review--The Genius of Jesus

BOOK BIT for WTBF-AM/FM in Troy, Ala. for January 4, 2022.

“The Genius of Jesus, The Man who Changed Everything” by Erwin Raphael McManus (Convergent Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House)

Here’s a fresh look at the central figure of human history. Theologians have been debating the aspects of the Divine nature of Jesus for two millennia; more seldom is an understanding of the Human nature of the Christ. Since Jesus was (and is) truly God and truly human, what about His human nature can be unknown to us?

The  best-selling author is the founder of Mosaic, a church movement based in the heart of Hollywood with a community that spans the globe. Critical for this book is his life-long study of genius and the pursuit of God, which have found common ground here. Both were “rooted in a desperate search for something to translate (his) life from the mundane to the transcendent.”

He is “convinced that when we experience expressions of genius, it elevates our own personal capacity.” As he studied the lives and contributions of geniuses, McManus noticed some common denominators. They weren’t always the smartest, best educated or technically-trained in their field, he admits, adding, ”But their combination of originality, imagination, creativity, perspective, passion, and intelligence merge together to help them see the world differently—and then create a different world.”

McManus writes that a genius is heretical (in that “they violate the status quo and challenge our most deeply-held beliefs and values”); original (“in that they see the world from a perspective that never existed before”); transformative (“their lives become a marker of before and after”); and  extremists (“they are consumed in their pursuit of the creative act and convinced of the singular importance of their passion.”) Where most genius is self-contained, the genius of Jesus is contagious, “awakening the genius in everyone and anyone who would trust in His guidance and walk in His steps.” Jesus is “the most transformative human being who ever lived.”

When He was 12 years old, He understood exactly Who He was and why He was put here on Earth.  He was clear about His identity and His intention. A prodigy finds their genius early in life: so did Jesus. ‘His genius was always grounded in His character”, and He awakened the genius in His disciples.

“Jesus did not simply come to ensure that we understand God but so that we would know that God understands us.”  He came to demonstrate empathy, which is incarnational. Empathy as exhibited by Jesus was “not only the highest form of intelligence, it may also be our greatest expression of strength.”

He was incarnate in an oppressed land and time. Jesus “chose a life that cost Him all the comforts we value most. He exposed the lie of loving God without loving people.” His life demonstrates what power looks like in the hands of God.

Jesus exemplified grace is every sense of the word. “Grace is only needed when it is undeserved. This is its elegance. That is its genius.”

Rather than limit us to choosing between right and wrong, “Jesus teaches us to choose between the right and the good.” Doing good, you see, is all about others, and “the genius of Jesus is that He make the profound painfully obvious.”

Jesus healed not to show off but to teach, to change the way we saw reality. He answered questions with other questions to make people think deeper about the answers. (That was “the genius of the true.”)

Finally, the genius of Jesus is demonstrated in how He transformed the ugly into the beautiful, as any genius artist does. He took the symbol of horrible torture and death and transformed it into hope and eternal life!  “When you see beauty, you are looking at God.” To know God is to have your eyes and heart open to the overwhelming expression of God’s love.