Was Jesus Polarizing?
Was Jesus a polarizing figure? My church will do a worship series on polarization during Lent. Wish us luck! People are already asking me, “Are you really going to ask me to interact with others whose views are so off course that they would become violent?” That response is incredibly telling of the dynamics at play within our society—that people automatically go to the extreme without seeing the rest. The goal of this series is to investigate whether the life of Jesus teaches us anything about polarization. I’ve been doing some scriptural research. And I got to tell you: it’s been a tough day. You know when you are reading a novel and you prescribe a personality, tone of voice, and temperament to a character? It’s almost like you can hear their voice in your head as you are reading dialogue. The author of the story, of course, plants all the seeds through their character development, but ultimately the reader’s own lens gives the character life. (This is why p