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Enough of the sweet, innocent Jesus “meek and mild.” Mark Galli reminds us of the less lovable side of Jesus Christ – the sayings that sound mean, the untamable wildness of Christ’s goodness. The sweet, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly Jesus is “an idol,” Galli says, in a book that’s sure to ruffle a few feathers.

Jesus Mean and Wild is partly a response to the “sissified” Jesus in much of today’s evangelicalism. Galli’s Jesus makes demands. He causes commotion. He says hard things. He overturns tables. According to Galli, God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life.

Jesus Mean and Wild is commendable in many ways. Galli takes us back to the Gospels for a convincing exposition of Jesus in his context, showing how the biblical Jesus is not as tame and domesticated as we sometimes make him out to be. He is unpredictable, feisty, prepared for battle, and calling for repentance. But Galli convincingly argues that this is the Jesus that ultimately satisfies, not the impotent version presented as a panacea for all of your problems.

(My favorite story in the book is Galli’s description of a Bible study he hosted for Laotians. When he got to the story about Jesus calming the sea, he launched into the typical “Jesus can calm the storms of your life” spiritualization, but found to his amazement that the Laotians were much more excited and amazed that Jesus actually calmed the storm. “The power of Christ frightens us -as well it should,” he writes.) 

There are moments where Galli overstates his case. Yes, Jesus could be fiery and “wild,” but he also showed gentleness, self-control, and remarkable patience. But overall, Galli rightfully exposes the “nice” Jesus and replaces him with the much richer biblical portrait.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog

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