N T Wright’s book Simply Jesus is filling my imagination right now. Surprised by Hope was a book that jarred me awake to the realities of the Kingdom of God in the present, and I still need to re-read that one!

Wright continues to bring out what I feel about myself and about our culture in general: We want a utilitarian Jesus.

We want a Jesus that takes up our issues and then we can use that thought, that cause, and bash it over the head of someone else. (And I mean all causes, not just the “conservative” ones, folks.)

Wright gives an illustration of his computer. I understand his view on computers because I am utilitarian when it comes to computers. For him he uses the computer to write, send email, and do internet searches.

“If my computer were a person, it would feel frustrated and grossly undervalued, its full potential nowhere near realized. We are, I believe, in that position today when we read the stories of Jesus in the gospels.”

We use Jesus for moralizing sermons, for taking “our side” on “our issue,” aids for prayer, etc. But when we get our use out of Jesus, we shelve the rest of him.

“Jesus — the Jesus we might discover if we really looked! — is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we — than the church! — had ever imagined.”

We have reduced the power of the Kingdom of God to our own private piety. We have not realized the allegiance of the Kingdom that is demanded from this King.