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Discipleship as boundary-breaking
Jesus’ kingdom embodying mission cut across the boundaries that commonly divide humanity. The model of Jesus is of a mission that embraces all humanity and one that tends to be offensive to the religiously minded.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew has skillfully constructed Matthew 8–9 into a series of mighty acts of Jesus. The initial segment (8:1-17) is instructive for seeing Jesus’ kingdom signifying actions as involving the shattering of religious and cultural boundaries. Jesus performs three explicit miracles in this segment: cleansing of a leper (8:1-4), the healing of a Centurion’s servant (8:5-13), and the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (8:14-15).

It is significant to reflect on the reason for Matthew reporting these initial three events as he does. All three of the persons whom Jesus engages in his mighty actions represents a group marginalized in some fashion in the pious circles of first century Judaism. The leper was ritually unclean and forced to exist on the fringes of society as an unwanted outcast. The Roman centurion represented the hated Empire and was a tangible reminder of the ongoing Exiled condition of God’s people evening their own land. Likewise the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is significant because women enjoyed much lower status than men in the culture of the time. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus associates freely with women. This was uncommon for a spiritual leader.

The importance of boundary breaking is not merely symbolic or politically motivated. It is central to the values of the kingdom. The Gospel is for all humanity. Moreover the Gospel advances through its introduction to outsiders. When former outsiders become insiders through the Gospel, they become new conduits of God’s grace to previously unreached people. Jesus’ boundary breaking created new mission driven people. Reflect on the three groups mentioned in Matthew 8 (lepers, Roman centurions, and women). All of these groups serve as unexpected witnesses for the power of the Gospel. Jesus sends the leper immediately to the priest to serve as “a testimony to them” (8:4). Immediately after Jesus’ death on the cross, the centurion’s present at the crucifixion exclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” This is profound in that their confession mirrors Peter’s earlier declaration at Caesaria Philippi (Matt 16:16), but unlike Peter who balked at an understanding of Jesus as Son of God that involved death on a cross (Matt 16:21-23), the centurions recognize the reality of Jesus’ identity after watching how he died. In essence, they are the first truly public witnesses of Jesus and they are outsiders. Likewise (and perhaps unsurprisingly in light of God’s mission) women serve as the initial witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (Matt 28:1-10 cf. Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1–18). Deploying women as heralds of the good news of God’s victory is profoundly significant and subversive. Women were unable to serve as witnesses in legal disputes yet God unleashes them to be the first proclaimers of the Resurrection. Their message ultimately changed the world.

Thus, by engaging such persons actively and without reservation, Jesus models a cross-cultural and boundary exploding mission that can run against the current of societal prejudice and injustice. The Gospel is liberating and egalitarian in outlook. God’s mission involves extending the message of the Kingdom to all people, especially to those marginalized by society or by religious insiders. Boundary breaking mission also keeps social justice on the front-burner. Jesus demonstrated through his life that God is radically for the marginalized, the poor, the sick, the dying, the foreigner (even representatives of the privileged empire), and the outcast. Christ followers of today would do well to heed this model as they plot to launch to communities of faith.

Perhaps reflection on these question: Where would Jesus establish new communities of faith today? What people in our social location represent outsiders? A missional reading reminds God’s people that a biblical model of missional outreach will always include persons different from us.

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Don’t miss the power of this familiar story. Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes is one of his best-known miracles. To some it sounds too far fetched to be credible in any literal way. To others it is too familiar to listen to again carefully. But in its audacity we will find an abundance and a potent message.

In God’s Kingdom there is no scarcity. There is no need for force or violence. There is no effort required. We simply come to dine at a table set up in an oasis in the wilderness of our life’s journey. We don’t even have to serve ourselves. The Risen Jesus comes to serve us the real meal that we’ve desired all of our lives. All that we must do is come hungry and eat to our heart’s fill. As we walk from this table, we are invited to return and bring others with us. There will always be enough for us all.

Do you believe this? Or are you caught up in the scarcity of the world around you?
As our world continues to meander forward waiting for the end of the seeming never-ending economic difficulties, we have grown accustomed to belt-tightening and living with less. Real estate markets continue to teeter. Families struggle. Jobs are tough to find. Workers toil harder for less. More and more people fear that the future will not be better than the past. It is a temptation to believe that scarcity defines our lives. This would be a mistake. Let us engage Jesus’ feeding of the 5000 with fresh eyes and find renewed hope.

A People Looking For Abundance

Our text finds Jesus in the company of a great multitude. The crowds have gathered precisely because in Jesus they have experienced something alien to their normal existence—powerful signs from God and authoritative teaching that offers more than the typical fare received from the religious leadership of the day. In Jesus they recognize one in whom they can find a real meal of substance and true sustenance for the journey of life. Later in the Gospel, Jesus will say, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

The gospels consistently present Jesus as the One sent from God for those who are desperate for that which only God can grant. Already in John’s Gospel, Jesus has transformed the life of a Samaritan woman and a healed man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Following on the heels of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, these actions served as signs to the dawn of a new era of God’s work in the world. In response, the crowds gather around Jesus hoping to see the abundance of God’s salvation. They will not be disappointed. Significantly, the time to celebrate Passover was near. God’s people would be remembering God’s mighty deliverance of his people from Egypt. This action was the decisive saving event in the Old Testament. The Exodus demonstrated God’s love, mercy, and power. In Jesus’ day God’s people celebrated the Passover in remembrance of the original Exodus and in the hope and anticipation that God would again act to bring renewed hope, peace, justice, and good in the present. The stage is set. In this season of anticipation and remembrance, Jesus stands ready to reveal a new outpouring of God’s salvation.

But our text reveals much more than Jesus’ readiness to perform a sign during a key season. It also demonstrates his willingness. Close to 5000 people have followed Jesus to a mountain near the Sea of Galilee. They have gathered in expectation of more signs. But Jesus is going to do more than merely heal the sick among them. He was to touch personally each life before him. There has been no request for food but Jesus demonstrates God’s care for all and the truth that God knows what we need before we even ask. Just as God fed the Israelites in the Wilderness after they had been delivered from Egypt now Jesus stands poised to offer not simply bread for the day but bread for all eternity to those who have gathered.

Expanding the Imagination of His Closest Followers
After seeing the large crowd Jesus calls together his closest followers. He inquires about purchasing bread for them to eat. Our text calls this a test. As usual, the disciples are clueless and experience an epic fail. Philip comments that a half year’s pay wouldn’t be enough. Andrew, probably with sarcasm, observes a small boy with five loaves and a couple of fish and adds wryly, “But what are they among so many people?”

This cuts to the root of the problem. Jesus sees and offers possibility but too often his followers are blind to all but scarcity. Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of the goal.” The disciples have already witnessed Jesus turning water to wine. They watched him cleanse the temple. They heard him reveal truth to Nicodemus. They observed him transforming the Samaritan woman from a confused person with a compromised life to a transformed witness to God’s truth. They had just seen him heal a man who had lived in bondage to an illness for 38 years.

Let’s ponder some even deeper truths revealed in John’s Gospel: Jesus has come to make God known. He has come to offer abundant life. He has come to show the way to the Father. If these mysteries are within our grasp through the mission of Jesus, how can the feeding of a multitude present any real problem?

This story invites us to expand our ability to trust and rely on God for answers to the biggest struggles in our lives. His first disciples ultimately learned this truth and gave their energies and talents to proclaim the good news to the known world of their day.

A Theology of Enough
Five loaves and two fish may have seemed only enough to feed a small boy. But Jesus knew differently. In the hands of the Son of God, these rations would be plenty for all. Jesus performs a miracle in order to proclaim the abundance that is found in God.

Many of us know Psalm 23 from its frequent use. Reflect on some of its lines: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures…You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…my cup overflows…Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of our life….” In feeding the 5000, Jesus tangibly demonstrates the truth of these words. Jesus embodies all that it means for God to act as a shepherd. Jesus has the crowd sit down in the grass. Jesus himself takes the food, gives thanks to God, and distributes the meal personally to each person.

Jesus offers the crowd no mere snack. It is a feast. Each receives as much as each one desires. All ate until their appetites were satisfied. But there is more. Jesus didn’t merely feed 5000 with a few loaves of bread and fish. He has enough for the world. He is the true bread of life. Later in John 6, he will exclaim, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” The disciples gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers. This number represents the totality of God’s children. As there were twelve tribes of God’s people, there are twelve baskets of food. With God, there is always an abundance. God’s working of a miracle for one group of people in no way limits God’s ability to touch others. There is enough!

In response, the crowd recognizes Jesus as a prophet who has come into the world. Indeed he is and so much more. As the bread of life, he will give his own life and be raised anew in order to offer us an even greater abundance—a transformed life and reality.

A Warning to the Crowds
Our text ends with a warning. We cannot force the hand of God. The response of the crowds to the abundant feast was to attempt to make Jesus king by force. Violence and human scheming are not the pathways to abundance. Let’s be clear: abundance is the will of God. But it cannot be taken—it can only be received. It cannot be hoarded—it must be shared. It cannot be purchased—it is free. There is no scarcity in God’s kingdom—there is always plenty.

The abundance offered by Jesus is the answer, but it begs us to ask this question: How hungry are we? Jesus offers us a feast. There is enough. Come and eat to your fill. Once we’ve eaten let us go forth into the world, live the abundant life that Jesus empowers us to embrace and embody, and serve as witnesses to God’s goodness.

Here is a draft of a message on Mark 9:2-9:

NRSV Mk. 9:2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Surfing is a sport that confounds popular wisdom. Most outsiders can marvel at the beauty of the ocean and the obvious joy that riding waves brings to the sport’s enthusiasts. But to most outsiders surfing seems inherently too dangerous. The most common question asked of surfers: Aren’t you afraid of getting attacked by a shark? Most surfers laugh at this question. Of course no surfer desires to experience a shark bite. Most surfers would prefer to not even see a shark! But the bottom line is this: surfers don’t worry about sharks because they are in the water to ride waves. If you interview a few surfers, you discover the secret of these aquatic daredevils. They will confess that catching their first wave served as a life-changing event. The moment that they caught their first wave they were forever transformed. When a surfer catches a wave, she has a mystical experience in which she becomes one with the ocean. The board lifts up, the wind rushes through the ears, time stands still, and the surfer feels as though she is flying. This initial experience keeps every surfer coming back to the beach for more.

Our biblical text describes a life changing, paradigm shifting, high altitude encounter with the divine that forever shaped Jesus’ disciples into world changers. Mark 9:2-9 narrates a glimpse into the future resurrection of Jesus. Christ followers remember this moment as Transfiguration Sunday.

Our text follows on the heels of Jesus’ sublime conversation with his disciples at Caesaria Philippi. For the first time, the disciples openly started to grasp the identity of Jesus. Moreover, Jesus began to teach them about the necessity of his death and resurrection for God’s mission to bring wholeness and salvation to humanity. Jesus ups the stakes of discipleship by declaring that only those who embrace a life of unbridled commitment to God may be reckoned as his true followers. This commitment involves a willingness to risk even life itself for the sake of the Gospel. The good news about Jesus centers on his death on the cross. In fact, Jesus cannot be understood apart from his crucifixion, but neither can discipleship. Following Jesus is thus fundamentally a call to die to self and embrace a sacrificial existence so that God can deploy us in the world for the sake of his mission.

High Altitude Encounters are Purposeful
Since the Gospel is clearly not for the faint of heart or for the lukewarm, Jesus offers his disciples a glimpse into the full truth of his identity by inviting a representative group to accompany him up to the top of a high mountain. He selects Peter, James and John. These men were the leaders among Jesus’ earliest band of followers.

Jesus takes them to the top of a mountain because for the ancients mountains represented the abode of the divine. The gods and goddesses of old inhabited holy or cosmic mountains. Moreover as the God of the Scriptures began to reveal himself to God’s people in Israel’s scriptures many significant encounters occurred on mountains. Abraham had taken Isaac to the top of mount Moriah in anticipation of sacrificing him. Moses received the Ten Commandments and many of the laws of the Torah at mount Sinai. Elijah returned there centuries later to find rejuvenated faith. Mountains were places of revelation and commissioning for God’s service.

Once Jesus, Peter, James, and John reach the pinnacle of the mountain something astonishing happens. Before their eyes, Jesus shifts in appearance from an earthly one to a heavenly one. Jesus glistens with a supernatural glow. Our text is unable to describe it with human language, but it is obvious to the disciples that they are in the presence of someone who is no mere man. Moreover, they also discover that they are no longer alone with Jesus. Moses and Elijah are conversing with him. These are two towering figures of the Old Testament Scriptures. Moses was the mediator through whom God revealed the Torah for God’s people; Elijah was greatest of the prophets.

The disciples are dumbfounded and scared by the experience. But it is not over. There is one more addition to the gathering on the mountaintop. Suddenly a cloud envelopes them and they hear a voice, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.” Though unstated, this is the distinct voice of God. The words here echo the words spoken by God at the baptism of Jesus. God’s affirmation about Jesus alludes to Old Testament Scripture and declares the true nature of Jesus’ identity. This affirmation by God informs the disciples that Jesus is indeed God’s agent to make manifest the Kingdom of God on earth. As son, Jesus is the long-awaited, heaven sent, and spirit empowered figure to declare God’s salvation to the world.

Reflect for a few moments on the multi-sensory experience of the transfiguration. The disciples saw the transformation of Jesus, the appearance of Elijah and Moses, and the arrival of the cloud. They felt the change in temperature and probably the mist present when the cloud enveloped them. And they heard the voices of Moses, Elijah, and of God himself. The experience at the top of the mountain was indeed a high-altitude encounter with the divine. But there is more!

Notice what is added to God’s words that were not present at Jesus’ baptism. God adds an exhortation: Listen to him! If we miss the significance of the exhortation, we will misunderstand the Transfiguration. The experience of the disciples is revelatory about Jesus but more importantly it is prescriptive for their lives. The defining moment of the Transfiguration is found in God’s call to obedience. The true meaning of Jesus is to move beyond recognizing his identity and to realign our lives around his words and life. Every experience that we have with God is a reminder of the necessity of a moment-by-moment walk with Jesus as we follow him into the world on mission.

Don’t Chase Religious Experiences as Ends of Themselves
The response of Peter to the Transfiguration is humorous. Peter suggests that he build shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. But Peter and disciples learned a valuable lesson. The experience ends as quickly as it began. There was to be no lingering on the mountain. Jesus leads them back down the hill and back into the real world in which he begins his journey to Jerusalem and the cross.

This move from the mountain top back into the valleys of life is a crucial lesson for us. Too often we face the temptation of trying to re-experience past encounters with God by returning to past places or practices. Or our highest vision for a life with God is one in which we pursue one religious experience after another as ends in themselves. Jesus ordered his disciples to remain quiet about what they experienced until after his resurrection. There was work to do and a mission to fulfill.

The lesson is clear. Every new experience of God’s grace is a propellant for our going into the world to share the good news. When we are blessed with a time on the mountain top, let us hasten back into the valleys of life to bring a hopeful message to those who are hurting and desperate to hear a voice of hope.

Mountain Top Experiences Prepare Us for the Future
Jesus’ first disciples had a mission to fulfill; so do we. It is a high calling. Ultimately Jesus is not calling us merely to work to make a difference in the world. The call of Jesus is more radical. Jesus is calling us to give ourselves fully to God’s mission of making a different world.

Surfers keep going back into the water because they can remember their first wave. That memory drives them back into the oceans of the world despite the dangers implicit in surfing: sharks, undertow, powerful waves and the like. It is no coincidence that the Transfiguration marks a milestone in the Gospel of Jesus. When the disciples faced the adversity and dangers of living as Jesus’ people in the world, they could look back on defining mountain top experiences to find strength, courage and purpose for the future that God invited them to shape. Our own experiences of God serve in the same way. We can live courageously in the present based on our past mountain top experiences in anticipation of the good future that God promises.

How is God calling you to engage the world outside the walls of this place in the community where you live? It is in your daily life that you will see the fruit of any high altitude encounter with God that you may have. This is the Jesus way.

What do you think?

The Seven Days account of Creation reaches its true climax in Sabbath (2:1-3). After six days of crafting, molding, and filling the formless void of Gen 1:2 with life, God rests. “Very goodness” is not the destination of time—rest is. The God of the Bible has woven rest in the fabric of his handiwork. God takes the first Sabbath and embeds the Sabbath pattern into the world that he has created. This speaks a profound word into the crushing disorder that confronts the masses. In the ancient world, humans were typically considered to be the slaves of the gods who exist for their pleasures as well as those of earthly kings. The modern world has substituted new mythologies, but not the end results. Yet the biblical narrative from the beginning announces that disorder and chaos are not the inevitable verdicts in life and reality. Moreover, “very goodness” is not even the pinnacle. Instead, the biblical narrative of Creation ends with God ceasing from work. God rests. God blesses the Sabbath and sets it apart from the other days. God models rest for the remainder of Creation. Sabbath follows work; work does not follow Sabbath. Sabbath is a reminder of God’s creative work. It invites humanity to work meaningfully and purposefully for six days and then pause as the Creator did to remember and honor God’s work.

The importance of Sabbath is implicit by its placement in the opening scene of Genesis. The cynic might wonder if God rests only because he can rely upon humanity to work in his place (cf. 1:26-31 and 2:15). The witness of the Scriptures disabuses any such notion. The importance of Sabbath becomes clear in the Sinai covenant. Exodus 20:8-11 (cf Deut 5:12-15) weds the Sabbath with the ethos of holiness that God prescribes for his people at Sinai. Freshly delivered and redeemed from Egyptian bondage, God calls his people to live as a new kind of people—a people that embodies and reflects the character of God to/for/among the nations. Such a witness includes embracing Sabbath as a key community practice. The Sabbath commandment stands at the center of the Ten Commandments. It serves as a bridge. The initial commandments establish key boundaries for relating to the LORD by forbidding idolatry and the dishonoring of the LORD’s name. The latter commandments present foundational prescriptions for community. The Sabbath commandment combines both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of Israel’s life. Keeping Sabbath honors God before the nations. God’s people alone among the nations receive God’s gift of Sabbath. Sabbath is intrinsic to the world created by God, but the masses of humanity live as though it were not. God’s people provide the witness, but this witness to Sabbath extends beyond the seventh day. The pattern of six days for work and one for rest serves as a model for God instructions for freeing indentured slaves (Exod 21:2), allowing fields to lay fallow (23:10-12 cf. Lev 25:1-7), and establishing the Jubilee (Lev 25:8-55). The creation-wide implications of Sabbath are seen in the commandment itself. Sabbath is not merely for God’s people. It is for all creation. This reality is adumbrated by the manner in which God’s people are ordered to keep it. Sabbath means rest for God’s people, but this rest is also extended to immigrants to the land, slaves, and even animals.

