IS JESUS ENOUGH FOR US?

“I think the apostle James answered that in the first council in Jerusalem when he said that God’s purpose for this age is to call out a people for his name. That is what God is doing today. He is calling people out of the world for his name, whether they come from the Muslim world, the Buddhist world, the Christian world or the non-believing world. They are members of the body of Christ because they have been called by God…” — Billy Graham

Matthew 7:21-27
John 12:27-36 (esp. 32)
Colossians 1:15-20 (esp. 20)

Is Jesus enough? Is he enough to bring us together? If you’re Protestant and I’m Catholic? Or if I’m Tutsi and you’re Hutu? Perhaps we’re both conservatives? Is he enough to bring us together without making us copies of one another?

Is it okay for us to disagree on cosmetic surgery, women priests, politics, evolution, worship styles, Bible translations or Israel-Palestine? Do we need to have the same views on home schooling, homosexuality and abortion? Do we both have to condemn Harry Potter or celebrate Trinity Broadcasting Network? Can we think differently about the end times and the “Left Behind” series?

Is Jesus enough? Can he really bring to himself every tribe, tongue, nation and creed? Is he big enough to cross boundaries of race, age, class, nationality, economics, politics, culture, background, lifestyle, sins, doctrine and religion? Can Jesus overcome all of that?

Will we go to Jesus for answers? Will we pursue them with love? Will we live from an ethic of love when it means embracing what we cannot understand? When rebuking? Will we live on issues or on a person’s teachings?

Before you say “yes,” think about what your “yes” really means. Does it mean, “Yes, somehow, against my lack of belief, Jesus can place a bridge of love in the space between us”? Or does it really mean, “If by some miracle you come over to my side, agree with me, act in a manner I approve, and live accordingly, then yes, we can get along”? Must I adhere to your ten points? Is it enough I want to follow Jesus? Or have an interest in him? Must I follow your laws you say are the Bible’s in order to be your friend?

Are the teachings of Jesus authoritative enough for us to try to live out? Even if everything about us diverges radically? Maybe we need those teachings because everything diverges. Is his life’s example sufficient evidence that he wants us to figure out how to care about each other?

Did his death conquer death but the not the prejudices we hold? Could he die so that we can judge and exclude each other? Or was it enough to convince us to begin reaching toward him, and in doing so, toward one another?

Is he enough?

What is unity?
How does Jesus unite?
How do we, with his help, bring down division?
Is Jesus enough for us?

Adam