The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything

by Brian D. McLaren

When Brian McLaren began offering an alternative vision of Christian faith and life in books such as A New Kind of Christian and A Generous Orthodoxy, he ignited a firestorm of praise and condemnation that continues to spread across the religious landscape. To some religious conservatives, McLaren is a dangerous rebel without a doctrinally-correct cause. Some fundamentalist websites have even claimed he's in league with the devil and have consigned him to flames. To others though, Brian is a fresh voice, a welcome antidote to the staleness, superficiality, and negativity of the religious status quo. A wide array of people from Evangelical, Catholic, and Mainline Protestant backgrounds claim that through his books they have begun to rediscover the faith they'd lost or rejected. And around the world, many readers say that he has helped them find-for the first time in their lives-a faith that makes sense and rings true. For many, he articulates the promise of what is being called "emerging Christianity." In The Secret Message of Jesus you'll find what's at the center of Brian's critique of conventional Christianity, and what's at the heart of his expanding vision. In the process, you'll meet a Jesus who may be altogether new to you, a Jesus who is… McLaren invites you to discover afresh the transforming message of Jesus-an open invitation to radical change, an enlightening revelation that exposes sham and ignites hope, an epic story that is good news for everyone, whatever their gender, race, class, politics, or religion. "Pastor and best-selling author McLaren revisits the gospel material from a fresh-and at times radical-perspective . . . He does an excellent job of capturing Jesus' quiet, revolutionary style." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Here McLaren shares his own ferocious journey in pondering the teachings and actions of Jesus. It is McLaren's lack of salesmanship or agenda that creates a refreshing picture of the man from Galilee who changed history." --Donald Miller, Author of Blue Like Jazz "In this critical book, Brian challenges us to ask what it would mean to truly live the message of Jesus today, and thus to risk turning everything upside down." --Jim Wallis, Author of God's Politics and editor of Sojourners "Compelling, crucial and liberating: a book for those who seek to experience the blessed heat of Christianity at its source." --Anne Rice, Author of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

Genres: Religion, Theology, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Faith

237 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Brian D. McLaren is an internationally known speaker and the author of over ten highly acclaimed books on contemporary Christianity, including A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Secret Message of Jesus.

Reviews

[Bobbettylou · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this guy doesn't watch it he is soon going to be one of my top five favorite authors, right up there with C S Lewis, Annie Dillard, John Howard Yoder, etc.

It is a catchy title, I suspect one that was dreamed up by the publisher with an eye to sales, sort of like having the word SEX on the front cover. But this is no "DaVinci Code" nor is it subversive or even secret. It IS a fresh way of reading the New Testament, especially the gospels.

Consists of 39 relatively short chapters. My favorites are "Kingdon Ethics" "The Language of the Kingdom" and "The Future of the Kingdom," all of which are full of memorable lines. Unfortunately I read a library copy so could not underline or those quotes would be handier to reproduce here. Maybe I'll just buy my own copy and read it again . . .

A true story told by Tony Campolo on pp 145 and 146 was so good that I couldn't read it to my own wife without choking up; had to have her read it herself and she agreed. Check it out.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not recommend this book for its Christian Orthodoxy. However, if you want to understand the Emergent Church and the "personalities" within this movement, you unfortunately have to read their material to understand their teachings.

[Gary · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Seinfeld show was supposed to be a show about nothing but this book truly is that. 265 pages of nothing. McLaren believes that Jesus' message was secret. And that the secret is: the kingdom of God is at hand. McLaren adds few specifics to this secret except that being good, at least the way liberal America would think is good, is the secret that will usher in the kingdom of God. No Gospel message here, no repentance except changing from old fogey thinking to new age stuff, no fear of Hell, no worry about the end times, the book of Revelation has already happened, and heaven is a place on earth, just with nicer people - no religious folks or mean capitalists. How to be saved according to McLaren: think deeply about what you heard about God, believe in God, receive everything you need for the kingdom, get baptized or go public with your faith, and practice following Jesus every day for the rest of your life (do good deeds). So you can see why McLaren does not differentiate between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, or even atheists. Pretty much being the best person you can be as long as it includes caring for the environment and all liberal causes is all you must do to be saved. He mentions a few heroes of the faith to emulate like St. Patrick, St. Teresa, St. Francis, John Wesley, CS Lewis, Desmond Tutu, and Mother Teresa but neglects, Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, the Puritans, etc. About Jesus he says he "had a sense of special calling and empowerment" from childhood. That's nice but I do not recall McLaren calling Him God. Jesus death was not a substitutionary payment for our sins, according to McLaren, but simply a good example of how to live. Avoid this book. It will add nothing to your faith and may lead you to Hell.

[Andi M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

McLaren does a great job of distilling Jesus's teachings and methods into a very readable and thoughtful book. The title is clickbait and should really be "What Jesus Actually Said in the Bible." Sadly, a lot of what Jesus said is lost in the evangelical American church today. McLaren is one of those writers, alongside folks like Pete Enns, Rachel Held Evans, Sarah Bessey, Austin Channing Brown, and others who might bolster one's faith in Christianity despite the garbage fire it is right now.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more I learn about early Christianity, the more convinced I become that somewhere between Constantine's empire and the influence of Aristotle (as well as other Greek philosophers), the whole program went off the rails. This is the third book of Brian McClaren's that I've read, and I think this may be my favorite of all. In sum, the author makes a convincing case that the secret message of Jesus is quite simple: the Kingdom of God is at hand. Not coming after you die. Not some pie-in-the-sky cloud-filled angel fest, but here, now, in front of us if we only had the eyes to see it. And what is this Kingdom? Love God, love your neighbor. Give to the poor. Pray. Work for justice. Be peaceful. Be pure of heart. Share.

Seem easy? Try doing it tomorrow.

McClaren certainly isn't the first to say this, although he is perhaps the most compelling (after Shane Clairborne, who I love). Considering the state of the church these days--dying mainstream Protestantism in the US, more (and more and more...) horrifying Catholic scandals, and a rapidly rising fundamentalism both around the world and here at home, it seems to me that more Christians could use a little history lesson with regard to what Jesus was actually saying, to whom he was saying it, and why.

Here is the money quote: "Faith is not the absence of doubt, but the presence of action." Sign me up.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I'm grateful McLaren emphasizes Jesus' ministry to the poor and downtrodden, I'm disappointed that he feels like he needs to sacrifice the main message of Jesus to do it.

He focuses on explaining how Jesus preached the "kingdom of God" as here and now, but for some reason ignores that the Kingdom is also for eternity. Also, it seems like McLaren thinks that establishing "justice on earth" is the ultimate goal of Christ.

Why do we have to trivialize the eternal aspect of the Kingdom- like SALVATION in particular- to emphasize the earthly aspects? to me, the eternal is the foundation upon which the earthly is built.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing, as always, to see McLaren’s take on things. This book, he claims, was aimed toward “a broad, nonscholarly, and in many cases nonreligious audience”, and he did a very good job of writing something that can easily be understood and appreciated by Christians and non-Christians alike, something that people at any level of theological interest can reflect upon.

Written in a way that is easy to read and digest, this book shows us another way of looking at the message of Jesus - one that’s not as wrapped up in the more traditional way of understanding, one that shows us more than what we find in the traditional explanation. He goes into the political issues of the time, the different responses to the Roman occupation, showing us how Jesus’ response compares and differs from the other Jewish responses at the time. He also goes into the idea of “the kingdom” being attainable and achievable here and now, if only we would strive to see it be in our lives and in the world. Most of the Christians we hear try to tell us, or at least leave the impression, that the point is gaining our ticket to some sort of exclusive club after this life is over, and it’s nice to see someone saying that such thinking misses at least some of the point of Jesus and his message, which is meant to be applied to *this* life. Not that he seems to be denying an afterlife – but that seems to be beside the point of his main focus, which is to show us how the message of Jesus is meant to be understood and applied in our lives and our faiths in each and every moment, instead of seeing faith as merely a looking forward to a future moment or time.

Whether one is a Christian or not, this side of Jesus and his message is something I would recommend everyone take the time to consider. McLaren is an author I highly recommend to Christians and non-Christians alike. He offers a fresh perspective, and I’m constantly pleased in my exploration of his books. :)

[Mike Lewis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think his historical background of the people of the day is accurate. I did some research into what he says about the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots.

And throughout the book, he not only misses the mark, but completely obliterates it. His claims about Jesus in Scripture are so generalized and skewed that he makes Jesus sound like a Marxist.

By the end, McLaren never tells us what Jesus' message really is (because he is so vague) and never points us to a Scripture where we can find this message.

[Laityfamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book completly transformed my way of thinking about Jesus. I went from knowing I needed Him. To really Loving Him.
After reading the first couple pages of this book, I put it down. It was obvious that this book was going to shake my foundations and I wasn't sure I was ready yet. I did pick it up again after a short amount of time and a deep breath.
I won't ever be the same.

