Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
*********************************************************************************
These verses gave me goosebumps this morning and filled my insides with joy. I'm in the middle of a book on the character of Jesus... I stole it from Annie a while ago and every time I picked it up, considering starting it, I hesitated because in my mind I thought, "Surely I know a lot about who He is; this is probably for people who are new to the faith."
I can be so lame sometimes.
I'm savoring every day of this study, because honestly, I'm realizing I don't know much about who Jesus really was. My mind carries this image of a bobble-head Jesus, with white robes and long flowing hair and a beard. He's also generally blond and blue eyed, always smiling gently, and maybe he's quiet and hugging children. Kinda weak and effeminate, honestly. Maybe I imagine this because there's this giant, somewhat creepy painting of Jesus taking up a huge wall in the back of my childhood church that kind of embodies this kind of Jesus...
Okay, not blond and blue eyed, but definitely creepy with that mustache and pointy beard and sketchy eyes
As I'm still in the beginning stages of this study, and it's encouraging me to imagine Jesus as a.. well.. real person. He didn't start really being all Jesusy until he was in his 30s, so what the heck was his life like before that? I mean, he was a child who I imagine played with neighbor kids, the adults watching him grow into a teenager and eventually a mature young guy. He scraped his knees, played with his sisters and brothers, watched his earthly daddy work and eventually learned the trade of carpentry. He had a sense of humor and was probably one of those guys that people just loved being around. (I have friends like that!) He ate meals, probably had friends he hung out with, went to the market, helped his mom make dinner... I dunno? Does this make sense? Were his siblings annoyed by him and that he never got into trouble? I would have been. Did girls think he was cute? Did people think it was weird to be 30 and not married, since, you know, they got married at, like, 15? Did his mom and dad look at him and wonder when he was going to embody the whole 'savior' part of the deal that God told them about 30 years ago? Can you imagine the pressure Mary felt to raise the son of God right? Ugh, I can't even imagine what it would be like, every decision wondering if that was the right choice or what.
*********************************************************************************
People are willing to listen to you when they have some sort of respect for you, or they admire qualities that you possess. Like teachers; the kids connect and want to learn when you get down on their level and make whatever it is you're trying to show them relevant to their lives. I think Jesus was like this... not some super-religious dude who was holier-than-thou and unable to get his hands dirty. He got down on our level and was like us. With all our crap... he was just one of those guys you wanted to be friends with. That's why people listened to him. He didn't have to stand on the street corners and tell people they were doing it wrong and going to Hell if they didn't repent of their evil ways.
I mean, hellloooo, Jesus wasn't white. and the Bible says not particularly attractive, either. This picture blew my freakin' mind when I first saw it. Jesus was dark-skinned? Whaaaaaaat? And why isn't he smiling/laughing/crying/emo like all the other pictures of Jesus?
Jesus loved being with people, and usually the kinds of people that were kind of rough. (Maybe like people you'd find at Walmart?) His parents were poor, children, really. When he was born, the announcement was first made to shepherds, dirty people on the fringes of society. He was born in a BARN. Which smelled like poop. He didn't care what society thought and talked to the people most hated... tax collectors, prostitutes, people with leprosy.
My image of him is so skewed; I love this study because it's helping to unravel (UM, I just spelled that word with two As... TEACHER FRIENDS AHHHH) my misconceptions of Him being a person that is so 'above' us. But really, He was just like us, just with a supernatural ability to not give a crap about what people think so he could pour into people who needed love the most.
I want to love like that, to 'keep company with God' and to
'learn a life of love.'
Thanks for sticking with my ramblings. Writing helps me sort through my own thoughts; hopefully it will encourage you to challenge your own views on who the heck Jesus was. Do you see Him as a bobble head, too, and not someone whose life you could actually emulate? Maybe grab Beth Moore's book, appropriately titled, "Jesus," and try to figure life out with me...
No comments:
Post a Comment