The Gospel According To Imi Lichtenfeld

Not long after the first Karate Kid movie came out in the eighties, I'm pretty sure that there was a huge epidemic of butt kickings. Let me play out the scenario for you...kid goes to movie, said kid is inspired to learn martial arts and begins to take classes at local dojo, kid learns a wide variety of katas and forms and builds a false sense of self confidence, kid gets into fight with football player thinking that he will overwhelm football player with a whirlwind of spinning round house kicks and crane form, football player slams kid to the ground and beats him senseless. Have you heard that story before?

This type of scenario is one of the reasons that the a form of martial arts called Krav Maga was created. If you have ever seen a Jason Bourne movie then you have seen many of the techniques and efficient brutality utilized in Krav Maga. This type of efficiency and simplicity is what drew me to and started me on the journey of learning this martial art. I have only been at it for about 4 months now but as I have been studying Krav Maga, I can't help but notice a correlation to the story of Jesus and the new "system" that he exemplified and taught.

To make this correlation, let me first explain Krav Maga's history and origins. Krav Maga is a fighting style that was developed by Imi Lichtenfeld in the early 1930's. Lichtenfeld had a background in boxing and wrestling but came to realize that, because of their complexity, those fighting systems in their pure forms did not translate well to a street fight scenario so he created a fighting style that was built on efficiency and natural human movement. In essence he took away all of the complicated forms and systems and created a fighting style that was compact, efficient, and highly effective which is the reason that it is being taught to special forces and law enforcement agencies all over the world. Ultimately, Imi Lichtenfeld created a fighting style that actually worked in a real fight.

And that's what makes me think of Jesus. Jesus came into a context where Judaism had become a really complex system of laws and rituals. There were very specific laws for every single minute detail of life. This system of laws was initially given by God (though this was not God's final plan for man's salvation) in a simpler form but Israel's religious leadership found a way to greatly complicate it by adding countless "fence" laws on top of laws on top of laws....basically, you had a system that was so complex that it no longer applied to real life.

....and then you have Jesus...who comes telling stories instead of implementing systems. You have Jesus talking about love and then demonstrating love by healing the societal outcasts and spending time with the city's "low lifes" and "losers"...You have Jesus simplifying the entire religious system down to two requirements.. "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength...and love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.." Basically, Jesus was showing us a way of living that was in line with our natural human movement, a way that works in real life...simple not sophisticated....relational not religious.

Ultimately, you have Jesus speaking and then embodying these words; "greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends...and I have called you friend". The need for salvation could not be remedied with a system...the need for salvation can only be remedied by a Savior.