The Death of Marcus Borg

            A great man died this week.  Marcus Borg was a remarkable theologian, one who taught me theology again.  I had learned about Christianity since I was a kid, growing up in Sunday school and a progression of Episcopal churches around the country, and then going to seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary, where I graduated in 1975 and was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church.  In seminary, I was taught theology by Charles Price, one of the best teachers that I have ever heard.  He gave me inklings into the life of Jesus that I had never thought about.  I remember Charlie speaking about how Jesus was probably born in Nazareth and that the story of the Bethlehem birth came mostly from the predictions of the Old Testament.  He opened my eyes to the possibilities of who Jesus could be for me in not only my ministry but also for my life.

            Marcus Borg came along with his many books and reinforced all of this teaching.  He spoke of the two versions of Jesus as contained in the New Testament: the pre-resurrection Jesus and the post-resurrection Jesus.  The Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke speak mostly about Jesus in his life on this earth, the time before his resurrection.  The Gospel of John is mostly about the Jesus who is the Son of God, shown to us by his resurrection from the dead.  The stories in the Gospels reflect this understanding of our Lord.  When you read Mark, Matthew and Luke, called the Synoptic Gospels, because they mirror each other.  Many stories appear in all three of them.  Mark is mostly also contained in the other two, and both Matthew and Luke add their own stories.  The birth stories are in both Matthew and Luke.  Mark has no birth story, beginning his Gospel with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the baptizer.

       John’s Gospel begins with a remarkable return to Genesis as he cites Jesus as the Light that is the light of men that the darkness cannot overcome.  He even uses Genesis like language:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was of God, and the Word was God.  There is no question from the first words of John’s Gospel who Jesus is.  This is the incarnate God present on the earth in the person of Jesus who became the Christ. 

            In reading Borg’s books, I became immersed in the life of Jesus and convinced that the role of a Christian is not to have a set of beliefs, but a road to travel.  That road is to follow Jesus and to do what he did.  His commandments are simple and only two:  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind.  Love your neighbor as a person like yourself.  This is simple to say, but hard to do.  We are loved deeply and completely by our God.  Taking that love and passing it on to our neighbor is our commandment as followers of Jesus. 

            Borg was one of the originators of the Jesus Seminar, a group of theologians who spoke eloquently about the historical Jesus and gave us some crucial insights into the life and history of our Lord.  I will miss Dr. Borg and his always insightful writing.  He gave me a solid foundation for my faith, which had helped me in my preaching, in my prayers and in my life.  May he rest in peace and rise into the arms of the God whom he loved so deeply.