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Jesus the Fool: The Mission of the Unconventional Christ
Frost directs our minds and hearts to the greater story of Jesus, reminding us that following the Savior is rarely safe—and that Christ will continue to redraw our blueprint of what’s right and what’s righteous, and will persist in calling us to take the alternative, dangerous, ridiculous road walked by wise fools down through the centuries of the church. A much-needed and longed-for challenge to emergent, contemporary and traditional gatherings and churches alike. Original.
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2010
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About the author
Michael Frost
61 books100 followersMichael Frost is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute at Morling College. He is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker. Michael Frost blogs at mikefrost.net
See also other Michael Frosts.
See also other Michael Frosts.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2025
A COMPARISON OF JESUS’ TEACHINGS WITH THOSE OF OTHER ‘FOOLS’
Michael Frost is an Australian Baptist minister and theologian, who is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, an Australian study centre.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2010 book, “It’s my hope that these stories and the greater story of Jesus to which they point will continue to trouble those who prefer benign, conventional, vanilla-flavored Christianity. The fool, Jesus, will continue his work in calling us to take the alternative, unsafe, foolish road, a road already walked by such wise fools as Francis of Assisi.. Thomas Merton… [This book] attempts to remind us that the way of following Jesus is rarely the safe one… Some considerable time ago, Alastair Campbell wrote a very influential book called ‘Rediscovering Pastoral Care’… In it, he includes an excellent chapter called ‘Wise Fool’ in which he explores the style of Jesus and his wise folly as a model for pastoral care. It was upon reading his book… that I began to consider the crazy possibility of Jesus as a fool. This was the seed-thought that has germinated into the work you are about to read.” (Pg. 10)
He states, “While conventional saints renounce the profane world… the saintly fools prefer life out in the open in the secular world. They tend to be conspicuously public figures, encountered more readily on the street than in a church or monastery… Theirs is a kind of holiness that is demonstrated through engagement with ordinary society, rather than by a retreat from it. Holy fools intentionally make themselves conspicuous. Since their best work is to provide an interest in the divine, they look for ways to be surrounded by people hungry for spiritual truth… The saintly fool consistently defies the rules set by society…” (Pg. 3-4)
He argues, “you can demonstrate Jesus’ folly. By the standards of this world he achieved very little. He amassed no personal wealth. He was not widely traveled. He was not widely educated. He left no sons to carry on his name… He made dramatic and ambiguous claims regarding his own identity. He was alienated by his own people and then tortured and executed as a young man by the Roman authorities as if he were a criminal. In this regard, Jesus was a fool, and his message of peace and goodwill can appear native and quite pathetic in the light of this tragic life. Yet his lack of sophistication lent a refreshing directness to Jesus’ style of relating to those around him.” (Pg. 49)
He suggests, “Jesus’ interest is to meet us, not make use of us for his own benefit. There is nothing in it for him other than the basic satisfaction of having secured for people he loves… a more enriched, fulfilling way of living. This is truly foolishness in a world grown used to manipulation, coercion, and subjugation. In fact, it may be here that Jesus proves beyond any doubt that a fool he can be. That the most perceptive, dynamic, intuitive mind this world has ever seen allowed himself to be humiliated, vilified, misunderstood is proof positive of his folly.” (Pg. 63)
He clarifies, “Hopefully, you are beginning to see that calling Jesus a fool actually implies that he had remarkable insight and a radical, unmistakable style. I believe him to have been a man of superior intellect who was able to cloak the impact of this wisdom with a freshness and naiveté that disarmed those he encountered.” (Pg. 79)
He continues, “Jesus the fool took the rabbi, and us with him, to the ultimate conclusions of those theological systems that prescribe some way of earning God’s favor. He allows us to see for ourselves the shortcomings of such an endeavor. He anticipates that our response to his story will not be a deepened resolve to go and love our neighbors more but rather a plaintive gasp, ‘That’s impossible.’ That’s the power of Jesus’’ foolishness. He displays our folly for all its worth. He buys into the systems of thought that we hold dear just long enough to expose their stupidity.” (Pg. 85)
He proposes, “It occurs to me that the Bible, like a divinely written love letter, ought to be approached with the same passion. If we are to read it, surely we should do so in response to that love that we have encountered in Jesus. To believe that we purchase the love of God by the ritualistic recitation of certain magic words is to adopt an approach quite different to that of Jesus. Essentially, what I am talking about is grace. This is not just the religious words you say before a meal. Grace is the term used to describe God’s desire to shower you with his favor, even though you may not deserve it. It is the gift of his love. And, of course, you can’t pay for a gift. All you can do is open yourself to accepting God’s undeserved favor. Can you imagine how offensive to accepting God’s undeserved favor it is to the giver when someone tries to pay for his gracious act?” (Pg. 117)
He states, “And here is the key to Christian religion. The goal of the Christian religion is not to earn salvation…. Jesus… says that salvation is a free gift. Call out in faith and receive it. For the Christian, religion is a life lived in service to the one who made that salvation known to him or her: Jesus of Nazareth. If he could earn redemption, then we could be putting the master in our debt. He would owe us. And as Jesus pointed out, that is never the case.” (Pg. 127)
He points out, “Jesus was poor. His is a refreshing poverty that allows him to accept others as one with nothing to lose… Jesus fashions free and friendly space around… The church cannot be an assembly of the rich; it is made for poor outsiders.. Jesus says so when he declares, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’ And he came to call the poor ‘outsiders.’… The body of Christ, the body of the Poor One, can be composed only of the poor, not because they are superior, but simply because in their situation they are in accord with the person of Jesus Christ. This should be a constant sorrow to the members of our churches who are aware of it.” (Pg. 173)
He summarizes, “By discovering the balance that Jesus brings, Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector learned to be brothers, and so did a rag-tag bunch of fisnhermen, farmers, whores, doctors, religious leaders, Greeks, Jews, Romans, Samaritans… the illiterate, the sophisticated and the gullible.” (Pg. 194)
This book may appeal to Christians seeking new perspectives on the faith.
