by Malcolm Tolbert
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The late New Testament scholar with a pastor’s heart begins this collection of essays with a simple yet important affirmation: “I am captivated by Jesus.”
He notes that “the memories of Jesus were communicated orally” for the decades between Jesus’ death and the writing of Mark’s Gospel. Yet we are able to know “the kinds of things he said and the kind of person he was.”
In repeatedly teaching the Greek texts of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, said Tolbert, led to an ongoing and needed confrontation.
“Over and over again, I came under the spell of the sayings of Jesus that I found to be so difficult to incorporate into my daily living,” he writes.
The essays reflect on a few of vignettes drawn from the Gospels — with the hope that his “treatment” of these passages help readers seeking “to be genuine followers of Jesus.”
The biblical thread of justice that runs throughout the Gospels starts with Jesus’ place of birth among the animals, Tolbert observes. “There are no social barriers in a barn.”
The call for following Jesus faithfully runs through this insightful book.
“The way we show our love for God is by loving our neighbors,” he reminds readers. “No pious activity or churchly duty can substitute for that.”
His chapter on “Jesus and Rome” is very helpful — noting the “three different approaches to governmental authority” offered by Paul, Revelation and Jesus.
And in a warning to not try to force an ancient text into a contemporary setting, he writes: “Believers in the first century could not have imagined that church members would someday have the possibility of choosing fellow Christians to serve as officials of the state.”
Of particular value to Christians today are Tolbert’s essays on discipleship. Like Jesus, he doesn’t attempt to soft-sell that calling.
“Jesus was certain that average humans who opened themselves to the presence of God were capable of fulfilling the challenge he gave them,” writes Tolbert. “At the same time, he was realistic, aware that they faced the real danger of failing.”
Therefore, it is no surprise that so much that is portrayed as “Christian” today lacks any semblance to how Jesus called his followers to live. The same calling to faithfulness Jesus issued to his first disciples is extended to all of us.
Tolbert’s book serves as a good reminder of that calling. It is fitting for personal reading, group conversations or as sermon fodder.
Review by John Pierce, director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative.