Jesus belongs to the entire world.

By George Davis in Sermons

Jesus belongs to us all: believers and non- believers alike.

Jesus belongs to the entire world.
This statement came from a significant speech by the co-leader of the Green
Party, Dr Russell Norman. Initial commentary by David Kitchingman on thoughts
by Dr Russell Norman in 2011.
A fellow member of the Methodist Liberal Society, Michael Dymond, sent the
text and video link to me. He added that he had been moved to tears by the
spirited relevance and power of Russell Norman’s words. Then, the political
commentator, Colin James, wrote under the caption, “Christian values seen as
not just for believers” (ODT, 27.12.11, 4). He began by saying, “It can at times
take an atheist to remind us of some of the true messages of Christmas”. I also
spotted “Passing Notes” by Civis, headed: “Norman’s address deserves attention”
(ODT, 7.1.12). I’m not keen on anonymous columns or editorials but at least Civis
was open about not having voted for a Green candidate or for the Green Party.
Yet he began his own assessment by saying, “It [the Address] has been described
as “the best ever Christmas sermon preached by an atheist‟. Finally, there was a
“Faith and Reason” column by Ian Harris, headed: “Values for all to share” (ODT,
13.1.12). Harris suggested that “there was much for Christians and non-
Christians to learn from the wisdom of political leader Dr Russell Norman”,
adding that “unlike many who profess atheism, [Norman] was open enough to
find much good in Christianity”.
So what did Norman say? The full text is at http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/11150,
but here are a few of his points at the beginning of the speech: “...The story of
the incarnation of God in a baby born in a stable is remarkable even to me an
atheist... It’s a story that god decreed that...freedom and equality must
characterise life here on earth...[what] I admire about the Christmas story is that
it speaks to values I share... Mahatma Gandhi said: “I believe that Jesus belongs
not only to Christianity but to the entire world, to all races and to all people. ‟
Gandhi was right. The hopes and values Jesus Christ articulated during the
course of his short life are too important to belong only to Christians. They
belong to us all: believers and non-believers alike... I identify with the Christianity
that teaches love and compassion towards each other, especially the most
vulnerable... I identify with the Christianity that demands we live with truth and
justice between one another... I identify with the Christianity that teaches an
awe and respect for the natural world... Those values of love, generosity, and a
reverence for nature should not sound so out of place in this Parliament. But the
talk in here is dominated by a different kind of worship – one of economic
growth at all costs...”. There is an aspect to this that is both neglected and
distorted by most Christians. I begin by hazarding a guess as to how most
Christians and churches would respond to such statements as Gandhi in his time
and now Norman has made.
There is, of course, much to support the assumption that the Church, the Bible,
and Christianity are the conduits through which the Jesus legacy has been
transmitted. There is ample support for it in the New Testament texts
themselves, which after all were a product of the early, if not exactly the
primitive, Church. Yet scattered here and there among them are ample hints (I’
sure you can think of some) to suggest that a closed shop mentality runs the risk
of disguising the authentic Jesus. All that we can safely say within the Church is
that we own the most venerable and prevailing version of Jesus. That is not quite
the same as owning Jesus altogether, and if it were, it would be a denial of his
free spirit. When Gandhi adopted passive resistance, he picked up from under
the noses of the British colonial power a trait of Jesus that had been smothered
by western Christendom. So too, in the 19th century, much earlier than Gandhi,
Te Whiti and Tohu employed similar tactics at Parihaka in Taranaki. Nothing in my
childhood church life in New Plymouth gave me the slightest inkling of that
particular Jesus influence, yet, with little thanks to the Church, the
reverberations of it are still to be felt. Echoes sounded on Waitangi Day this last
week during National Radio interviews with Taranaki Māori. While Russell
Norman is likely to remain an atheist, he has, in his own way, made a leap of faith
to identify with the hopes and values of the particular Christianity he caught a
vision of at Christmas. But it takes two to tango.
It will take a giant leap of faith in the other direction for Christians to identify
with a hope-filled and value-filled belief-free, Jesus-inspired commitment that
struggles to be born all around us. Jesus belongs to us all: believers and non-
believers alike. Are we capable of getting our heads around that? So far, not so
good. But if, without burning our bridges to the glorious Gospel story, we could
be bold enough to contemplate a Jesus without a godlike gloss as one other
meaningful option for many, it would have a profound effect on our Church
ethos, worship, and outreach. And what if we Christians turn down the invitation
to tango? The aching gap between us and the rest of our contemporaries will go
on widening relentlessly and an epoch-making opportunity will have been lost.
The values of freedom and equality seen in the Christmas message... the words
“I identify with the Christianity that teaches love and compassion towards each
other, especially the most vulnerable... I identify with the Christianity that
demands we live with truth and justice between one another... I identify with the
Christianity that teaches an awe and respect for the natural world... Those values
of love, generosity, and a reverence for nature should not sound so out of place
in this Parliament.” Or indeed anywhere in this society.
Revised by Dr George Davis, April 2026.