JESUS AND THE SECOND GRIZZLY [10-20-25]

BEYOND WINTER: The Grizzly Reflections of An Old Story-Teller—JESUS AND THE SECOND GRIZZLY [10-20-25]

 

A story-teller of the Old West used to say, “If you’re tellin’ a story ‘bout fightin’ a grizzly bear, and it looks like folks ain’t believin’ ya, or they ain’t payin’ attention, throw in a second grizzly.”

He got that idea from Jesus.

I really don’t think Jesus meant literally that we should forgive “seventy times seven;” it would just be too much trouble to keep track of the number without a cell phone. He was trying to get our attention for the main point—forgive! Seventy times seven was a second grizzly.

Theologians have traditionally noted the difference between the theology of Jesus and the theology about Jesus. It is sometimes referred to as the difference between the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus.

The divisions we have in the church are almost always because we favor one Jesus over the other. Some follow the moral/ethical, life-now Jesus [pre-Easter]. Others follow the risen/salvation, eternal-life Jesus [post-Easter].

The theology of Jesus has to do with turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, feeding the hungry, forgiving sins… All of the second grizzlies of Jesus.

I try to follow the whole Jesus, but it is hard for me to get excited about the post-Easter Jesus. He’s far away. What’s the point of “salvation” if you mistreat your brother or sister? I keep hearing that phrase from the book of James [1:22], “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”

The earthly Jesus is here and now, telling me not to lust, to forgive, to give all I have to the poor and come to follow, that in so far as I have done it unto the least of these, I have done it unto him…

Being in the heavenly Jesus camp these days seems too much like trying to avoid the demands of the earthly Jesus. That’s because so many heavenly Jesus followers ignore the clear requirements of Jesus—they work for vengeance and refuse to forgive, they ignore the poor, they store up treasures where moth and rust corrupt--and yet they claim they are the true Christians…not because they do the commands of Jesus, but because they believe the doctrines about Jesus.

Jesus throws in the second grizzly to get my attention, because he knows how hard it is for me to forgive even once. So, he says I should do it 490 [I hope that is 70x7]. He knows how hard it is for me to part with my hard-earned pension money, so he tells me to give away everything, my Social Security check, too. He knows how hard it is for me to walk one mile with someone who chatters incessantly, so he tells me to walk two…

Jesus doesn’t really want me to be a super-human person. He knows that is not possible, because I am just a regular person. But he does want me to be a forgiving person, to be a giving person, to be a kind person… so he uses that second grizzly to get my attention.

John Robert McFarland

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”