Jesus' Way of Relating to the World
Jesus often came into conflict with the conservative religious establishment of his time. His way of relating to the world differed radically from theirs. Their concept of holiness was “fortress holiness”. It needed walls because it could be “defiled”. They had to make “fences” so that nothing could touch the holiness of Israel and pollute it – on the day that Israel was perfectly pure, they thought, Messiah would come. Jesus had a radically different picture of things. Jesus was so alive and his holiness was so “radioactive” that it would eradicate sin and uncleanness, even leprosy.We want to reach out to the world like Jesus did: He went beyond the boundaries imposed by the religious people of his society. We want to have the courage to let him continue to take us beyond our comfort zone culturally and personally. If we are living with Jesus, we do not have to fear where he may lead us. True Christian community does not live in a “fortress”. It happens when a band of pilgrims commit themselves to journey together to the heavenly city and invite those they meet on the way to join them.
