Book’s profound message is only step one
Sometimes the simplest truths are the most radical. Craig Gross and Jason Harper take the simple children's song "Jesus Loves Me" and point it outward, shining the good news of Jesus' love on those most of us would consider unlovable. Through story after story gleaned from their work as pastors, Gross and Harper show how Jesus loves the forgotten, the outcast, the bitter, the broken, sceptics, crooks, gluttons, porn stars—even religious folks.
The simple message of this book is in the title: Jesus loves you, regardless of what you make of Him or how you live your life. The title evokes childlike simplicity and innocence, suggesting that as grownups we still know the words to the song but may have forgotten the its profound meaning.
The authors are both pastors. Their stories recount wide ranging reactions to the good news of Jesus' love. Some people are bowled over by the message while others hear it repeatedly for years with only slight hints that love is slowly changing their hearts. Taken together, the stories are a strong witness.
What seems to be missing from this book is church. "Jesus loves you" is a step in the story; belonging to a worshiping body is the next step. Not surprisingly, Gross and Harper take a passing swipe at religion: "Religion kills…Religion sets up regulations and makes them into habitual, boring routines that look to the external and ignore the heart."
That's pretty dismissive of us liturgical, ritual, church-calendar types, as well as anyone who takes spiritual disciplines seriously.
I don't argue with the authors that "Jesus loves you" is a message people need to hear, but at the same time it's dangerously close to a blanket "Jesus is the answer" statement that supposedly solves every problem. Isolated from the context of church, community and broader social structures, one's spiritual vision quickly becomes myopic. Pastoral concern for individuals is strongest when it considers a person's broader context.
Still, this book is a good reminder for those of us who are, for the most part, up to our eyeballs in the Christian subculture: the good news is for the sick. If we want to share the message, we need to be out there with them.
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