If Jesus Came to Preach Today

In Chapter 16, McLaren suggests that if Jesus came in person to our world today, his core message would be the same (the Kingdom of God is in your midst) but the images/parables he would use to open up his vision for the world and God's kingdom would be quite different. He suggests a couple of eye-popping images that he believes would dominate Jesus' preaching today:

1. Divine Peace Insurgency... To address the global security crisis, McLaren believes Jesus would call us to be part of a movement, an "insurgency" to expel the occupying forces of the suicide machine that is creating mistrust, wars and terrorism around the globe. As he puts it, "If this world is indeed the creation of a good, holy, compassionate, wise and just God, and if it has been conquered and occupied by this destructive, unholy, merciless, tyrannical, stupid and devious system we are calling a suicide machine, then Jesus came to launch an insurgency to overthrow the occupying regime. But this insurgency can never use weapons of the occupying regime; otherwise, it simply becomes another manifestation of it. So it is a merciful... wisdom... hope... generous... courage... compassion... faith... and peace insurgency."

2. God's Unterror Movement... To confront what he calls the "global equity crisis" McLaren believes Jesus would call us to a movement to change the unequitable realities created by poverty and wealth, power and powerlessness living side by side. As he says, "the equity gap that separates rich from poor renders them enemies rather than neighbors, so everyone is caught up in the ultimate vicious cycle of terror and counter-terror... hate and counterhate. We can only escape by defecting from this whole vicious, suicidal system. When groups of seemingly disparate people defect and band together in the way of Jesus, they form what we might call unterror cells... who secretly plot detonations of hope... explosions of spontaneous kindness... flying airplanes of generosity into towers of need, and plant improvised encouragement devices by roadsides and in neighborhoods everywhere, seeking God's kingdom and God's equity."

How do you respond to these ideas? Do you think McLaren is right? If Jesus walked the streets of your town, would he be calling us to "peace insurgencies" and "unterror cells"? Or do you think his message would be different? And if McLaren is right, how would you respond???