Caught in the act

Faith can be a hard road, sometimes. Earlier today, Richard Beck published a short piece on his blog in response to the question, “What keeps me holding on to faith?” His answer reflects the response that many of us would give, I suspect. We are drawn to Jesus. Not necessarily to theological doctrines about Jesus or official explanations about what he did and what it accomplished or will accomplish or whatever, but to the person of Jesus, to stories about how he lived and loved in and for the world. However we might have come to faith, and whatever the reason(s) we cling to it in the teeth of so many doubts, behind all of it on some level is the simple truth that the person of Jesus is enormously attractive for many, many people.

So, yes, Jesus is why I have faith. Long after my theological positions have been proven partial or inadequate or plain wrong, long after the words that I have written or spoken aloud about Jesus along the way are forgotten, long after I grow weary of trying to fit everything together into a nice little worldview package, I will still be unable to shake Jesus himself. I am haunted by him. I am drawn to him. I am broken and reconstituted by him, rebuked and liberated by him, brought low and lifted up by him. I admire him and aspire to be like him. I am sometimes frightened and repelled by him. He asks too much—more than I can give, it so often seems. And yet, his is a love and a life that I cannot turn away from and do not want to.

Jesus.