Oops! We released Part 2 of our Zacchaeus podcast before we released Part 1. We have changed and reordered them on our hosting service, and if you refresh, you should see the two episodes in the right order. Our apologies! The podcast team continues their series looking at Jesus and how his dependence on the Father shapes his love. This is the first of two episodes watching Jesus love Zacchaeus. "When my dad preached a sermon on Zacchaeus some forty years ago and said when you think of Zacchaeus, think of Danny Devito. His whole persona, his character. Self-confident, a little on the obnoxious side of charming. Danny Devito just kind of nails it!... Zacchaeus is a man of action, and Jesus incarnates with him by essentially ordering him: Come down immediately; I must stay at your house today. It’s something we would never even think of doing with a complete stranger."  "'Blessed are those who are making everyone happy' could be a modern beatitude."  "We’re living in a cultural setting where you approach everyone and everything with skepticism and cynicism. To move toward someone with this 'gentle intrusion' love of Jesus can be automatically categorized and received as a malicious kind of move. And so we sometimes ‘freeze’ instead of loving. This gentle intrusion is a side of Christ that we need to learn."

Oops! We released Part 2 of our Zacchaeus podcast before we released Part 1. We have changed and reordered them on our hosting service, and if you refresh, you should see the two episodes in the right order. Our apologies! The podcast team continues their series looking at Jesus and how his dependence on the Father shapes his love. This is the first of two episodes watching Jesus love Zacchaeus. "When my dad preached a sermon on Zacchaeus some forty years ago and said when you think of Zacchaeus, think of Danny Devito. His whole persona, his character. Self-confident, a little on the obnoxious side of charming. Danny Devito just kind of nails it!... Zacchaeus is a man of action, and Jesus incarnates with him by essentially ordering him: Come down immediately; I must stay at your house today. It’s something we would never even think of doing with a complete stranger." "'Blessed are those who are making everyone happy' could be a modern beatitude." "We’re living in a cultural setting where you approach everyone and everything with skepticism and cynicism. To move toward someone with this 'gentle intrusion' love of Jesus can be automatically categorized and received as a malicious kind of move. And so we sometimes ‘freeze’ instead of loving. This gentle intrusion is a side of Christ that we need to learn."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 10. Gentle Intrusion (POJ 3.7)

Oops! We released Part 2 of our Zacchaeus podcast before we released Part 1. Part 1 will be released on August 2. Our apologies! Jon, Robert, Paul and Liz continue their conversation about how Jesus intrudes into Zacchaeus’s life. "The second half of the Zacchaeus story is just delightful, but it’s easy to miss. I find most Christians are unaware of exactly what happens in this second part. Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’s house and all the people begin to mutter…"  "All acts of love involve a kind of atonement; there’s an exchange involved."  "Zacchaeus immediately sees what the problem is: he has shamed Jesus by associating with him and the only way he can increase Jesus’ reputation is by changing his own reputation. He’s one of the few people in the gospels who gives Jesus a gift…"

Oops! We released Part 2 of our Zacchaeus podcast before we released Part 1. Part 1 will be released on August 2. Our apologies! Jon, Robert, Paul and Liz continue their conversation about how Jesus intrudes into Zacchaeus’s life. "The second half of the Zacchaeus story is just delightful, but it’s easy to miss. I find most Christians are unaware of exactly what happens in this second part. Jesus invites himself over to Zacchaeus’s house and all the people begin to mutter…" "All acts of love involve a kind of atonement; there’s an exchange involved." "Zacchaeus immediately sees what the problem is: he has shamed Jesus by associating with him and the only way he can increase Jesus’ reputation is by changing his own reputation. He’s one of the few people in the gospels who gives Jesus a gift…"

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 11. Gentle Intrusion, Part 2 (POJ 3.7)

The series continues by looking at how Jesus handles temptation when Satan returns. "One of the principal patterns across all the gospels is the demand for a sign that comes from the Jews. It’s a little out of our cultural world, and let me just explain. You’ll see examples in the Talmud about great rabbis doing a sign, and what it is is a miracle that shows you off. It might be a miracle where you make the roof go up two feet and come down. It has nothing to do with love."  "The very nature of a sign is to separate love from power. That’s the problem with celebrity culture in the church. It separates love from power. Love always involves humility and going lower."  "In all these temptations, Satan is tempting Jesus to act on his own, but Jesus says, 'I do nothing on my own. I do just what I see my Father doing.' So, for me, that means asking others' opinions, staying under authority, being content with the rhythms of life that God’s given me. We’ve talked about being content in the garden that God has given. So many besetting sins involve looking outside of the garden God’s put you in. They're all a way of making bread."

