[billmc]

For me, Jesus was a young Jewish rabbi who tried to reform Judaism in the first century. He was executed for preaching against the powers-that-be and for beginning to have a following that could cause problems between the Romans and the Jewish leaders who preferred status quo. His teachings focused on a new way of living in which everyone was invited to become part of a community where compassion and justice was lived out in meaningful relationships.

But who is he now? I really don't know. Many Christians insist that he now sits on a throne above the clouds, at God's right hand, waiting to come again and destroy most of the world. I personally reject this interpretation. Other Christians insist that he is a living person who has come into their hearts, sort of like a "spirit guide" who gives them daily instructions for living. I've not had this experience but I'm wary of testimonies where Jesus is said to speak to and through people.

So what he means to me, more than anything else, is that his life and teachings embodied a new way of living a selfless, compassionate life - a life drawing on the presence of God but flowing to others around him. Therefore, I tend to concentrate more on the general consensus of how he lived and what he taught rather than on trying to decide if/how he was a God-man or a divine spirit in a human body or other ontological considerations. I tend to see Jesus' deification as something that happened after his death, but my belief in him does not require that I believe he was Yahweh or that he now sits just above the clouds waiting to rain down God's wrath on sinners. As Spong and Borg say, Jesus was a life centered in God and in compassion for others. That is enough for me to say that I want to be that way also.