The greatest parable-using teacher left his mission fully open for critique knowing that his integrity would always be steadfast so long as his life was supported by good intention to all humanity. Even so, Jesus knew when to hide.: see John 8:59.
Can anyone begin to imagine or understand how empowering it is that the historian zoomed in on that detail of Jesus’ life. I would have never dreamt of thinking that Jesus ever sought cover, other than the times he carved out God and me time. More often than not, this most evolved person is depicted as superman-man as if this carpenter never hammered in the wrong nail on a job. It’s as if he was some pushover with a wicked bastard as his father. Sometimes Jesus was represented as someone who mankind is supposed to immitate, but in vain. To me it was as though the only way to do so was to sell one's right to sensible living. I figured maybe sarcasm was supposed to be Jesus' middle name. Far from all this concocted story of the one who encourages everyone to seek their place in the Kingdom, he had his moments and so he fully knew that entering God’s favour was hard yet conscientious work; that's why he took timeout even though he was about his Father's business. For all I know he probably preferred building houses or whatever little gigs he managed to be employed in, even though for three years.
True, I am not Jesus; nonetheless, knowing that even the Godman had his share of oops moments, makes incorporating his attitude a much more appealing choice with bouyant benefits.
Jesus was doing all the right things and still, God ended his earthly self. How it happened, still to me, is a bit disquieting. I would think that God would have been always at Jesus’ beck and call but the mere fact that Jesus cried out with a loud shout “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” says otherwise. Jesus never suffered in silence and his mind was near massacred even before calvary; and he needed timeouts on his way to sitting at the right side of the Father.
And so I continue to do what I can, doing what I sense that I am here to fulfill and when I feel my energy level depleting, I shout “ Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” and my faint and weary self find solace in Jesus' recommendation: ‘come away by yourself to a lonely place, and rest for a while.’ I used to think that was brutal joke. Now I see that he was talking the talk that even he needed. While I am at it, I better apologize to Jesus for all the fun I made of the stories depicting his God-man life. I even used to challenge God’s love when I was wrestling with the story that God allowed Jesus to die such a brutal death out of love for us and expects me to want to follow Christ’s footsteps to attain everlasting life. Are you kidding! I wanted the eternal life but skip the gruesomeness!
Then it is like Jesus decided to help me out in putting my uneasiness about imitating his life to rest by inviting me to one-on-one everyday lessons to explain what all the rave about his life is about...without the drama.
Now that is what I call knowing the truth that has set me free!
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