The series continues by looking at how Jesus handles temptation when Satan returns. "One of the principal patterns across all the gospels is the demand for a sign that comes from the Jews. It’s a little out of our cultural world, and let me just explain. You’ll see examples in the Talmud about great rabbis doing a sign, and what it is is a miracle that shows you off. It might be a miracle where you make the roof go up two feet and come down. It has nothing to do with love." "The very nature of a sign is to separate love from power. That’s the problem with celebrity culture in the church. It separates love from power. Love always involves humility and going lower." "In all these temptations, Satan is tempting Jesus to act on his own, but Jesus says, 'I do nothing on my own. I do just what I see my Father doing.' So, for me, that means asking others' opinions, staying under authority, being content with the rhythms of life that God’s given me. We’ve talked about being content in the garden that God has given. So many besetting sins involve looking outside of the garden God’s put you in. They're all a way of making bread."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 9. Satan Returns (POJ 3.6)

In this episode, the team reflects a bit on where we are in our Jesus &amp; Dependence series and what we’ll be moving into in our next few episodes. "If you’ve been listening to our recent podcasts and that was your only window to Jesus, you would probably say he’s kind of a negative person. He says no to everybody; he said no to his mother, no to his brothers, and he was kind of negative with Satan. He’s a Debbie Downer…"  "No one does compassion like Jesus, but compassion is not at the center for Jesus. His Father is; communion with the Father through the Spirit is at the center of his life."  "The Centurion at the cross has never seen a miracle; he knew virtually nothing of this man. But just watching how Jesus acts and relates over those 6 dying hours. This is a man who knows men, and by the end of those 6 hours, he concludes that he has almost certainly met a god. It was how he lived that so stunning." Paul and the team reference a 4-quadrant chart in today’s conversation – you can download it here.

In this episode, the team reflects a bit on where we are in our Jesus &amp; Dependence series and what we’ll be moving into in our next few episodes. "If you’ve been listening to our recent podcasts and that was your only window to Jesus, you would probably say he’s kind of a negative person. He says no to everybody; he said no to his mother, no to his brothers, and he was kind of negative with Satan. He’s a Debbie Downer…" "No one does compassion like Jesus, but compassion is not at the center for Jesus. His Father is; communion with the Father through the Spirit is at the center of his life." "The Centurion at the cross has never seen a miracle; he knew virtually nothing of this man. But just watching how Jesus acts and relates over those 6 dying hours. This is a man who knows men, and by the end of those 6 hours, he concludes that he has almost certainly met a god. It was how he lived that so stunning." Paul and the team reference a 4-quadrant chart in today’s conversation – you can <a href="https://www.seejesus.net/sites/default/files/content/The%20Yes%20and%20No%20of%20Jesus.png" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">download it here</a>.

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 8. Saying Yes and Saying No

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their conversation about Satan’s temptation of Jesus. "We tend to be independent of God in our strengths. When we know we’re weak, we pray. That’s why most of our sins tend to clump around our areas of strength."  "Satan is inviting Jesus to be a celebrity, and Jesus is just disgusted at the idea."  "Put your heavenly Father at the center. Don’t go running after those things. Your heavenly Father will take care of you. Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness. It’s going to be more than ok."

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their conversation about Satan’s temptation of Jesus. "We tend to be independent of God in our strengths. When we know we’re weak, we pray. That’s why most of our sins tend to clump around our areas of strength." "Satan is inviting Jesus to be a celebrity, and Jesus is just disgusted at the idea." "Put your heavenly Father at the center. Don’t go running after those things. Your heavenly Father will take care of you. Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness. It’s going to be more than ok."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 7. Jesus Under Temptation (POJ 3.5)

Paul, Robert and Liz look at how Jesus says no to the first of Satan's three temptations.  "Jesus is saying no to immediate gratification, and he's saying yes, in this case, to hard work. He's not escaping the incarnation that he's in. He's staying within the garden that his Father has given him; he's not trying to get out of that garden."  "We are made for our Father's words."  "If you have a hard relationship, you really should have one or two good friends that you could go to to ask their advice. My rule is if I've told two people, I’m right on the edge, and if I’ve told three people, I probably need to go talk to the person. It's good to have someone you can unload with, but it can be tempting to eat sympathy as a kind of bread. Our life comes from Christ."

Paul, Robert and Liz look at how Jesus says no to the first of Satan's three temptations.  "Jesus is saying no to immediate gratification, and he's saying yes, in this case, to hard work. He's not escaping the incarnation that he's in. He's staying within the garden that his Father has given him; he's not trying to get out of that garden." "We are made for our Father's words." "If you have a hard relationship, you really should have one or two good friends that you could go to to ask their advice. My rule is if I've told two people, I’m right on the edge, and if I’ve told three people, I probably need to go talk to the person. It's good to have someone you can unload with, but it can be tempting to eat sympathy as a kind of bread. Our life comes from Christ."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 6. Jesus Says No to Making Bread (POJ 3.5)

Paul, Robert and Liz take one last look at how we see Jesus as he relates to his mother, Mary, at the end of his life and in the last glimpses we get of Mary in Scripture. "This scene here in John 19 is quite something. If you think of the last 3 vignettes where we’ve seen Mary at work, the biggest difference between this one and those other scenes is that here, Mary is doing nothing. Each one of those scenes was a situation out of control, and we saw Mary coming in and exerting some form of control."  "Mary always initiated, and now, she’s silent and Jesus initiates towards her. Jesus, as the eldest son, cares for her retirement and physical well-being and asks John to take care of her."  "In Acts 1, we see Mary mentioned with the other disciples praying in the Upper Room. So there’s this beautiful blending now of the family of Mary and the Jesus family. You see this all over the world: families become the most whole when Jesus enters in."

Paul, Robert and Liz take one last look at how we see Jesus as he relates to his mother, Mary, at the end of his life and in the last glimpses we get of Mary in Scripture. "This scene here in John 19 is quite something. If you think of the last 3 vignettes where we’ve seen Mary at work, the biggest difference between this one and those other scenes is that here, Mary is doing nothing. Each one of those scenes was a situation out of control, and we saw Mary coming in and exerting some form of control." "Mary always initiated, and now, she’s silent and Jesus initiates towards her. Jesus, as the eldest son, cares for her retirement and physical well-being and asks John to take care of her." "In Acts 1, we see Mary mentioned with the other disciples praying in the Upper Room. So there’s this beautiful blending now of the family of Mary and the Jesus family. You see this all over the world: families become the most whole when Jesus enters in."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 5. Jesus and His Mother - Mary at the Cross

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their discussion of Jesus’ dependence on the Father, as we see it at play in his relationship with his mother, Mary. “Jesus and the disciples have become so busy, and Mary thinks his life is out of balance… the whole family does. They’ve come to this conclusion that he’s out of his mind to put food as a secondary priority – to be too busy to eat! You do need nutrition… there’s wisdom in his family’s perspective, but it’s wisdom out of balance.”  “At the heart of tribalism is that the family unit is sacred: you cannot buck your family.”  “The gospel brings freedom. One of the things that makes Jesus so hard to pin down is his freedom with people.”

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their discussion of Jesus’ dependence on the Father, as we see it at play in his relationship with his mother, Mary. “Jesus and the disciples have become so busy, and Mary thinks his life is out of balance… the whole family does. They’ve come to this conclusion that he’s out of his mind to put food as a secondary priority – to be too busy to eat! You do need nutrition… there’s wisdom in his family’s perspective, but it’s wisdom out of balance.” “At the heart of tribalism is that the family unit is sacred: you cannot buck your family.” “The gospel brings freedom. One of the things that makes Jesus so hard to pin down is his freedom with people.”

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 4. Jesus and His Mother - Family Intervention (POJ 3.4)

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their series on Jesus’ dependence on his heavenly Father, looking at how Jesus gets separated from his family and winds up in the Temple when he is 12 years old. "This is the last glimpse we get of Jesus in his childhood. He would have been considered a man at age 13. It’s a wonderful glimpse of their nuclear family. We see Mary come alive as a person."  "A super-spiritual, icon-like Mary would probably just embrace Jesus quietly and sob, but here she is such a recognizably human mother!"  "Jesus learned to read and write from a very early age. Jesus is at the temple – they had one room just for instruction -- he’s talking to the teachers of the law. There’s a pattern we see already. He’s listening to them and asking questions. And they’re amazed at his understanding, so they’re asking him questions, too. It’s a true dialogue! That pattern of asking questions and understanding will be his for his whole life."

Paul, Robert and Liz continue their series on Jesus’ dependence on his heavenly Father, looking at how Jesus gets separated from his family and winds up in the Temple when he is 12 years old. "This is the last glimpse we get of Jesus in his childhood. He would have been considered a man at age 13. It’s a wonderful glimpse of their nuclear family. We see Mary come alive as a person." "A super-spiritual, icon-like Mary would probably just embrace Jesus quietly and sob, but here she is such a recognizably human mother!" "Jesus learned to read and write from a very early age. Jesus is at the temple – they had one room just for instruction -- he’s talking to the teachers of the law. There’s a pattern we see already. He’s listening to them and asking questions. And they’re amazed at his understanding, so they’re asking him questions, too. It’s a true dialogue! That pattern of asking questions and understanding will be his for his whole life."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 3. Jesus in His Father’s House (POJ 3.3)

Paul, Robert and Liz continue this series on learning dependence from Jesus, focusing specifically on the role that Scripture plays in helping us discern God’s will. “'You are my beloved son' – because you are in Christ, and that is the real you. You’ve been imprinted with the image of Jesus at the core of your being. That frees you to say, 'Oh honey, I’m sorry I really messed up.'"  "What we see Jesus doing with the Old Testament, all of us do. It’s not like Jesus is being super spiritual – we just pick different sets of divine words that he does, and our choice of words, be it on social media, movies, or whatever, often messes us up instead of freeing us to be like Christ."  "The one miracle I have puzzled over is Jesus stilling the storm. But I recently heard a podcast about it, and the speaker really nailed it: those molecules were created by words, so Jesus is speaking to matter and energy. He’s speaking to quarks, and they understood."

Paul, Robert and Liz continue this series on learning dependence from Jesus, focusing specifically on the role that Scripture plays in helping us discern God’s will. “'You are my beloved son' – because you are in Christ, and that is the real you. You’ve been imprinted with the image of Jesus at the core of your being. That frees you to say, 'Oh honey, I’m sorry I really messed up.'" "What we see Jesus doing with the Old Testament, all of us do. It’s not like Jesus is being super spiritual – we just pick different sets of divine words that he does, and our choice of words, be it on social media, movies, or whatever, often messes us up instead of freeing us to be like Christ." "The one miracle I have puzzled over is Jesus stilling the storm. But I recently heard a podcast about it, and the speaker really nailed it: those molecules were created by words, so Jesus is speaking to matter and energy. He’s speaking to quarks, and they understood."

[JESUS & DEPENDENCE] 2. Designed for Divine Words (POJ 3.2)

In this podcast, Paul E. Miller, author of A Praying Life, invites you into a conversation about Jesus and how he lived as a person. Ministry and conversation partners, Liz Voboril and Jon H., join Paul in exploring the details of Jesus’ earthly life. In attending closely to the cadences of the one person who lived a perfect life, we gain a clearer vision of what it means to be human. Learn more about Paul Miller and his ministry at seejesus.net.

25 years ago, my husband and I were deeply impacted and changed by and through the Sonship seminars and material. Through the years we have read all of Jack and Rose Marie Miller’s books with much profit. But until this podcast we had not had opportunity to hear Paul Miller Teach his new material on Jesus. This podcast has come at a perfect time of deep trial and need for spiritual refreshment. It has benefited us very much.  Thank you for this ministry.

Continuing to bless

I went through the first 5 See Jesus J-curve episodes on a solitary road trip and not only fell more deeply in love with Jesus’s embodiment of the whole Trinity’s attentiveness, compassion, and how that moves God to action, but was deeply convicted by my own failure to be like Him. The more I reflected, the more I fell in love with Jesus, and all that He has done for me and that He actually lives in me now and that I have constant access to Him, which makes me want to pray and love all the more.

I am now going through a second time to listen more attentively and look forward to reading the Gospels and all of God’s Word and spending time with people with more attentiveness, compassion, and action.

I am so thankful for God’s work in Paul Miller and moving him to write and teach as he has. I also recommend A Loving Life and A Praying Life— both the books and the studies. I now want to do the J-curve Study!

Going Through a Second Time!

In this podcast, Paul E. Miller, author of A Praying Life, invites you into a conversation about Jesus and how he lived as a person. Ministry and conversation partners, Liz Voboril and Jon H., join Paul in exploring the details of Jesus’ earthly life. In attending closely to the cadences of the one person who lived a perfect life, we gain a clearer vision of what it means to be human. Learn more about Paul Miller and his ministry at <a href="http://seejesus.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">seejesus.net</a>.

Seeing Jesus with Paul Miller

This episode begins a new series on Paul's latest book, J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life.  “The American church is like me at the back of the plane, at many levels, thinking everything has gone wrong. And part of what has gone wrong is that we don’t really have any teaching on dying and rising with Jesus."  “We’re missing a significant piece of Christianity."  "One of the difficulties of suffering of any kind is that it is disorienting. You lose your way. It feels devoid of meaning. What the J-Curve does is bring hope to it, because dying is not the last word, and it gives you a toolkit of what to do when you find yourself in a patch of suffering. Available wherever you listen:  iTunes | Spotify | Android | Google Podcasts

This episode begins a new series on Paul's latest book, J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life.  “The American church is like me at the back of the plane, at many levels, thinking everything has gone wrong. And part of what has gone wrong is that we don’t really have any teaching on dying and rising with Jesus." “We’re missing a significant piece of Christianity." "One of the difficulties of suffering of any kind is that it is disorienting. You lose your way. It feels devoid of meaning. What the J-Curve does is bring hope to it, because dying is not the last word, and it gives you a toolkit of what to do when you find yourself in a patch of suffering. Available wherever you listen: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seeing-jesus/id1465172877?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iTunes</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2VqtjVT5x9q8VbXJ5b7Has?si=iAAUzs26TSyzEVjFhqsH4w" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://subscribeonandroid.com/seeingjesuswithpaulmiller.libsyn.com/rss" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a> | <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWVpbmdqZXN1c3dpdGhwYXVsbWlsbGVyLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a>

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 1. "I'll Never Do This Again!": How the J-Curve Helps

This episode explores the idea that gift-giving is deep in the structure of the universe... reflecting the heart of our gift-giving God.  “You’re driving in heavy traffic, and someone coming from the opposite direction wants to make a left-hand turn in front of you. To let them do that might cost you missing a traffic light. You can see from their turn signal that they are requesting a gift. And, in most cases, what do you do? You give them a gift of time. They wave their acknowledgement and you nod in exchange. Though there’s no takeaway for either of us, we both walk away satisfied."  “It’s like you're touching the structure of the universe which is the mind of God: all of life is gift.."  "I don't know if I've ever heard anyone connect the structure of the universe with a left turn! But it’s kind of hopeful because if you see things in this way that it's not like you have to go and move across the world to engage in the deep structure of the universe. It's built into everyday life it if we see it and receive it as well as give it."

This episode explores the idea that gift-giving is deep in the structure of the universe... reflecting the heart of our gift-giving God.  “You’re driving in heavy traffic, and someone coming from the opposite direction wants to make a left-hand turn in front of you. To let them do that might cost you missing a traffic light. You can see from their turn signal that they are requesting a gift. And, in most cases, what do you do? You give them a gift of time. They wave their acknowledgement and you nod in exchange. Though there’s no takeaway for either of us, we both walk away satisfied." “It’s like you're touching the structure of the universe which is the mind of God: all of life is gift.." "I don't know if I've ever heard anyone connect the structure of the universe with a left turn! But it’s kind of hopeful because if you see things in this way that it's not like you have to go and move across the world to engage in the deep structure of the universe. It's built into everyday life it if we see it and receive it as well as give it."

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 3. All of Life is a Gift

This episode continues our series on Paul's latest book, J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life.  “As Americans we have a whole declaration of no limitations, but the very nature of love is to have your freedom constricted. What we’ll react to sometimes in a difficult relationship to the feel of the relationship—I have to be careful what I say around the person, it’s unfair, it’s unbalanced. Life shouldn’t feel this way. But that’s actually the feel of love, that narrowing, the constricting, the limiting.  “That’s the womb where resurrection takes place—it’s where you get to know Jesus."  "When people recoil from the narrowing of love it narrows their hearts. If you want to see someone who has a wide heart, they’ve experienced narrowing. It’s like the heat of that forms the human soul the way it should be.”

This episode continues our series on Paul's latest book, J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life.  “As Americans we have a whole declaration of no limitations, but the very nature of love is to have your freedom constricted. What we’ll react to sometimes in a difficult relationship to the feel of the relationship—I have to be careful what I say around the person, it’s unfair, it’s unbalanced. Life shouldn’t feel this way. But that’s actually the feel of love, that narrowing, the constricting, the limiting. “That’s the womb where resurrection takes place—it’s where you get to know Jesus." "When people recoil from the narrowing of love it narrows their hearts. If you want to see someone who has a wide heart, they’ve experienced narrowing. It’s like the heat of that forms the human soul the way it should be.”

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 2. The Love J-Curve of Christmas

This episode continues our conversation about how Jesus became a missing person. “In classical Greek literature, people are defined by their central characteristic. Achilles in the Iliad is swift; he is swift Achilles. Everything he does is swift. Erich Auerbach* compares that to Jacob. If you look at Jacob, in the first part of his life he’s just a scoundrel. He’s crafty. If he was in the Iliad, he would be crafty Jacob. But, as Robert Alter* puts it, Jacob, like so many other Bible characters is a 'center of surprise.' Jacob actually changes.”  “Emotions made Stoics nervous. If you've been in an argument lately, you know why."  “The Jewish love of the physical meant that they could affirm Jesus’ humanity but not his divinity. The Greek mind was the inverse of this. Jesus’ divinity was easy for the Greeks to see; it was his humanity that they struggled with. In the fake gospel of Judas, Judas—because he loves Jesus—gives Jesus over to be crucified so Jesus can be rid of his body. That’s the Greek mind, it didn’t like the body.” Available wherever you listen:  iTunes | Spotify | Android | Google Podcasts  *See Erich Auerbach's Mimesis and Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative. 

This episode continues our conversation about how Jesus became a missing person. “In classical Greek literature, people are defined by their central characteristic. Achilles in the Iliad is swift; he is swift Achilles. Everything he does is swift. Erich Auerbach* compares that to Jacob. If you look at Jacob, in the first part of his life he’s just a scoundrel. He’s crafty. If he was in the Iliad, he would be crafty Jacob. But, as Robert Alter* puts it, Jacob, like so many other Bible characters is a 'center of surprise.' Jacob actually changes.” “Emotions made Stoics nervous. If you've been in an argument lately, you know why." “The Jewish love of the physical meant that they could affirm Jesus’ humanity but not his divinity. The Greek mind was the inverse of this. Jesus’ divinity was easy for the Greeks to see; it was his humanity that they struggled with. In the fake gospel of Judas, Judas—because he loves Jesus—gives Jesus over to be crucified so Jesus can be rid of his body. That’s the Greek mind, it didn’t like the body.” Available wherever you listen: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seeing-jesus/id1465172877?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> iTunes</a> | <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2VqtjVT5x9q8VbXJ5b7Has?si=iAAUzs26TSyzEVjFhqsH4w" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://subscribeonandroid.com/seeingjesuswithpaulmiller.libsyn.com/rss" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a> | <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWVpbmdqZXN1c3dpdGhwYXVsbWlsbGVyLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a> *See Erich Auerbach's Mimesis and Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative.

