04/21/2026
From our Pastor
The Jesus of the Gospels
As there seems to be a fair amount of conversation these days in our country about Jesus; what his values were, where he spent his time, who he invited to the table, how he responded to those in the political and religious halls of power in his day… I thought it might be helpful to remember that the only record of what Jesus said and did is found in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So perhaps it might be helpful to read these books again, holding the question before is, “What did Jesus do?” (In contrast to the popular question, “What would Jesus do?” which can be subjective.)
And perhaps it might also be helpful to carry Matthew 5:1-12 (the Beatitudes) around with us. To memorize them in case we are called to testify to the way and the witness of Jesus. And to remember what one theologian said at another time in our nation’s history when Jesus was being co-opted to support the goals of the Empire, “Never trust a Jesus without wounds.” Because of course, at the heart of who Jesus was and did was love… accompanying, suffering love. Any images, policies, and propaganda that portray Jesus in any other way are false and not true to the Jesus made known in our Scriptures.
There has never been a better time to study the Gospels and to ask ourselves what it means to be a Christian. There has never been a more compelling time to take the Beatitudes to heart and to ponder what it might mean for us to live by them. There has never been a more important time to be the Church and to remind ourselves what it means to follow Jesus.
We can’t do this work alone. But together, as the body of Christ, we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, bear witness to the God who is known in the pattern of blessing, breaking and sharing… the very pattern of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Blessing, breaking and sharing. To know Jesus, to follow Jesus, is to pattern our lives in the same way. May we do so, and thus bear witness to the Jesus who bore the wounds of love and who rises still to bear this love to our suffering world. And, in the most astounding paradox and promise of our faith, may we, in the blessing, the breaking and the sharing of our lives, know it to be all joy.
