The Bible study leaders at my parish, recommended this author, Brian Zahnd. I listened to some of his sermons online and decided to buy some books. Oh, was I in for a huge surprise. He opened scripture in ways that shocked and surprised me and caused me to get tears in my eyes as I repented for having followed the crowd instead of following my Lord.
Now it seems my week becomes weak if I don't listen to Brian Zahnd's weekly sermon from Word of Life Church (wolc.com) and read his blog. I've read three of his books and each one was a mind-opening, mind-blower that left me scratching my head, searching my Bible, and changing my heart and life.
Now that I've read "Farewell to Mars" for the third time, I'm ready to blog about it. I'm sure it will take more time, more searching the scriptures and probably more read-throughs the book to "gork" the information.
Here's my major take-away from the book: "[Jesus] would rather die than kill his enemies.". The book is unpacking that power-packed quote and explaining how the "Kingdom of God" and the Scriptures looks different through that filter.
One of the titles of Jesus is Prince of Peace and in that capacity, he rules over the Peaceable Kingdom. Having lived in a war-participating country since I was a child - do I even have the capacity to understand a peaceable kingdom or a peace-filled ruler? The only way is by the divine imagination God gave me to "see" his word mentally and then try to act like a peacable kingdom is achievable (at least in my life) and if that's True and worth pursuing.
Another part of the book that boggled my brain. He gave excellent examples of the difference between nationality vs Empire all tied up in scripture (especially Isaiah) and history. He uses the term "chaplaincy to the Empire" to describe where the church gets mixed up in politics; rather than being the church under the rule of Jesus Christ. He explains the goals of the Kingdom of God and the goal of Empire - and how they are not compatible so Christians have to chose if they want to belong to the warring Empire or the peaceable Kingdom; if I want to hang onto the benefits of Empire or the blessings of God's Kingdom.
One of the eye-openers for me was when he talked about Cain killing Able. Later Abraham lead his son up the mountain but recognized God and didn't kill him but put down the knife. What if Cain had put down the killing stone? Jesus told us to do what Abraham did; yet many people extrapolate different things out of that verse. What if we'd put down our guns? What if we'd put down our national guns and stop warring?
Zahnd says, "We come to realize that in using violence as a means of achieving justice, we are capable of murdering God!" And that is what happened when the crowd yelled "Crucify Him!" in front of Pilate.
I'll end this entry with a quote from the book: "Jesus sets us free not by killing enemies but by being killed by enemies and forgiving them." I want to be like Jesus.
To better understand Zahnd's definitions of Empire, please listen to this short video that is under five minutes, "Empire vs Jesus" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zTBCOzXiB8
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