[JESUS] 11. How Jesus Became a Missing Person, Part 2

This episode wraps up our conversation about how Jesus became a missing person. “Secular-liberalism itself is no longer aware of its Jesus roots. What it’s done now is still hold on to Jesus, but no longer as a person, just his attributes.”  “Political correctness is simply Jesus’ attributes, secularized."  “One of the big passions of my life is for the church, and for our youth in particular, to experience an embodied Jesus. When that happens, they are inoculated against the siren call of Secular-liberalism and they can out-compassion Secular-liberalism because Secular-liberalism does not have the spirit of Jesus. A virtual Jesus haunts our culture, but we have the real thing!"

This episode wraps up our conversation about how Jesus became a missing person. “Secular-liberalism itself is no longer aware of its Jesus roots. What it’s done now is still hold on to Jesus, but no longer as a person, just his attributes.” “Political correctness is simply Jesus’ attributes, secularized." “One of the big passions of my life is for the church, and for our youth in particular, to experience an embodied Jesus. When that happens, they are inoculated against the siren call of Secular-liberalism and they can out-compassion Secular-liberalism because Secular-liberalism does not have the spirit of Jesus. A virtual Jesus haunts our culture, but we have the real thing!"

[JESUS] 12. How Jesus Became a Missing Person, Part 3

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “You can see two different loves operating here. Field hockey is a lesser love, but it is still a valid love. It was taking more time and energy than my greater love for Emily to know Jesus. But nevertheless, that greater love was shaping how I responded to failures in the lesser love."  “There’s this whole world of lesser loves that are just delightful. Becoming like Jesus is not the dissolution of those lesser loves, but them rightly ordered."  "My imagination was captured by the idea that I wanted Emily to be in Jesus. I knew that the way to become in Jesus was to travel his journey and out of that would come resurrection. And it worked! It’s so powerful! It was an imaginative vision of the beauty of Jesus coming into my family that had been mastering me for some 20 years."

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “You can see two different loves operating here. Field hockey is a lesser love, but it is still a valid love. It was taking more time and energy than my greater love for Emily to know Jesus. But nevertheless, that greater love was shaping how I responded to failures in the lesser love." “There’s this whole world of lesser loves that are just delightful. Becoming like Jesus is not the dissolution of those lesser loves, but them rightly ordered." "My imagination was captured by the idea that I wanted Emily to be in Jesus. I knew that the way to become in Jesus was to travel his journey and out of that would come resurrection. And it worked! It’s so powerful! It was an imaginative vision of the beauty of Jesus coming into my family that had been mastering me for some 20 years."

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 6. In-Sports vs In-Christ

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking closer at what we tend to do instead of the J-Curve: marketing ourselves and trying to climb the failure-boasting chart.  “The word “boast” the way Paul uses it in Philippians 3 is bigger than our English word. It also includes glory and rejoicing. So, when your favorite sports team wins, you glory in that sports team. The concept gets right at the heart of how our flesh operates."  “When I was silent in that meeting, it put to death something evil in me – my boasting self. I felt the pain of that."  "A lot of people are quiet – they don’t boast – but Paul is not so much talking about what you say, but about the boasting self. If you are critical, that’s a form of boasting. You’re bringing someone down. Gossip is the boasting self. You’re sharing information about someone else that quietly lifts you up. So many of our sins rotate around this desire to move up the failure-boasting chart!"

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking closer at what we tend to do instead of the J-Curve: marketing ourselves and trying to climb the failure-boasting chart.  “The word “boast” the way Paul uses it in Philippians 3 is bigger than our English word. It also includes glory and rejoicing. So, when your favorite sports team wins, you glory in that sports team. The concept gets right at the heart of how our flesh operates." “When I was silent in that meeting, it put to death something evil in me – my boasting self. I felt the pain of that." "A lot of people are quiet – they don’t boast – but Paul is not so much talking about what you say, but about the boasting self. If you are critical, that’s a form of boasting. You’re bringing someone down. Gossip is the boasting self. You’re sharing information about someone else that quietly lifts you up. So many of our sins rotate around this desire to move up the failure-boasting chart!"

