Book Review - Simply Jesus
BOOK REVIEW
“LIFE OF CHRIST” by NT Wright
Prepared for: SIBKL SOLID
Prepared by: Michael Sin
Date: August 12, 2013
Email: psmichaelsin@gmail.com
Lecturer: Rev Dr Tan Soo Inn
I
A VERY ODD SORT OF KING
Indeed, He was a very “odd sort of king” that we are studying on. But what is more important is that we, as Christians, need to understand what was going through the mind of Jesus, what did he think he was doing and what was it all about. Why did a “king” come to serve, to be tortured, died and eventually resurrected? Very odd indeed. One of the greatest things God has given to us is the power to “choose”. We can go about Sunday after Sunday worshipping the Lord Jesus and praying out to him in our own ways but at the end of the day, are we ready to deal with the challenges of the “real life”? Would we question ourselves on the reality of Jesus’ existence? “With Jesus, its easy to be complicated and hard to be simple”, described the author. And it is so true that with our limited ability to fully comprehend the works of Christ Jesus, he becomes rather “under-utilized”, grossly under-valued with its full potential nowhere near realized. The gospels, like his computer, have every right to feel frustrated, says the author. Jesus, though he was actually king, did not come fully recognizable as “the king”, so that his believers need to “exercise faith” in believing that Jesus is indeed the real king through all his miraculous works!
II
THE THREE PUZZLES
Jesus is unavoidable. But he is also deeply mysterious. While we know so much about Jesus, yet there is only so little that we really understood of him. Jesus puzzled people then, and he puzzles us till this day!
Firstly, we know that Jesus’ world was a strange, foreign country. Those days the people then thought differently. They looked at the world differently in cultural habits, practices and lifestyle. Secondly, Jesus’ God seem to strange to us! There are so many “gods” from some of the world’s
“LIFE OF CHRIST” by NT Wright
Prepared for: SIBKL SOLID
Prepared by: Michael Sin
Date: August 12, 2013
Email: psmichaelsin@gmail.com
Lecturer: Rev Dr Tan Soo Inn
I
A VERY ODD SORT OF KING
Indeed, He was a very “odd sort of king” that we are studying on. But what is more important is that we, as Christians, need to understand what was going through the mind of Jesus, what did he think he was doing and what was it all about. Why did a “king” come to serve, to be tortured, died and eventually resurrected? Very odd indeed. One of the greatest things God has given to us is the power to “choose”. We can go about Sunday after Sunday worshipping the Lord Jesus and praying out to him in our own ways but at the end of the day, are we ready to deal with the challenges of the “real life”? Would we question ourselves on the reality of Jesus’ existence? “With Jesus, its easy to be complicated and hard to be simple”, described the author. And it is so true that with our limited ability to fully comprehend the works of Christ Jesus, he becomes rather “under-utilized”, grossly under-valued with its full potential nowhere near realized. The gospels, like his computer, have every right to feel frustrated, says the author. Jesus, though he was actually king, did not come fully recognizable as “the king”, so that his believers need to “exercise faith” in believing that Jesus is indeed the real king through all his miraculous works!
II
THE THREE PUZZLES
Jesus is unavoidable. But he is also deeply mysterious. While we know so much about Jesus, yet there is only so little that we really understood of him. Jesus puzzled people then, and he puzzles us till this day!
Firstly, we know that Jesus’ world was a strange, foreign country. Those days the people then thought differently. They looked at the world differently in cultural habits, practices and lifestyle. Secondly, Jesus’ God seem to strange to us! There are so many “gods” from some of the world’s