Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week, Jason Porterfield (Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 2020.)
We live in a cracked and chipped world. At times, it seems like it is becoming more broken, rather than being glued back together. Hate crimes are increasing. Racism, though denied, is rampant. Gun violence is growing. Depression and addiction are ever present challenges, and there is a concerted push back on the Gay Rights that were achieved over the past two decades.
It is in such a world that followers of Jesus have been called to be shining lights, to be peacemakers and to strive for justice. For those who want to do more than pray, Jason Porterfield’s book, Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace throughout Holy Week, is a timely, insightful, practical and inspiring work. Porterfield’s contentions are simple. There are two paths to achieve peace and justice. One is through power, which in all of human history hasn’t worked. The other road is the path of peace. It is the way of Jesus.
Porterfield focuses his study of how Jesus fought on the days of Holy Week. He does a masterful job expanding and interpreting the events of each day. The happenings in each of the four gospels is woven into a unified and powerful story. Lessons are distilled from each day’s activities. They are given useful forms that can be translated from Holy Week to the challenges that confront us today. If that wasn’t enough, discussion questions are provided at the end of the book to help study groups wrestle with the issues that arise.
Fight Like Jesus is a book that has been well researched. It doesn’t get buried in minutiae, though. The book is easy to read. The events are retold in an interesting fashion and the author’s points are easy to follow. I didn’t find anything worthy of criticism.
Ideally, the book would be read and discussed during Lent. Porterfield provides a guideline for doing this. A study of how followers of Jesus can fight like Jesus is relevant and appropriate for anytime of the year. As a former parish pastor, I wouldn’t delay the use of this book until Lent. It contains too much important information that is useful now!
I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.