Faith: WWJB - What would Jesus be?
Jesus was a Jew, but a decidedly nonconformist one. He fit into the traditions but sought to transform them for their larger meaning: the spirit, not the letter, of the law. He challenged the status quo and made the religious leaders so uncomfortable that they sought to have him executed (like the paschal lamb). So I began thinking: How far would God have stretched the envelope, in those days or in ours?
The historical Jesus had to be a man; if he had been a woman, he would have had no rights or voice at all. What if he had been a Samaritan? The religious authorities would have rejected him outright.
What if he came today and was a gay? I realize that is a controversial question, but Jesus said he came to be a stumbling block (the Greek word is actually "scandal") to many. When Jesus comes, he does not fit the religious leaders' expectations or interpretations of scripture; instead he comes to challenge, change and redefine them.
Christ comes to us each day, in many ways and through many people, yes, to fulfill scripture but also to transform it. So what is written in scripture should not be our entire understanding of him -- as the conservatives believe and teach -- but his own holiness of character and servant's heart -- which the conservatives cannot monopolize, since they are his teachings, not theirs.
posted by Twerpette @ 10:39 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
All my life I have heard the dictum to be "Christ-like". Yet, when I ask the question, "What is 'Christ-like'?", I am generally met with a silent, dumb-struck look. Apparently, to be "Christ-like" is simply understood. The verbal responses I receive seem, to me, to be shallow and banal: compassionate, patient, forgiving, etc.
Recently, I was reading the "The fifth gospel: the gospel of Thomas comes of age". In this book, I received the long awaited answer to my question.
"When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty and you are poverty." [Thom. 3]
The locus of salvation is in "you"; knowing yourself so well that you are able to act in the world to the benefit of God, humanity, self, and the world. "Poverty" is the lack of self-knowledge and self-action/direction. "Poverty", through lack of self-knowledge, becomes separation from God and the world. The process of self-knowing and acting on that self-knowledge is truely a courageous act of transformation--salvation, if you will.
If Jesus was a fully self-actualized person, then perhaps the saints also represent self-actualized persons. These people knew themselves well. They acted on their individual and varied gifts to a high degree--Christ-like behavior?
Now I understand that to be Christ-like is to know youself intimately. To use the gifts and talents given to one, even when others--church authority or society--tell you that it is not the correct thing for you to do (perhaps because your gifts and talents do not conform to Church or societal "norms" due to gender, station in life, tradition, etc.).
Being Christ-like--acknowledging and acting on who and what you are despite "authority"--truely brings freedom.
Such are my rambling, morning thoughts.
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