[David Holford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then you read a book which makes you say "yes, that's what I have been thinking for a long time, but never quite been able to express so succinctly." CS Lewis is like that, and this book was like that for me too. Everything in the book is familiar to anyone who has been a Christian for a while, but it is somehow new, and different, and radical, and hidden, and the revealing of the secret is exciting and challenging. I believe that this book has had a very negative reception in some Christian quarters, and I really wonder why, because it seems so profoundly centred on Jesus and what he said so clearly, which is surely what being a Christian is all about. It unashamedly presents the radical message that Jesus preached, and suggests that if we actually adopted this worldview and followed Jesus' instructions that it would in fact change the world. If you are a believer, read this book. It will make you proud to follow Jesus. If you are a non-believer, read this book. You will understand why we Christians get so excited about Jesus and his teachings.

[Ben Ullman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite radial:

A sign of a good book is how much it makes you think and rediscover your views - not always how much you agree with the author. Luckily I had both of these boxes checked off :)

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed McClaren's book, it was the Appendix section that made me snap to and really pay attention.

Appendix I asks the question "Why Didn't We Get It Sooner?" (It being Jesus' secret message.)

In this section, McClaren writes about the historical significance of the early church becoming separated from its Jewish roots within a century or two of Jesus ascending into heaven. With much of the social significance of Jesus' message being lost to present day followers.

"Some might argue that the esoteric (doctrinal) arguments (of Christianity) were necessary; otherwise Christian theology would have lost its doctrinal integrity and become a subset of some other ideology. But if it did indeed succeed in saving its doctrinal integrity, one wonders, if it lost its ethical integrity in the process..."

Just as troubling is McClaren's assertion of the marriage of the established Christian church with the political state (or, as what some current social justice writers call "the empire.")

"What we have seen with this alliance between church and empire came an endorsement of the use of violence in the service of the kingdom of God."

Witness the 45th's recent seemingly off-the-cuff declaration to unload "fire and fury" on North Korea if they don't stop trying to be like the US and set up their own nuclear arsenal.

Oh well. (What's that about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery?)

As if to offset the dilemma found in Appendix I, Appendix II offers a host of very practical, do-able and fun activities to promote the spread of Jesus' secret message. Even if you aren't a believer, I think you'd appreciate more than a few of them.

On a bibliographic sidenote, McClaren cites Walter Wink's "The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium."

Sounds like a good one to put on the shelf!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book mainly because the experience of reading it was a little bit like finding new windows to look through in the walls of the house where you've lived a very long time. McLaren's chapter on the parables of Jesus (Chapter 6: The Medium of the Message) made me think in fresh ways about why Jesus chose to teach in parables. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 6:

Parables entice their hearers into new territory. If the goal is an interactive relationship...a parable succeeds where easy answers and obvious explanations couldn't. With a clear and easy explanation, hearers can listen and achieve understanding and then go on their way independent of the teacher. But when a parable confounds them, it invites them to ask questions...If a parable leaves you confused, you will have one of two responses. You can respond with arrogant and impatient anger...which makes you walk away. Or you can respond with eager and curious humility...which keeps you coming back. In this way parables have a capacity that goes beyond informing their hearers; parables also have the power to help transform them into interactive, interdependent, humble, inquisitive, and persistent people...Human kingdoms advance by force and violence with falling bombs and flying bullets, but God's kingdom advances by stories, fictions, tales that are easily ignored and easily misunderstood. Perhaps that's the only way it can be (45-46, 49).

I also particularly liked Chapter 10 - Secret Agents of the Secret Kingdom and Chapter 17: The Peaceable Kingdom.

I would like to explore more of the authors that McLaren named as influential to his thinking, particularly Walter Wink and John Howard Yoder.

[Christopher Endress · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would say that this book should be read and used more of as a traditional children's story: Don't take it too seriously and you might end up with a good moral at the end. McLaren's problem is that he neglects everything that disagrees with his perspective - and thus loses out on huge (and I mean HUGE) theological necessities of Christianity. If I were to read this book as a strict theological text, I would have rated it a zero (or given it an 'i' for incomplete).
However, if you take this book as simply one man expressing a far-out idea for the purpose of proving a point or getting us to shift slightly more to his angle, it wasn't terrible. I disagree with the very idea of making a hyperbolical viewpoint to force a paradigm shift (think "the earth will end in 5 years" scare tactics to get people to do something reasonable like recycle), but McLaren is much more literature-based than he is scientific method-based so I can look past it.
Long story short, don't take this for what it says. That is, don't take this for what it says if you want to enjoy it at all (without the need to rip your hair out in frustration).