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 4. Marketing the Self

This episode wraps up our series on J-Curve: Union with Christ by looking at how the J-Curve helps in a mini-crisis. “The Apostle Paul introduces the J-Curve as a kind of a master story 'let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 2:5). And then he describes the downward journey of Jesus all the way to death on a cross."  “Every community has a narrative."  "The J-Curve normalizes the bumps. There’s a kind of perfectionism now in our culture that sort of demands that life should be bump free. Paul the Apostle is a perfectionist, but his perfectionism is in his ability to reenact the dying and rising of Christ. It's the perfection of love. It's the perfection of faith. And it's not in my situation. So it allows me to have this calm center in all kinds of circumstances."

This episode wraps up our series on J-Curve: Union with Christ by looking at how the J-Curve helps in a mini-crisis. “The Apostle Paul introduces the J-Curve as a kind of a master story 'let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 2:5). And then he describes the downward journey of Jesus all the way to death on a cross." “Every community has a narrative." "The J-Curve normalizes the bumps. There’s a kind of perfectionism now in our culture that sort of demands that life should be bump free. Paul the Apostle is a perfectionist, but his perfectionism is in his ability to reenact the dying and rising of Christ. It's the perfection of love. It's the perfection of faith. And it's not in my situation. So it allows me to have this calm center in all kinds of circumstances."

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 8. The Shape of Love

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “My sister Rosanne got into Wellesley College and she came back on Thanksgiving vacation and said 'Paul, you could get into Harvard.' She didn't have to say that twice. I heard that once and I was planning my life..."  “We are all 'in' something. 'In Christ' is mystical, but it’s remarkably unmystical as well.  "If you teach justification by faith and the atonement separate from this really rich idea that that I am in Koinonia with Jesus then you answer the question at the beginning of Romans 6 badly. The answer in Romans 6 to the problem of selfishness and the Christian life is that our union with Christ is an embodiment in which we continually reenact His life of love, and that leads to suffering and a life of repentance."

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “My sister Rosanne got into Wellesley College and she came back on Thanksgiving vacation and said 'Paul, you could get into Harvard.' She didn't have to say that twice. I heard that once and I was planning my life..." “We are all 'in' something. 'In Christ' is mystical, but it’s remarkably unmystical as well. "If you teach justification by faith and the atonement separate from this really rich idea that that I am in Koinonia with Jesus then you answer the question at the beginning of Romans 6 badly. The answer in Romans 6 to the problem of selfishness and the Christian life is that our union with Christ is an embodiment in which we continually reenact His life of love, and that leads to suffering and a life of repentance."

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 5. In-Harvard vs In-Christ

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “When we think of idolatry we think about how it affects our relationship vertically with God and that is obvious and good but we’re not necessarily attentive to how it affects the horizontal relationship with those around us."  “Ministry is particularly subtle idol because it’s got Jesus written all over it."  "Paul sits on the word 'know' in Philippians 3. Because in the J-Curve you get to know Jesus in ways you would never have known him through teaching or study. The good shepherd gets very close to you in the dying because it’s his story.  It’s his spirit and his presence. So Jesus becomes your friend in the dying."

This episode continues our series on the J-Curve, looking at what it means to be "in Christ."  “When we think of idolatry we think about how it affects our relationship vertically with God and that is obvious and good but we’re not necessarily attentive to how it affects the horizontal relationship with those around us." “Ministry is particularly subtle idol because it’s got Jesus written all over it." "Paul sits on the word 'know' in Philippians 3. Because in the J-Curve you get to know Jesus in ways you would never have known him through teaching or study. The good shepherd gets very close to you in the dying because it’s his story.  It’s his spirit and his presence. So Jesus becomes your friend in the dying."

[J-CURVE: Union with Christ] 7. In-Ministry vs In-Christ

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