Michael Frost is an Australian Baptist minister and theologian, who is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, an Australian study centre.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2010 book, “It’s my hope that these stories and the greater story of Jesus to which they point will continue to trouble those who prefer benign, conventional, vanilla-flavored Christianity. The fool, Jesus, will continue his work in calling us to take the alternative, unsafe, foolish road, a road already walked by such wise fools as Francis of Assisi.. Thomas Merton… [This book] attempts to remind us that the way of following Jesus is rarely the safe one… Some considerable time ago, Alastair Campbell wrote a very influential book called ‘Rediscovering Pastoral Care’… In it, he includes an excellent chapter called ‘Wise Fool’ in which he explores the style of Jesus and his wise folly as a model for pastoral care. It was upon reading his book… that I began to consider the crazy possibility of Jesus as a fool. This was the seed-thought that has germinated into the work you are about to read.” (Pg. 10)
He states, “While conventional saints renounce the profane world… the saintly fools prefer life out in the open in the secular world. They tend to be conspicuously public figures, encountered more readily on the street than in a church or monastery… Theirs is a kind of holiness that is demonstrated through engagement with ordinary society, rather than by a retreat from it. Holy fools intentionally make themselves conspicuous. Since their best work is to provide an interest in the divine, they look for ways to be surrounded by people hungry for spiritual truth… The saintly fool consistently defies the rules set by society…” (Pg. 3-4)
He argues, “you can demonstrate Jesus’ folly. By the standards of this world he achieved very little. He amassed no personal wealth. He was not widely traveled. He was not widely educated. He left no sons to carry on his name… He made dramatic and ambiguous claims regarding his own identity. He was alienated by his own people and then tortured and executed as a young man by the Roman authorities as if he were a criminal. In this regard, Jesus was a fool, and his message of peace and goodwill can appear native and quite pathetic in the light of this tragic life. Yet his lack of sophistication lent a refreshing directness to Jesus’ style of relating to those around him.” (Pg. 49)
He suggests, “Jesus’ interest is to meet us, not make use of us for his own benefit. There is nothing in it for him other than the basic satisfaction of having secured for people he loves… a more enriched, fulfilling way of living. This is truly foolishness in a world grown used to manipulation, coercion, and subjugation. In fact, it may be here that Jesus proves beyond any doubt that a fool he can be. That the most perceptive, dynamic, intuitive mind this world has ever seen allowed himself to be humiliated, vilified, misunderstood is proof positive of his folly.” (Pg. 63)
He clarifies, “Hopefully, you are beginning to see that calling Jesus a fool actually implies that he had remarkable insight and a radical, unmistakable style. I believe him to have been a man of superior intellect who was able to cloak the impact of this wisdom with a freshness and naiveté that disarmed those he encountered.” (Pg. 79)
He continues, “Jesus the fool took the rabbi, and us with him, to the ultimate conclusions of those theological systems that prescribe some way of earning God’s favor. He allows us to see for ourselves the shortcomings of such an endeavor. He anticipates that our response to his story will not be a deepened resolve to go and love our neighbors more but rather a plaintive gasp, ‘That’s impossible.’ That’s the power of Jesus’’ foolishness. He displays our folly for all its worth. He buys into the systems of thought that we hold dear just long enough to expose their stupidity.” (Pg. 85)
He proposes, “It occurs to me that the Bible, like a divinely written love letter, ought to be approached with the same passion. If we are to read it, surely we should do so in response to that love that we have encountered in Jesus. To believe that we purchase the love of God by the ritualistic recitation of certain magic words is to adopt an approach quite different to that of Jesus. Essentially, what I am talking about is grace. This is not just the religious words you say before a meal. Grace is the term used to describe God’s desire to shower you with his favor, even though you may not deserve it. It is the gift of his love. And, of course, you can’t pay for a gift. All you can do is open yourself to accepting God’s undeserved favor. Can you imagine how offensive to accepting God’s undeserved favor it is to the giver when someone tries to pay for his gracious act?” (Pg. 117)
He states, “And here is the key to Christian religion. The goal of the Christian religion is not to earn salvation…. Jesus… says that salvation is a free gift. Call out in faith and receive it. For the Christian, religion is a life lived in service to the one who made that salvation known to him or her: Jesus of Nazareth. If he could earn redemption, then we could be putting the master in our debt. He would owe us. And as Jesus pointed out, that is never the case.” (Pg. 127)
He points out, “Jesus was poor. His is a refreshing poverty that allows him to accept others as one with nothing to lose… Jesus fashions free and friendly space around… The church cannot be an assembly of the rich; it is made for poor outsiders.. Jesus says so when he declares, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’ And he came to call the poor ‘outsiders.’… The body of Christ, the body of the Poor One, can be composed only of the poor, not because they are superior, but simply because in their situation they are in accord with the person of Jesus Christ. This should be a constant sorrow to the members of our churches who are aware of it.” (Pg. 173)
He summarizes, “By discovering the balance that Jesus brings, Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector learned to be brothers, and so did a rag-tag bunch of fisnhermen, farmers, whores, doctors, religious leaders, Greeks, Jews, Romans, Samaritans… the illiterate, the sophisticated and the gullible.” (Pg. 194)
This book may appeal to Christians seeking new perspectives on the faith.
April 6, 2019
Challenging and inspiring.
July 31, 2025
Loved this way of looking at Jesus—particularly through some of His parables. Super thought provoking!
December 20, 2013
Most interesting treatment of the meaning of Jesus' parables I've read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews