Who Are Jesus Contemporaries?

To me blogging is a matter of what the Holy Spirit leads me to, lately my job has been very busy and I've felt led to concentrate on that, yesterday was quiet, dad's home from the hospital and not taking well to his liquid diet (he tried to convince mom that cheese is really a liquid) and in my prayers and devotions the Holy Spirit let me rest. Today He made up for it. 

He led me to articles where Christians claim that Jesus endorsed homosexual relationships (Matthew 8:5-13), to articles where Christians convinced themselves that dangerous destructive civil disobedience was following God's will (the attack on Seymour Johnson AFB in '93) both worthy of blog articles, but the one that the Holy Spirit led me to and then slammed my forehead into the monitor was this quote:

We can date Abraham’s birth to about 2000 BC, in modern-day Iraq, near present-day Nasarif. Like Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—and like us—Abraham was was raised in a pluralistic, polytheistic world. During his lifetime, he lived side by side with others who honored many different gods and praticed many different religions.

And during his lifetime, Abraham—like Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—had an encounter with God that distinguished him from his contemporaries and propelled him into a mission, introducing a new way of life that changed the world… How appropriate that the three Abrahamic religions begin with a journey into the unknown. - Brian McLaren, Finding Our Way Again

There is just so much wrong with this quote that the mind spins. The first sentence was right, Abraham was born in the city of Ur, in the country of Babylonia which is now known as Iraq. After that things kind of fall apart. Yes, Moses, Muhammad, and Abraham were raised in a pluralistic, polytheistic world. Jesus on the other hand was born and raised in Israel. He was sent to save Israel and Israel alone:

But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24)

Just implying that Judea around the first century was pluralistic (let alone polytheistic) shows a lack of understanding of Judaism and the history of the Jewish people. First Century Israel was violently monotheistic, and the only pluralism to be seen was a choice between Sadducee, Pharisee, or Zealot. That would be equivalent to saying that pluralism means a choice between Lutheran Missouri Synod, Evangelical Lutheran, and Evangelical Lutheran Wisconsin Synod. Judah's sister country Samaria was considered heathen because in their time of captivity their version of Judaism strayed from the law.

Then McLaren follows up with a very interesting statement: And during his lifetime, Abraham—like Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad—had an encounter with God that distinguished him from his contemporaries and propelled him into a mission... Again, there's so much wrong with this it's nearly breath taking. Yes Abraham had an encounter with God, several in fact. Genesis chapters 18 and 19 list the encounters. Moses too had several encounters with God. 

Is it fair to say that Jesus, being God, had an encounter with God? That gets a bit more complex, but the best answer is that through Jesus, we have an encounter with God. Jesus entire life on earth was a mission, from conception, to death, to resurrection, to His assention into heaven, and out to the very end of the Earth. Jesus was sent on a mission from the very moment He created the earth, and possibly before.

But Muhammad never had an encounter with God. Muhammad instead spoke to a spirit being that called itself Gabriel. Muslims claim this is the same Gabriel of the bible but this Gabriel's words contradict what Gabriel said in the Bible so it cannot be the same Angel that appeared to Mary to announce that she was carrying the Son of God. God cannot tell a lie, angles are the messengers of God and can only say what they are told to say, so angels cannot lie.

McLaren also says that these encounters with God distinguish these men from their contemporaries. Very true with Abraham and Moses. Muhammad also was distinguished from his contemporaries, but who or what could possibly be the contemporary of Jesus, the son of God? The only possible answer would be the other two members of the Holy Trinity, God and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was the true definition of a 'stranger in a strange land', separated from the only beings he could identify with, bound to them only in prayer.

McLaren's quote may seem a like a throw-away quote, but when you look at the pool of his writings, this is not just something he made up, this goes to the soul of Brian McLaren. He is not a stupid man, he knows exactly what he means and in his writing and speaking he says the same thing over and over and over. His message boils down to Jesus was just another guy, you don't understand Christianity so listen to me, the bible is wrong so follow my lead. 

Jesus is not just another guy, he is the living breather son of God, and at the same time God himself. He is the way, the truth, and the life (which Brian McLaren does not like at all (McLaren, Brian, A Generous Orthodoxy, pg. 96) yet he calls us to be his brothers and sisters

48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48-50)