Christ a Crisis is the Life of God

I am reading Jack Miles, “Christ a Crisis in the Life of God.” Anyone who professes to be a follower of Christ and serious about their belief should read this book. I am not finished with the book but the major take away for me so far and an enlightening ah, ha for me is; when reading the Bible pay close attention to exactly what is written.

For example, Nicodemus first meeting with Jesus in John 3:1.


1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.[a]"
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You[c] must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."



Nicodemus is a Pharisee, he therefore believed in an afterlife, and he comes to see Jesus. He is a ruler, he comes at night and he knows of Jesus miraculous signs.
Jesus does not acknowledge or dispute his miraculous signs; he moves on and talks about being born again. He also talks about wind; interestingly wind and spirit identified by ancient Hebrews as living and one in the same. Miles goes into much more detail truly pulling apart the verse and revealing subtle important factors.

The title in and of itself is fascinating and relevant too. In order to reconcile his people to him, God does indeed create a crisis of sorts in his life. God sends himself to Earth to live and ultimately die and be born again; paying the ultimate price for all of humanity in a complete transformation in many respects from the God of the Old Testament.