Jesus Is__ - A Book Review

Jesus Is_

I like the title of this book.  I also enjoyed the premise very much.  Author Judah Smith, pastor of City Church in Seattle Washington, uses that question to delve into the character of Christ. He breaks the theme of Jesus Is_ down into six sections:

1. Jesus Is Your Friend
2. Jesus Is Grace
3. Jesus Is The Point
4. Jesus Is Happy
5. Jesus Is Here 
6. Jesus Is Alive

With passion, humor, and conviction, Judah Smith attempts to show that Jesus is life.  Smith's passion comes through in this book.  You really get the fact that he is into Jesus.  He conviction is there on display.  I found numerous nuggets of truth that seemed to leap off the page.  I read a few out loud to my wife, discussing the ones that seemed profound and full of wisdom.

Sadly,mixed in with that passion and conviction was just a tad to much humor. Don't get me wrong, I love humor.  I use it while preaching and we also laugh quite a bit in our home.  I think humor in a non-fiction book about the character of Jesus is not a bad thing.  Judah Smith just seems to be trying to dang hard. In the first chapter, Smith has Zacchaeus thinking things are "dope" or "jacked up".  It is when he "tells the stories" that this book falls apart.  When Jesus mentions adultery during the Sermon on the Mount, I get taken out of the points Smith is trying to make when he says a guy has the Fisherman's Quarterly Swimsuit Edition in his knapsack and that guys are thinking they never hooked up with any desperate housewives or stopped by Hooters.

I made it half way through this book. By then, the constant modern day culture inserted into Biblical times thing got really old.  The humor was more than enough to drown out a needed message.

BookSneeze® has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy.

Zacchaeus - Not Just a Wee Little Man

My 2 year old has been running around the house singing the children's Bible song about Zacchaeus.  If you are unfamiliar with it, allow me to share the part my son is singing over and over:

 Zacchaeus was a wee little man
And a wee little man was he
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see
And as the Savior passed that way
He looked up in that tree
And He said, “Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I’m going to your house today
For I’m going to your house to stay”

So I was heading off to church last Sunday with my son singing this song in the back seat.  With the words rattling in my brain, I recalled that I have shared many Bible stories at church but never this one.

Fast forward to this Sunday.

The story of Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19: 1-10.

As I read the story, two things leaped out at me.

Let me share the passage here first:

He (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.  And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.  So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.  And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”  So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.  And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.
And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”  And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The first thing I noticed was that the Lord called Zacchaeus by name.  He enters Jericho, walks along, looks up and says, "Zacchaeus..."  

The second thing was the end of the passage where it says Jesus came to SEEK and to save.

I fully believe Jesus went to Jericho that day for Zacchaeus, sought him out and changed his life forever.

It reminds me that Jesus calls all of us by name!  He seeks us out to change our lives forever.

He knows my name.

Humbling!