Seeing Jesus with Paul Miller

Adam Barker, Director of A Praying Life, joins the discussion to emphasize that true prayer is rooted in love and community. He argues that genuine transformation in discipleship requires heartfelt connection and striving for perfection, as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. Adam shares how prayer can guide individuals through relational challenges, making love integral to the faith journey. He highlights the importance of lament as a tool for honest communication with God, showcasing its power to bring peace and understanding amidst life's struggles.

Paul and Liz begin a short new series sharing lessons learned over the years about discipleship. Adam Barker, Director of our A Praying Life Ministry, joins us. "One of the things I do when discipling Christians is I hold them individually accountable. I just go around and ask, ‘Did you do the assigned reading?’ Why do I do this? Probably because I have learned that my evangelical Christian friends in suburbia are no different than the inner city kids I used to teach when it comes to doing homework." "In the modern American church, we're so concentrated on gathering people and making them feel good about that gathering, and that often kills discipleship." "I was leading cohorts in a church that had a passive learning paradigm, so it took me a couple of weeks to even begin to break into that. When I got some negative comments from a participant during the second or third week, I was delighted. That was honest engagement, so I knew where he was at! You can't disciple unless you know where someone is really at."

Paul, Robert, and Liz wrap up this study of Jesus by reflecting on what Jesus tells us about his glory... and what that means for how we follow him. "We would think the glory would be the resurrection, that it would start Sunday. But Jesus says the glory starts Friday… which is just so different than how we think of glory." "Most of the time you only see glory in retrospect. When you're enduring quietly with no cheering crowd, that's your glory." "What's Jesus going to do at the wedding feast of the lamb? He's going to be the center of the feast, and he's going to also be the host and the servants. He's going to be around checking people, checking their drinks, serving food. He just loves to love. He loves to wash feet."

Paul, Robert, and Liz continue their conversation about the resurrection of Jesus. "It was the apocryphal gospel of Peter that helped me to realize how much space Jesus left in this Resurrection scene. If you follow what the gospel of Peter says, Jesus comes back from the grave like King Kong - he fills up all the space. You can't even see his head, because it is literally up through the clouds!" "I want Jesus’ DNA – to ask questions, to be slow to bring judgment." "In the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene in Luke and John, Jesus is the same size as Mary. He leaves space by quietly being there until she sees him – and even then he doesn't say who he is but asks her questions. And because of that, we discover some of what Mary’s like as a person. If Jesus had identified himself immediately, we’d have missed that glimpse of Mary."

Paul, Robert, and Liz begin looking at the first moments after the resurrection of Jesus, examining his interaction with Mary Magdalene. "Mary Magdalene is the first person we know of who turns away from two angels, because they aren't helping her. She’s in pursuit, and the angels aren't helping her, so she starts looking around. We know from Luke that she had been demon-possessed, and Jesus had freed her, so what we're looking at in her single-minded focus is the depth of her love for Jesus." "Jesus is the first person of a new creation." "Sickness is going to end. Cancer is going to end. Meanness is going to end, murder is going to end, death's going to end. This is the biggest and best news in all of history, and Jesus is able to make her name and who she is as a person the center of how he shares the news with her."

The conversation dives into Jesus’ last seven statements on the cross, highlighting their profound brevity amid his suffering. There's a deep exploration of compassion, especially in Jesus' relationship with Mary during these moments. The speakers reflect on the dual nature of the crucifixion as both a moment of despair and triumph. Personal significance is woven throughout, encouraging listeners to consider their own connections to Christ's sacrifice. The themes of love, suffering, and the ultimate victory of faith resonate throughout the discussion.

Explore the profound moments leading to the crucifixion of Jesus, highlighting his poignant plea for forgiveness and the mercy shown even amidst mockery. Discover the unique defense from a thief, challenging the guilt surrounding the crucifixion. Delve into the emotional turmoil of the disciples and the societal implications of the cross, as well as Jesus's compassion toward the weeping women of Jerusalem. The contrast between suffering and love reveals deep insights into mercy and the weight of his sacrifice.

Paul, Robert, and Liz continue their conversation about Jesus before Pilate, looking at how close Jesus gets to Pilate's heart. "Jesus has taken Pilate from a mocking question into opening up his heart, then he’s received more mocking from Pilate and taken him to truth. The whole thing is kind of a journey, and Pilate follows Jesus." "Jesus is very lamb-like, but there's a lion right behind the bushes and you can feel it." "Pilate was not a fearful man. He was a crafty politician. He stayed longer, up to that point, than any other of the Roman procurators, so he's got good survival instincts; but here, he's afraid. In the end, he has a choice to save his career or to save Jesus' life; and as you know, in the end, he chooses his career."

Paul, Robert, and Liz continue their conversation about how Jesus loves as the cross draws near, turning their attention to the trial scene with Pilate. "Pilate is one of the people in the Gospels who we tend to see through a fairly fixed definition. The scene where he washes his hands is iconic: 'Behold, the man!' So we actually don't have a feel for him as a person. What’s this guy like? It was Edersheim’s book, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, that first put me onto what’s going on in this conversation." "The beauty of poetry is this ability to condense infinity, and Jesus does it all the time." "There’s a degree to which that mocking can help us not take ourselves too seriously, but there's also a way that mocking can prevent us from taking ourselves seriously enough."

Paul, Robert, and Liz continue their conversation about how Jesus loves as the cross draws near, turning their attention to the scene when Judas arrives at the garden. "We can sometimes be fearful of the kind of honest command or these penetrating questions Jesus asks that unmask evil. Sin grows in the dark. And yet here they are coming in the cover of darkness, not realizing they were coming to the one who is the light of the world, who exposes every part of them." "Jesus is the light everywhere he goes." "This whole scene probably takes no more than 10 minutes. But within that time, we see Jesus moving between all these different ways of loving. He's so very present, so aware. He moves in every quadrant of love from powerfully rebuking to asking penetrating questions to protecting the disciples. It’s a beautiful portrait of Jesus loving."