Your ABC: helping put Jesus back on the agenda

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about Jesus. I know that you expect that I am always doing that – and so I am.

But the invitation to give the Boyer Lectures on the ABC has given me opportunity for extra reflection.

The Boyer Lecturer can choose his or her own subject.

A number of possibilities came to mind.

In the end, however, I decided that I had better talk about my fundamental passion, and that is Jesus.

As you are aware, our nation is culturally part of ‘the west’.

Amongst such nations with the notable exception of the USA, Christian faith seems to be in decline.

I do not think that the end is in sight, or that we should regard this decline as inevitable.

But I was provoked to talk in the lectures about ‘The Future of Jesus Christ’.

As I prepared, I was struck by a number of things.

The first, was just how deeply Jesus is written into our culture.

Dr Stuart Piggin has recently observed that ‘Australia’s social commentators and historians are tone deaf to religion’.

In his own work, he often draws attention to the scale of Christian activity in Australia over
many years.

We are heirs to a great tradition, and ought to be happy to own it and reinstate it.

The development of Australia and faith in Jesus, are integrally connected.

The second was the wonder of Jesus.

I just sat down and read the Gospels through again.

In a sense I tried to read them as a first time explorer.

What amazed me afresh was the sheer power and grace of his person.

In God’s good wisdom, we lack any portrait of him, even a verbal one.

We can only look at him ‘indirectly’ as it were, listening to his voice, seeing how he treated people, seeing how they responded to him.

I could only say that it is no wonder that he has ruled a kingdom for so long in human history, and to say again how little we need fear for the future of his kingdom.

If all we had left was, say, the parable of the Good Samaritan, or the parable of the Prodigal Son, we would be aware that someone special had once lived amongst us.

When you think of all he said and did, you can see someone who was truly man and truly God.

There is no way in these lectures that I can do justice to Jesus.

I am hoping, however, to contribute something to reminding listeners that Jesus cannot be written out of our history and must not be written out of our future.

I would be delighted if they led to all sorts of people reading the Gospels for themselves.

I hope that they will contribute to our national discussion on Jesus.

It would be so helpful to move away from (largely sterile) jibes about the ‘religious right’ and the ‘loony left’ and actually engage with something as signifi cant as the greatest life that was ever lived and the greatest words that were ever spoken.

Let’s keep Jesus on the agenda of the nation!

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