're selling everything we own and we're moving our family under an over pass so we can start loving "the least of these". I'm not sure I've read anything that has made me socially aware of those who are without. I'm not sure I've ever read anything that has made me so personally aware of my excess. I'm not sure I've read anything that has made me more inwardly aware of my need for the Truth "...they Word, oh Lord, is truth..." Shane's journey that took him from being a catalyst for change in Philly in resurrecting a church and find homes for the homeless, to Calcutta where he hung out with the sick and afflicted, lepers, oh yea, and Mother Teresa, to Willow Creek and back to Philly (that's as far as I've gotten so far, those of you who know me know how slow I read). So, I'm taking all this in and as I mentioned, I'm extremely shaken by the things that I've read so far...then today it occurred to me...Why is it that I've never been this messed up by reading about Jesus doing these things? I think this is what we do in our Western way of Christianity, we turn people who are simply trying to follow Jesus into rock stars.

Jesus was the one that feed the 5000, He was the one that made the blind to see, He was the one that healed a woman who simply touched the hem of His robe, He was the one that told the rich young ruler to sell all he owed and give it to the poor then follow, He was the one that turned over the money changers in the Temple, He was the one raised dead people back to life (I mean literally not only spiritually), He was the one that turned water into wine, He was the one that said, loving your neighbor is not enough...love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, He was the one that said to take the plank out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck from mine, He was the one who casted out demons (get in the pigs, I love that story), He was the one who blasted religious leaders but ate with prostitutes, He was the one who walked on water, He was the one that said a good shepherd will leave the 99 to go find the 1, He was the one who came into town as a king only to be murdered by the same people a few days later, He was the one that said, "if they stop praising me...the rocks will cry out...", He was the one that said, "whatever you've done to the least of these, you've done it to me also"...He was the one...not Shane Claiborne, not Billy Graham, not Oprah, not President Bush, not Bono, not Mother Teresa, not Zach Snow...He was the one.

The book has been a great reminder of the perfect model Jesus gave us for living life, but His model for living life well and being good is not what brings about righteousness is us. I've said it probably a thousand times in the past couple of years and I hope I have the opportunity to say it a thousand more...it has nothing to do with religion, it has everything to do with relationship...everything! There is freedom that comes in knowing this Christ personally and intimately. When you have that, maybe then you figure out the importance in living a life that models that of Jesus'...otherwise, you're just another person trying to make the good out weigh the bad...and to that I say...good luck...

"...the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love" ~The Apostle Paul

Maybe the next entry will have a little more to do with the book...maybe...

ZS