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and found some wonderful gems in it, even though the "secret" is not such a secret, that Jesus wants us to make our lives on earth more meaningful by caring for each other. Even though McLaren is not a fantastic writer, his thought process and analysis of the gospels is very compelling and faith-filled. He is humble, yet passionate, and refreshingly modern in his thinking about what it means to be Christian in the real world. His down to earth approach alone makes me a fan. I especially enjoyed his chapter on the Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes were illuminated in a new way for me, and are now a regular part of my prayer life. I also liked the idea that faith is "practice" with a defined set of exercises which makes me feel better about those moments when my own faith is weak and small. In "practicing" faith, you can strengthen it through action, even when your heart is in doubt.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian McLaren speaks to my heart in a way that no person, novel, or church has in a long time. The only reason this book isn't getting five stars from me is because I've also read A New Kind Of Christianity (same author), and I prefer it. But there aren't a lot of negative comments I can make about McLaren's message. If you, like me, want to believe in Jesus' message and follow his example, but aren't very impressed with the way the church has interpreted the Bible's teachings, I'd highly recommend this and other McLaren books.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has always questioned the existence of an after life, I found this book to be intriguing. I believe that organized religion is too rule oriented and not enough love oriented (al least in my experience) and really enjoyed the message McLaren was speaking of. You can refute or embrace the message yourself but it speaks to my heart.

[Cody Bertram · Rating 1 out of 5]

feces

[Lee Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my life, I’ve been excited by the Jesus of the Gospels, and thoroughly disappointed by the way those professing to follow him have behaved, and what they have emphasized in scripture. The Jesus I kept encountering in the Bible seemed to be leading in one way, and Christians seemed to be going somewhere else. It seemed clear that Jesus is taking great pains to tell us how to act in the Beatitudes and in the Sheep and Goats parable, for instance, but Christians much prefer to talk about John 3:16. Yes, John 3:16 is important, but the emphasis has always felt wrong. Are we really to believe that the most important thing in our Red Letter bibles is a verse not printed in Red? That doesn’t make sense. And Jesus has always seemed at once much more loving and much more demanding than He comes across in a Church preoccupied with salvation and the afterlife.

While I can see how McLaren is a dangerous figure for many, his argument isn’t that revelatory—it’s rather a common-sense one, in fact—for those of us who have read the Gospels from a position outside of fundamentalist evangelicalism, outside of organized Christianity. And nothing McLaren says really denies anything conservative fundamentalists believe. Rather, what McLaren does is call us to change what we emphasize in the Gospel, and how we try to follow Christ.

[Neil Purcell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long and tedious. What was the secret message? The Kingdom of God is at hand. If you didn't think that was a secret, join the club.

McLaren argues that Jesus deliberately hid this message so that we would have to work hard to get it, and benefit spiritually from the effort. This just isn't convincing. Jesus in the Gospels seems on several occasions to tamp down the marketing effort around His ministry, but the motive for managing the publicity seems to have been calculated to allow His movement to grow without sparking the attention of the Roman authorities or their collaborators in the Temple.

Read the Gospels of Matthew and Luke: it is obvious that the message is no secret - the Kingdom is at hand, now, and the Kingdom is about ending the system of dominance and injustice that marked the Roman occupation of Judea, about raising up the poor and oppressed, about sustained peace achieved through non-violence. McLaren is writing two thousand years after the authors of those Gospels. Maybe he thinks it necessary to make an excuse for the obvious fact that today's Christians (especially American white nationalist Christians) seem to have missed the point, but, really, honest-to-God, it isn't a secret.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about the Kingdom of God as understood in the first century, and also relevant today. today. Those who follow Christ are described by the author as ‘agents’ of the Kingdom, our job being to spread the message of Jesus: of peace, reconciliation, and so on.

The first few chapters set the scene in the historical and Jewish cultural contexts in which Jesus lived as a man on earth. The second section looks at how the author sees the message, in contrast to how some fundamentalist churches tend to portray it, and the final section looks at what it means in the 21st century.

The writing is good, the author's views clearly expressed, and there's plenty of Biblical backing. The book covers portions of the ‘sermon on the mount’, for instance, and reminds readers about the meanings of the ‘parables of the Kingdom’, from the perspective of the first century audience.

I’m puzzled about the idea of it being a ‘secret’ message. This is broadly how I understood the Christian message growing up in an Anglican Church in the UK; it was explored more fully in RE lessons at my secondary school, and is similar to much of what I have read over the years.

Still, this book gives some excellent and thoughtful writing about the Kingdom of God in its many aspects, and much to think about. If it weren't for the title and insistence that this is a 'new' understanding, I'd have given it five stars.

[Greg Schloesser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read numerous books by Christian author and former pastor Brian McClaren. While he has a propensity to dive deep into philosophy and is fond of using "steps" to categorize various aspects of his arguments and theories, I still find his insights to be often brilliant and soul-stirring.

In the provocatively titled The Secret Message of Jesus, McClaren explores and analyzes what he (and most Progressive Christians) believes to be Jesus' central message of love and acceptance of all. He argues that Christianity has largely lost this message and instead has transformed Jesus from a messenger of love and acceptance to one of a conquering and vengeful God who is to be feared and worshipped. There is much more here than that very condensed statement, and it warrants reading and contemplating carefully. Don't expect, however, to have an easy read. The effort, however, is well worth it.

[N, Buesking · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 10 years of owning this book, I finally got around to reading it. The “secret message” is a compelling one, but not well handled in the book. Other authors, like Dallas Willard, have explored this topic much more richly. The overall tone of sensationalism in the writing hurt McLaren’s authority, and too often assertions were made without evidence, or at least citation. (The irony that I am not providing an example here does not escape me.)

One of the most interesting parts of the books to me was the appendix, where the author asks - how could this interpretation be true if we are only now “seeing” it in the 21st century? A valid question, one that I appreciate the author asking and discussing.

[Alena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years I have run far away from the fundamentalist Christian I was in college. My faith is still a vital part of my life, but it is much more loving and much less judging (I hope and try at least). I started to wonder "why?" Why did Jesus come? I no longer believe it's just for some way to make it into the afterlife. Jesus didn't just come for the cross, he taught before that, and people followed him, his message long before the cross, and their lives were changed. We're supposed to spread the good news, and it was proclaimed as "good news for the poor". That's not just about the cross. So what is this message we're supposed to be spreading?

So often the "message" is simply conversion and fire insurance. There's a story about a priest who is trying to convert someone far away, who had never heard of Christianity. He asked the priest would God condemn me to hell had I never heard the gospel?" "No, he wouldn't have condemned you if you never had the chance" "Then why did you tell me?"

That's not "good news". This book was everything. It's incredible and it makes sense and it enlivened my faith because there was a message that was actually good news. EVERY Christian should read this no matter what.

[Bill Wrabley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved his focus on the message of Jesus. His teaching to create the Kingdom of God here on earth through our actions and how we treat one another. My only complaint was his style of writing. In stead of coming right out and stating the message he hides it throughout the book. Revealing it has the book finishes. I appreciated the foundation he lays through historical background but at times it made me feel like he was trying to interest the page count. I still thought the book was worth reading for its message.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent choice for our Monday morning Companions group discussion. The weeks leading up to Easter are ripe for questions, observations, introspection, uncovering secrets, etc. McLauren doesn't have the answers nor can he see the end results; but, he is content to accept that Jesus was "more interested in stirring curiosity than in completely satisfying it - in making people hungry and thirsty for more than making them feel completely stuffed. Perhaps that's how it should be."

[Cranky Commentary (Melinda) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has much food for thought, and was like a much needed breath of fresh air for me. Many people practice their Christian religion in a fear based, judgmental way, whether they realize it or not. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested enough to take their time, and seriously think about what they are reading.

[Maureen Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended by Marty Solomon on the Bema podcast and I had already been wanting to read something of McLaren’s for a while. I’m SO glad I took the recommendation! My word of the year is Kingdom, and this is hands down the best book I’ve read on that subject. I loved his writing style as well. It was a rare non-fiction that I had a hard time putting down. I highly recommend it!

[Jennifer Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This star rating probably reflects more on where I am personally rather than the quality of this book, but I just didn’t find the “secret message” to be particularly ground breaking. It felt like a repeat of the same church talk (albeit with a more progressive bent) that I’ve grown tired of. I think I was looking for something more.

[Tricia]

I don't know how to rate. I live the idea that Jesus had a message the general population and Christianity today didn't pick up on. Nothing wowed me with this book, though. I've really enjoyed other books by this author.