OK – I’m not sure how this will come out – it’s a bit of an attempt to work through some of the stuff that’s been happening in my head. I’ve been pondering (especially as part of re-looking over “the shaping of things to come”) the amazing controversy of who Jesus was. God incarnate. God himself here on earth to show us what it’s all about. And while that’s certainly a strong enough thought, the part that offends those like myself with such a tendency towards religiosity is that he had fun! He didn’t frown at people who were enjoying themselves, but instead pointed them at who God was in that place. He hung out with the wrong kind of people.
Can you imagine being around Jesus. Whenever Jesus said something that offended you, you were offended by who God is. When Jesus spoke encouraging words, you were being encouraged by the creator of the world. But more than that, God came and joked, ate, drank, slept (sometimes at inappropriate moments), got angry, did all the things that define our human existence. And the fact of the matter is, that it’s easy to avoid being offended by the words of Jesus, because we prettify them. We take the passion and the rawness out of them. We put them in red text, and make them the words of a holy creature who wasn’t really anything like us. We remove Christ’s humanity and only relate to him as a deity.
But how much harder is it to ignore a man, who comes and lives among us, who does this stuff, and puts flesh on it, but still has the authority that comes from being God himself. I realise that this is Sunday School 101, but I guess it just hit home to a new level for me, especially in regards to social justice stuff. Jesus said some really tough stuff, that was pretty clear-cut. How can I ignore those words, or equally bad – agree vehemently, but remain completely inactive.
I’m pretty sure a fair chunk in there hasn’t made any sense, but we’ll post it up anyway. Love to hear what people think.