All who follow Jesus become the bridge, the means by which God’s will will be done on earth as in heaven.

S2:E5 EPISODE SUMMARY

Adam and Lindsey unmask Jesus from exclusive theology and violent cultural lenses. But, during Covid times, Jesus would wear a mask! Loving others as Jesus loves us requires us to wear a mask too!

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Can’t you just hear the skepticism and disgust in Nathanael’s question? How could the leader Israel has been longing for, the Messiah come from such a backward, middle-of-god-foresaken-nowhere place?

Nathanael certainly doesn’t hide behind diplomacy! Maybe that’s why Jesus declares that there is no deceit in him. And it doesn’t take much to turn Nathanael from skeptic to devoted disciple!

Jesus is doing the on-the-ground organizing necessary to build a movement that will change the world. The savior of the world, the one who will lead us all into a new life, a new way of relating to each other in compassion and cooperation, comes from the margins and gathers unlikely followers. 

“You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” What a bizarre metaphor! What is Jesus talking about? The link between heaven and earth, bridge that collapses the distance between them, will not be a temple or a ritual, but Jesus’s own Self. But more than that, the disciples will become part of Jesus’s body. All who follow Jesus become the bridge, the means by which God’s will will be done on earth as in heaven. Jesus calls his followers with the astounding message that the distinction between heaven and earth will be dissolved within them as they live into their full humanity, their full expression of God’s essence of Love.

Lindsey and Adam explore this bizarre of Jesus calling us all to discipleship. As we we remember Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend, we recall that it takes not only a leader, but many, many dedicated people to change the world for the better.

The Olive
Branch

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