Searching for Jesus

A series of blogs in my continuing quest to get Jesus figured out in my remaining years of life.

Here’s the problem: How do we move from the historical Jesus depicted in the Gospel stories (and in Paul who is, however, fixated on the cosmic son of God) to the subject of contemporary belief, commitment, and conduct? This assumes that, having studiously sifted the biblical material, we have arrived at an understanding of Jesus that we use to explain and justify Christian faith today.

There can be little doubt that Jesus made a profound impact on a wide circle of devotees in Palestine. His deeds as teacher, prophet, healer, and charismatic actualizer of God’s presence generated profound allegiance to him. Paul, whose letters we date around 50 BCE, did not invent the Jesus movement; his conversion took place in the context of pre-existing body of Jesus followers. Moreover, Paul (at least according to the author of the Book of Acts) revealed him being present at the stoning of Stephen, providing further evidence of Jesus’ disciples already existing in Jerusalem.

The point here is this: After the death of Jesus, the Gospels emerged as the surrogate presence of Jesus. With all the problems of historical interpretation and reconstruction, the fact remains that access to Jesus for subsequent “believers” and for us relies on the Gospel stories.