In the Gospels, Jesus offers a definitive human-centered reading of Sabbath “The Sabbath exists on account of humanity, not humanity on account of the Sabbath. Thus the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” The context of this statement occurs in response to a challenge by the Pharisees regarding the legality of Jesus’ disciples picking grain for food on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-26). Moreover, Mark 3:1-6 Jesus engages the question of the rightness of healing a man on the Sabbath. He responds with a question of his own that reframes the issue: “Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? To save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4).

Jesus’ framing of the issue brings it above the simple legalism of the day (as well as ours). Exceptions do exist. Doing good and achieving authentic rest are in fact the true embodiment of Sabbath. Such practices honor God. Sabbath is not merely a boundary that restricts the behavior of God’s people or marks the line between insiders and outsiders. Sabbath is a way of life that witnesses to God’s creational intentions and points others to the rest that only God can provide.

How does your community of faith embody the mission of Sabbath? How do your practices witness to the nations?

© 2010 Brian D. Russell

In the book of Joshua, God fulfills his promise to God’s people of life in the land of Canaan. God originally promised the land to Abram at the time of Abram’s initial call (Gen 12:1, 7). This promise was reaffirmed to Abram’s descendants Isaac and Jacob and remained a central theme of the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy). As we read and study the book of Joshua over the coming weeks, it is vital to set God’s promise of land into the context of God’s overarching plans for humanity. God promised Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan not merely for their own sake but for the sake of all nations. Genesis 12:2-3 reads, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (italics added). In other words, God raised up Israel as his agents through whom he would bless all peoples. Israel’s vocation to serve as a means of blessing was reaffirmed at the feet of Mount Sinai. In Exod 19:5-6, God announced, “Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.” Precisely because God is king over all Creation he has appointed Israel to serve as a special people among all of the other peoples that inhabit the earth. They are to serve a priestly or missional function of connecting the nations to God by reflecting and embodying God’s character before the nations.
How does the promised land of Canaan fit into God’s mission? The land represents a foothold for God’s kingdom as God works to bring blessing and salvation to humanity and all creation following the spread of disobedience and sin as described in Genesis 3-11. God establishes a tiny foothold in the world because it will be in this land and through this people Israel that God will reveal himself most fully in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. But we are getting ahead of ourselves in the biblical story…Nevertheless it is vital to understand the broad story of God’s salvation in order to make sense of the book of Joshua.

As the book of Joshua opens, God’s people stand on the cusp of entering the land. But there are three challenges facing them: Moses is dead, the land is not empty, and Joshua, the new leader, must lead the people forward. But God’s people have a key advantage - they are not alone. God is powerfully present.

The book of Joshua begins with a commissioning speech by God for Joshua. It occurs after the death of Moses. Moses’ death was reported in Deut 34. Moses died with Israel still outside of Canaan on the plains of Moab. God now speaks to Joshua directly in order to empower him to lead God’s people forward in fulfillment of God’s promises. God begins by stating the obvious, “My servant Moses is dead.” The implication is clear. Joshua is now God’s man. It is his time to step into God’s call for his life. The mission is a big one–Joshua is to cross the Jordan River and move into the land that God has promised to them. The emphasis here is on the gift of the land. God is giving it to them. But the gift does not come without action. If our text is steadfast in its insistence that the land of Canaan is a gracious grant from God to God’s people, it also clearly assumes that Joshua and the people must actively move to occupy it. Verse three affirms that God’s promise of land corresponds to the places where the people will actually place their feet. The land is a gift, but it is Israel’s role to occupy it. Verse four describes the boundaries of the land. The land that God is giving to God’s people is a vast one. It extends far beyond what we commonly think of as Canaan. It represents approximately the amount of land that Israel will possess during the heyday of the empire of David and Solomon (2 Sam 8:3-14; 1 Kgs 8:65). The vastness of the gift emphasizes to Joshua the generosity of God. But a gift without the possibility of success is a fleeting one. The reader must remember that Israel is not a super power. It is a people without a land. It is a people without the primary weapons of war: the horse and chariot. Israel is not a military power. It is a people who were enslaved only a generation earlier. The story of Israel’s move into the land is not an invasion by a superior force of arms. Israel will not be successful because Joshua is a skilled general and the people are fierce warriors. Verse five reinforces the previous promises by emphasizing presence of the Lord. The name of Moses is again invoked. The LORD will be with Joshua just as He was with Moses. This language echoes the LORD’s promise of presence to Moses at the burning bush (Exod 3:12). In other words, the God of the Exodus who delivered Israel mightily will now work through Joshua to bring God’s people into the promised land.
The preceding promises serve as the basis for a final exhortation to Joshua in v. 6 “Be strong and courageous.” God’s promises open up a new future for Joshua and Israel. But it is a future into which Joshua and Israel must enter. The future is not dependent upon the physical strength, battlefield ingenuity, or military prowess of Joshua. The LORD is with Joshua. The LORD has guaranteed victory, but Joshua must act. He will be the human agent through whom the LORD will bring Israel into the land. Therefore, Joshua is exhorted to be resolute and courageous. Courage is the key that opens the door to the future that God is offering his people. Joshua must embody this virtue because He is God’s chosen servant for this mission. Courage is the key for Joshua to obey faithfully the LORD’s commands.

Authors Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola have teamed up to produce a new book: Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ (Thomas Nelson). It will be released officially on June 1, 2010. There will be a special discount for Amazon orders of Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christon June 1, 2010. I was privilege to receive an advanced copy for review.

Jesus Manifesto is a book on Christology. Sweet and Viola offer their readers and invitation to reassess their understanding and relationship with the core of Christianity: Jesus the Messiah.

Recapturing an authentic Christology is critical for our 21st century mission. If we get our Christology wrong, we never get started with the real Jesus. Here is an excerpt from early in the book that gives you a feel for where Sweet and Viola go:

For many Christians, their occupation has nothing to do with spiritual things at all. For others who are not inclined to divine matters, their occupation is evangelism. For some it’s church multiplication that matters most. For others, it’s memorizing the Bible and learning theology. Many Christians, are most occupied with social action, while others are most occupied with leadership and its various principles. Still others are mainly occupied with missions, or praise and worship; the casting out of demons, or healing; miracles, holiness, or the end times; spiritual authority and submission, justice, or politics, etc. The list is endless.
But all of these are “its”–just things. In fact, the Christ family has swung so far from its Lord that most of our preaching and teaching today is an “it” rather than a “Him.”
…Yet the reality is that Christ trumps everything. The Father exalts Him. The Spirit magnifies Him. The angels worship Him. The early church knew Him as her passion, her message, and the unction of her life. Christ was her specialty. He was her Bridegroom and head. She specialized in nothing else.
All told, there’s nothing worth pursuing outside of Christ. (19-20).

The book contains an Introduction and Ten Chapters. Sweet and Viola carefully critique the contemporary Western expressions of the Church in a winsome way. This is not the typical “everything has been bad since Christendom” book. Not at all. It has a more constructive agenda. It exalts Jesus Christ and reminds all who read Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christthat the fundamental question remains the one Jesus asked his first disciples at Caesaria Philippi: Who do you say that I am?

Sweet and Viola write eloquently and passionately. This book is an easy read. Its simplicity is disarming. They relentlessly and carefully proclaim the beauty, the person, the work, and the mission of Jesus as both a man and as Son of God. Just when you think that they are painting a docetic view of Christ, they reintroduce Jesus in all of his humanity and vice versa. They achieve a balanced view of Jesus that is rooted in Scripture and in line with the earliest Christian confessions. One is left hungry to realign with the person of Jesus and follow him as our Risen Lord into the world on mission.

Remember: There will be a special discount at Amazon for those who purchase Jesus Manifesto on the day of its release–Tuesday 1 June 2010.