MONDAY MEDITATION: Two Ways to Approach Jesus (October 16)


Simon Peter answered, “Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.” — John 6:68

Here are two quotes that summarize two different ways to approach Jesus.

Quote One: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Makes perfect sense.

Quote Two: Do we, in Jesus, find a way to connect to life in a deeper way? In some way, does he help present a picture of God that speaks to our hearts as well as our minds? Does he present a challenge to live past surface trends and mores and live in a counter-cultural way? Is he, in some way, experienceable here and now, like he was in the past?

What words may describe the person behind quote number one? Cynical. Sarcastic. Proud. Certain. Argumentative…

And what may describe the other person? Open. Questioning. Humble. Hopeful…

How we approach Jesus reflects how we approach life. Arrogance makes it easy to dismiss him, just as it does dismissing those with differing viewpoints. We do have a lot of arrogance in our culture today, don’t we? Humility opens the door to new people, adventures, and understandings.

Those who approach life with humility are the ones best able to discover who Jesus really is…and others as well.

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