Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The First Scandal of the Jesus Story


Jesus had compassion on the world's poor people. He also came for the rich, but most rich people don't follow Jesus because it would mean forsaking all their material stuff. (Jesus said this, not me.)

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us his birth was in a world of straw, manure, and financial nothingness. This was by design. In Introducing Black Theology of Liberation Dwight Hopkins writes:

"The glue that holds together all of the stories of the Bible is God siding with the poor for everyone's full humanity on earth. No amount of spiritualizing or metaphysical discourse or methods of analogy can erase the clear biblical story of God in Jesus in the poverty of a manger. God revealed the divine self to humanity not by accident but with purpose and plan —that is, to give birth to the new humanity out of the surroundings of dirt, dung, and oppression. This is the first scandal of the Jesus story." (Hopkins, Dwight N.,  (2014-04-10). Introducing Black Theology of Liberation, Kindle Locations 426-429)