3 Questions About Jesus: JR Rozko
JR Rozko approached our 3 Questions About Jesus as though it were an email from a friend, asking: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke)
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Dear Friend,
What matters most to you? No matter how you answer that question, I’d venture to guess that it relates to what it means to live a life of significance. I mean, regardless of whether we think that some higher being exists or not, the mere fact that we exist compels us to wonder what life is all about – it’s really the most fundamental of life’s questions right?
The basic Christian answer to this question regarding the purpose of life is that we have been created by a God who made the world and everything in it and desires to be in relationship with us. As I’m sure you’d agree, our world is far from perfect. I wonder what you might name as its fundamental problems and where you think they came from? Christians would say that all the pain and suffering in the world stems from the fact that this relationship we were created to have with God has been broken by our prideful attempts to try and be God as opposed to be in relationship with God.
This is where Jesus comes into the picture. Jesus is both our chief example of what it means to live in relationship with God as well as the one who has restored our ability to even have that relationship. Jesus fed the hungry, restored sight to the blind, and made crippled people walk. He did all this to exhibit God’s desire to make all things new. The pinnacle of this mission came by way of his death and resurrection. He was killed because he suggested that God was ultimately in charge of the course of history and not us. A few days after the ruling powers hung him on a cross, God triumphantly raised him from the dead.
I realize this might be difficult to believe. It is – and it should be. I wonder if you can pinpoint any beliefs you hold that might be difficult for someone else to believe? I bet you can. That’s because believing is always a matter of experience and relationship. One never really comes to believe in God, the resurrection, or the ongoing work of God in the world until they experience it in the context of a true relationship.
Looking forward to more conversations.
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JR and his wife Amy live in Elgin, outside of Chicago. JR works for Northern Seminary and Amy works for International Teams. They are part of Life on the Vine, a missional community in the NW suburbs of Chicago. JR blogs at lifeasmission.com.
“Jesus is both our chief example of what it means to live in relationship with God as well as the one who has restored our ability to even have that relationship.”
I really appreciate the both/and-ness of this statement.