Welcome to our online
discussion of Jesus: A Pilgrimage by Father James Martin.
The author begins with the question: Who is Jesus?
He writes: ‘Fully human and fully divine’ means that
Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t just a great guy, an inspiring teacher, and a holy
man. Moreover, the charismatic carpenter
wasn’t merely a clever storyteller, a compassionate healer, or a courageous
prophet (page 3.).
Who then is Jesus? Who is He for us?
Our English word, scandal,
comes from a New Testament word, skandalon, meaning “stumbling block.”
Which of Our Lord’s two
natures—human and divine—trip us up?
How did you react as the
author described Jesus’ sharp rebuke of the woman in Mark’s Gospel who asked
him to heal her daughter? Does our
understanding of His human nature allow for Him to have moments of annoyance
and anger?
Do you have friends or family
members who believe that Jesus was nothing more than a first century celebrity,
but who stop short of seeing Him as the divine Son of God?
To what extent have we
domesticated Jesus--made Him over in our own image, so that we can avoid His
claim on our lives?
We hope you buy the book and
follow along each week as we journey through Jesus: a Pilgrimage. We hope you will participate by leaving your
reactions and comments below. And join us next Sunday, October 4, when we continue our journey by reading Chapter 1, “Pilgrims.”
Questions to Ponder:
1. If Jesus asked you, "Who do you say that I am?" how would you respond?
2. If you, like Thomas Jefferson, were to remove those passages from the Gospels that make you uncomfortable, which ones would you choose? What might those passages reveal about your understanding of Jesus?
3. Which approach to Jesus Christ appeals to you: the 'Jesus of History' or the 'Christ of Faith'? Or both?
Steven Olson
Questions to Ponder:
1. If Jesus asked you, "Who do you say that I am?" how would you respond?
2. If you, like Thomas Jefferson, were to remove those passages from the Gospels that make you uncomfortable, which ones would you choose? What might those passages reveal about your understanding of Jesus?
3. Which approach to Jesus Christ appeals to you: the 'Jesus of History' or the 'Christ of Faith'? Or both?
Steven Olson
Dear Readers,
Here are some ways to participate in our online discussion.
- Simply get the book and read along. To enhance your reading, reflections on each chapter together with discussion questions are posted on this blog every Sunday morning. If you fall behind, all chapters/reflections are archived on the main page.
- Actively participate! Read along and then discuss the chapter by leaving comments below. We encourage this.
- If you enjoy the book and our reflections/discussion, please evangelize by telling others about the book and our site. Thanks for stopping by!
I enjoyed Father Martin's analysis of Pope Francis' visit on CNN. Am considering buying the book and joining your online pilgrimage.
ReplyDeleteBy all means, buy the book and join us. All the chapters will be archived on the main page, so you can join when you want and read at your own pace.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, I can see how 35 years ago, I was lead to answer the question "Who do you say that I am?" I was a cradle Catholic, attended mass every Sunday and holy day, tried to live a good life, was married in the Catholic church, had my children baptized, but that was pretty much the extent of my spiritual life. Then, a married couple (friends from a Protestant denomination) would subtly bring up Jesus in our conversations, and it was again, in retrospect, that I could see that I was being evangelized about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus -- of course, in God's plan, it came at a time in my life that I would be most receptive. Shortly after the start of this journey, a total stranger came up to me a community pool site (the Lord works in mysterious ways), and invited me to a talk by Ralph Martin (a Catholic evangelist). This was at the very start of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church, and so I then began personal study, personal prayer and prayer group meetings, being mentored, and God just kept leading me to what I needed. Looking back now, I can see that Jesus was pursuing me, and brought me to the point where I could answer that question of "who do you say that I am" -- Jesus is My Lord and Savior, and, I am still growing in that relationship with Him.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the book so far. Human and divine will always be a mystery for me. I think the human part trips me up the most- i guess i want to think Jesus won't give in to our less attractive human emotions-such as annoyance and anger. Also the idea of when he knew he was divine-did he always know or was there a moment of revelation- challenges me. Looking forward to chapter 2 :)
ReplyDeleteVery excited from the very beginning. My long-life dream has been to travel to the Holy Land and visit those sites where Our Lord was born, raised, laughed and cried and where He was crucified for our sins and resurrected. This is the kind of book I would have loved to write myself. So far I feel as a third companion to to James and George into this pilgrimage...Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDelete