The Obvious and the Invisible

 Your way ran through the sea; your path cut through great

 waters, yet no one can spot your footprints.  This is how you

 lead your people:  obviously and invisibly.  Psalm 77:19

So many are searching. Christians often live in a continual awareness of seeking the leading of God. He gives us his Word—solid, trustworthy, life‑giving—yet the movement of his Spirit within us can still leave us wondering. How do I know the “voice” I hear isn’t simply my own? How do I distinguish God’s way from the world’s way, beyond the obvious sins we know to avoid? What should my career be? Who should walk with me in life? Where does ministry fit in a world overflowing with need?

This metaphor from the Psalms steadies me. A path through 

the sea? Footprints in the ocean? I’ve seen something like that

in real life.

I come from an area where there are many gravel pits, the digs

 of the mounds of fill and silt dropped by the glaciers during the

last ice age.  Before conservation laws came into effect, gravel

Was often dug right up to the riverbanks, swallowing sections 

of the river into the widening pit and leaving behind a lake 

where land once stood. It looked as if the river had vanished.

But I learned something: if you stand in just the right place, at just the right time, you can see the river’s path running straight through that man‑made lake. Invisible from most angles, but unmistakable when you know where to look.

That’s the key—knowing when and where to place myself so I 

can catch God’s truth. That becomes the work: searching for 

that vantage point, positioning myself with intention, waiting for

the moment when the hidden becomes clear. Just like an 

eagle who must put themselves in the right place to soar and 

catch the wind, so must I.  And when I do—when I wait, 

observe, and ready myself—God’s leading becomes 

astonishingly obvious. The revelation comes, and with it, the 

action that follows.

Prayer:

Lord, teach me where to stand.

Quiet my striving so I can see the path you cut through the waters.

Help me trust your leading even when your footprints are hidden.

Make me ready for the revelation—and the obedience—that follows.

Amen.

 

Emmanuel - God with Us

 Look! The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel, which means "God with us."  Matthew 1:23

"With" in the Greek is "meta," which simply translated means "among."  It has other intonations, though, that includes participation, proximity, association and union.  It signifies a personal union of the human and divine, symbolizing a symbiotic presence of the divine with humanity.

Do you remember the definition of symbiosis from biology class?  Symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms, denoting a mutually beneficial relationship.  This really usurps ideas about "it's all God" I have heard.  God intends a give-and-take.

This raises a huge amount of questions.

How does this mutually beneficial relationship develop?  How are God and I impacting each other? God benefits from being in relationship with me?  

I think about the very definitive description of "God is love."  With him, love is not a one-way street.  Love is God's way of being with someone.  To return the gesture (symbiotically), how do I "be" with God?  How do I place myself into God's desires?

So, how about this comparison (and expand it for yourself):

God "with" me                                Me "with" God

Presence - availability                    Seek out his Presence

Offer of the Holy Spirit                Be aware of the movement of                                                                       the Holy Spirit

Purpose                                           Seek out his purposes

Triune-nature:  community             Seeking community of others

I'm not trying to fit the eternal and expansive God in me, but rather find my place in Him, his presence.  I am not going to confine God to a "God-shaped-hole" in me, but rather find, live and grow into the space in God's presence and creation that he has for me.

God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth...so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us:  for in Him we live and move and have our being..."  Acts 17:  26-28b.

I love the metaphor of water: submerged, I find I am in the water and it is in me.

Lord, submerge me in you, your ways, your presence, your movement. Let me bear no resistance to the full presence of You!  Carry me and sustain me.  Amen

Psalm 74

 Psalm 74

A lament during the exile to Babylon

What is our exile?

It feels as if the democracy “experiment” has failed.  It is crumbling from within.  Its one success was that it spawned an ideal of self-governance and liberty around the world, but now it fails to protect itself.

Though it did not hail from religious beginnings, it was from the faith of men wanting self-rule.  A flawed beginning held together by a construct/a mythology that slowly spread, sporadically and imperfectly, to all people within the boundaries that freedom mattered.  That mythology did not hold, though, because forces of old – greed and power – used an inherent hierarchy to reinvent a system of control over the masses. Freedom and equity (whether of power, sustenance, health, opportunity…) would no longer exist, if it ever did.  

Maybe the Republic was just a false front.

Did we invest too much in the man-made structure of democracy?  Is that our torture now?  Did we make freedom and self-governance a sanctuary that only served those who thought to sequester the power, pretending it was for all? 

We claimed our identity around the altar of democracy.  Did the Republic even define our “religion”?  Self-governance took you, O God, out of your rightful place among us.  We valued freedom and happiness as first pursuits when You should have been our first pursuit – then you would have defined and given freedom and happiness in a more encompassing way.

Is this what the Republic has done?

·       Was it a lion that claimed the inner sanctum (of being and import) in each of us for itself?

·       Did the Republic rip to shreds culture groups’ and people groups’ purpose and protection? (Ask the American Indian, African slave and the immigrant.)

·       Did the democracy “scorch” all the places where God can meet His people?  (In the name of advancement and financial growth, did earth pay the price for settlement and expansion?)

And now the experiment of democracy crumbles.  Will it soon go up in flames with only ash and smoke remaining?

The deconstruction of the American Republic might be God’s effort to reorder the culture and bring people back to the right place of salvation on the land, with God in the lead.  What power is needed to finish off bad governance, misdirected ideology?  We are watching inherent evil do it for us.

Power belongs to God.  Can’t you see it in the cycle of life on the earth?  Even the cycle of the universe – day and night – belongs to God. 

Don’t forget that the enemy has taunted You and we, as a company of fools, have snubbed you, O Lord.  Bring back our focus and renew our spirits such that we turn again to You.  Don’t forget us and Your true intention for all. Put us again in a position to give You praise!

Lord, rise up and defend your cause.  Reveal and remove our foolish pursuits. 

#34

 

I dare not say what I might write

if just left to pen and light.

I dare not think of what I’d do

if bereft of love and thought of you.

I’m overtaxed with sight and sound

And filled with dread of greater wrongs.

 

So, I move my attention

         give attention

         pay attention

pay the price by moving my thoughts into the debit column of your offering.

 

It’s in your hands now

and with head bowed,

divested of being in the center,

I lay at the edge

no longer in torment.

Life's Questions

 Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way [under the law], which brings condemnation, was once glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!  In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.  2 Corinthians 3: 8-10

Life's questions - determining the answers for who we are and what we should do - often revolve around the wrong theme. What if life's questions revolved around God?  (not the church and its rites and rituals nor us and our misplaced affections)

What was God's purpose for creation?

What was God's purpose for me?

What does God intend for this day?

How do I get involved with those intentions, both externally in the world and internally in me?

What does God want me to become?

How can I move towards that "becoming"?

How can I "be" in him, for him, of him?

God's good intentions are for this "new way," a "good" way thas new definitions:

     1) communities of belonging for all

     2) personal experience of belonging with God and his people

 Life's big questions usually revolved around me.  NO.  Time to ask the questions of life with God in mind.  That would be glorious!

Meditate

 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles.  Psalm 145:5

We have long pursued the "knowing" of God.  To connect with the reality of the divine is quite the pursuit.  Oh, we know the facts that we read in the Bible.  We might have an experience of him in our lives, but can we hold that experience and let it flower into a deeper life with him?

I believe that proper meditation of God - his splendor and miracles for each of us - deserves to be multiplied.  It's an effort that the church has attempted to guide for a long time.  The stained glass of the buildings, the religious icons artfully presented, even the movies that we make today attempt to provide a bridge to realizing God's presence.

Yet, there is a difference between those man-made presentations and the actual presence of God.  Think about the difference between seeing a picture of a mountain or standing at its base.  Compare a video of pounding waves with swimming in them.  Note the difference between a picture of your team's football stadium or laying on the 50-yard line of the field.  

I remember the holy presence of laying at the foot of El Capitan.  It is breath-taking and focusing.  There is nothing like the lap of the tide at your feet or the terror of being caught in a riptide.  I have joined in with the crowd at the entrance of my team onto the football field.  No distant picture or video compares...and barely holds the emotions of the original act.  No replica will do.

Even God's word - clear, illuminating and truth-telling - is no substitute for the indwelling of the presence of God through his Holy Spirit.  The printed word comes alive only when the voice and movement bears its truth in our lives.  Meditation can provide that movement as we take a printed or spoken truth and remember how its truth is portrayed in us.

Gratitude is an easy meditative example.  Think of a delightful meal or drink you had this week.  How does that provision remind you of God?  What person presented love and care for you today.  How do you see God in that gift?  To take the time to re-live those moments is to truly meditate.  

The Psalm says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  Our senses, given by God, can supply us the conduit for meditation.  We know best with our senses.  Thus, meditation moves us from the printed Word - though good - into our heart where Christ dwells.

Life-Before-Death

 Someone came to Jesus with this question:  "Teacher, what must I do, what good thing must I do, to have and hold eternal life."  Matthew 19:16

We are looking for that "eternal life" and I think most of us don't even know what we are looking for.  Eternity is often explained and thought of as something in the future, but according to the Greek, it is more.  The implications of the language make it clear that this life is current.  It is life now.  It is life for now as much as in the future, which I like to call "life-before-death" because too many times we think this culminated life is only futuristic - after our death.

        "Eternal" - aionios - with no beginning and no end. So, this timeline doesn't start in the future, but has been ongoing.  This fulness has been possible all the time, the future only being an extension of what we have gained now.

        "Life" - Zoe - being in the state of vital living - in absolute fulness.  It is life active and vigorous: blessed and animated for the causes of community and God.  It is sometimes translated as "lifetime."  

        "What must I do" - agathos - sometimes translated as "good deed," but not really.  It's more positional - having a good constitution or nature; being good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful;  upright or honorable.

What if salvation, resurrection and eternal life is in the present:  us living our fullest life of goodness within our beings and within our surroundings....as God intended.  That is righteousness - literally "rightness" - to be as God intended, as he created us to be.  Jesus loves me just as he created me and then died to bring me closer to the divine.  He likes what I am.  He enjoys my presence, guards my journey.

Psalm 37:3-4 Trust and do the good* thing (for yourself) and live into what God provides and rest/keep company in his faithfulness.  Take joy in the Eternal.  His gifts are coming and they will meet your heart's needs.

        * good - tob - pleasant, better, well, merry, prosperous, precious, beautiful, glad; of rich moral character.

God wants the best for me now and into eternity.  I don't need to hit the wall of goodness after death, but live fully now in the life he has ushered in for me through the life and death of his Son.  

Make me ready to receive!

Attitude

 From an adult student:  "Our attitudes cannot be situational.  They must come from deep inside of who we are, otherwise, we are just pawns - victims of our circumstances.  This is life-diminishing."

Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.  Though he was God, he did not think it was his place to seize that role as an opportunity; he did not cling to that identity for his advantage.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, took on the humble position of a slave and submitted to being born a human being as he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.  Philippians 2:5-8

While Christ understood who he was, he also understood what his role was while on earth.  He came to save the least and the lost and could only do that by joining the community of humanity.  I wonder if it was a devastating loss just to leave heaven and become human...but he didn't stop there as he embrace his path and his human end, all for the cause of God's people.

Have that same attitude.  The Greek word is phroneo.  It means to be wise and mindful of one's role.  And it means to set one's affections and determinations to direct one's mind and actions toward the right cause, towards God's cause.

To do so based on knowledge and commitment of what God says about us removes us from the whims of the world.  We won't be blown this way and that, but can stay steady, firm on the word we get from God.

Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  He understands because he faced those same tests as we do.  Go to him and find grace to guide and help you when you need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16

Psalm 51

Here's my rendition of Psalm 51:

Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God, in line with your great compassion (fondness, mercy, cherished as if "from the womb").  Wipe away my sin and any consequences thereof.  Thoroughly wash me (cleanse me and purify) of all my sin (and my sin nature.) (Take away the consequences as a symbol of my return to purity.)

For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong and my guilt is there staring me in the face.  It was against you and you alone that I have sinned...and I did it right in front of you.

You are right:  when you speak, when you judge, your judgments are based on just causes and pure motives.  I, on the other hand, was guilty from the day I was born, a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.  Despite my bad beginnings, you want desire and take pleasure in the following:

• faithfulness
• truth - in my testimony and in my judgment
• reliability
• truth - portrayed in ethical and religious knowledge.

And you want these things throughout my being, imbedded in who I am.  In those deep, unseen places show me wisdom.  Cleanse me of wickedness and I will be clean.  Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.  Let joy and happiness be my song so my bones can dance with delight.  Erase my guilt from the record.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew my spirit and sense of being so that I am steadfast and stable in who I am with you.  Do not throw me far away from your presence and do not remove your Holy Spirit from me.  Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by you; let your willing Spirit sustain me.

When you do, I promise to teach rebels your ways and help sinners find their way back to you.  My tongue, which once was used to tear down, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just you are!

O Lord, pry open my lips that this mouth will sing joyfully of your greatness.  I would surrender every prized possession...but you aren't interested in such sacrifices or burn offerings.  Instead, the sacrifice I offer is my broken spirit, one that honestly regrets the past.  This, you love and accept.

Real Life

 God's purpose was for the nations to seek after him and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is never far from any one of us.  For in him, we live and move and have our being.  Acts 17:27-28a

It is where I "live and move and have my being" that my core values and purpose are revealed.  It is not whether I have religious learning, but rather whether I can search and seek God in the center of the life and the community where I live.  Finding God provides real life and energy to interact with creation and live meaningfully, having an impact on it all, even on myself.  This God-given life can "move" me internally and externally.

This provides me with transparency because my source and vision can easily be seen and makes me easy to trust.  This transparency, this filtration of ideas, action and life (without dualism), leaves no room for inconsistency.  This is where "core values" emerge.  They are enduring and consistent, augmented with power and placement through the Holy Spirit.

When spoken well and lived consistently, my beliefs are reassuring to the doubtful and questioning.  A consistent set of priorities can emerge for myself - not just "meaning" but also movement towards God for whom I am in contact.  This is where true life lies, enmeshed within an expanding and growing relationship with God within and expanding and growing relationship with others.

You are Enriched

 I (Paul) always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Jesus Christ.  Through him, God has enriched you (your life and community) in every way  - giving you words and words of knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.  

Now you have every gift* you need as you position yourself and eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from blame when he returns.  God is faithful!  I Corinthians 1: 4-9

Let's expand on this word "gift."  Translators say, "spiritual gift," but even that translation doesn't give credit to this "gift" word.  In Greek, it is charisma.  Strong's definition calls it a "miraculous faculty," including characteristics of deliverance or spiritual endowment.  The expanded definition says it is, first, the result of faith in Jesus Christ, and, second, includes extraordinary powers enabling a person to serve in grace and (divine) power operated by the Holy Spirit.

Wow!  That's a confidence-builder!  That should give us a new strength to live for and serve Christ.  This means we can live out of strength and know that we are gifted with the right words and the knowledge to apply them.  That strength is a humble confidence in the power that the Holy Spirit brings to us to use the talent, knowledge and experience given by God for the causes of the Kingdom.

Notice that "I" am neither the cause nor the beneficiary of that strength.  The Holy Spirit enables me for purposes way outside of myself - the Kingdom of God.  Humble partnering with that Spirit and with others also enabled can complement partnerships so that all our life stories can confirm the life story of Jesus Christ.

I know that God-given strength can be leveraged to overcome my weaknesses in several ways.  That strength can be used to inform and transmute my lesser talents.  It can be used in partnership to learn how others use their given strengths.  It causes me to look on the "other side of the coin" in any area of weakness I hold/live with.  (I have taught that in every strength there is weakness and every weakness there is strength. i.e. strength can either be used for good or for evil.)

Ultimately, I am to always keep in mind the goal:  to equip others for a new life in Christ and to participate in ministry for the build-up of the body of Christ, earmarked for unity.  While I benefit within the community, the benefit ultimately is for God to finally be reunited with all of his creation.

The Blessed Community

 How are you blessed by the community around you?  Have you ever experienced the "Blessed Community" that is mentioned by several Christian authors?  How does the Christian community bless those in proximity?  Do Christians show up as people who bring comfort and joy to a hurting world?  Even to those within the community?

I have expected to find a developing kinship with "known" Christian circles in my life (church, meditative groups, etc), but as my geographic horizons continue to expand, I revel in how God is revealed so quickly by those who know him.  (Emphasis on "know" and not "know about" him.)  This fellowship to which I belong is often revealed in unexpected places, too.

Once when I was with people operating within a meeting of state-wide providers in the alcohol and drug treatment field, I listened to men speak about their work.  "This is God's work, you know," they said.  I smiled to myself.  Later a man, who worked in the prison system helping inmates receive treatment was telling me about his call and mission within his neighborhood church.  How easily these conversations developed!

When I have moved various places around the country, I am surprised by joy at the easy access God's people allow into their hearts and homes.  On one of my first days in California many years ago I had locked myself out of the house during the day.  I went to the mom-next-door at home with six children and asked to use her phone.  (That dates this event - pre-cellphone.)  It did not take five minutes of conversation to reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  What might have been a five-minute conversation turned into a praise time of half an hour.  What might have seemed like a lonely venture into a faraway land began to feel like home with my brothers and sisters living next door.

I was once sitting in a court room waiting for a judge to pass sentence on my son.  When the judge saw me, he asked my son who I was.  It did not take by two questions on the judge's part fo reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  The judge sent my son out of the court room and called me to the bench.  We had a lively discussion about seminaries around the state of Ohio (I had gone to one) and both our Christian calling and work.

How did this happen in less than five minutes?  Because God binds people together in unity.  We, as a fellowship, are easily recognizable.  Our love and compassion is front facing.  We are found!  

Being part of the fellowship expands my horizons, gives me comfort and care, and makes it so I really never feel alone.  God is present in these souls and there I get touched.  It makes me crave being present for others, so they never have to feel alone either.  It is an amazing part of the blessed, abundant life.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the newness of it:  at first, feeling guilty because I should have known and, then, aware that God is like that - beyond all expectations and ever new.

Truly his mercies are new every day.

Getting Ready for Change

 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.  Proverbs 16:9

All of us have wanted to change something in our lives.  We make plans; we get information and tools and learn what must be done.  If we are smart, we engage community support in the area of change we need.  I propose, though, that we miss the most important element in the process, which can sideline us if we don’t attend to it.  We miss being ready for and ready to accommodate the emotions of a change process.

How do you feel about the problem?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

How do you feel about problem-solving through this particular problem?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

How might you feel about achieving success?

How do you feel about feeling that way?

This is why we often fail:  we don’t honor those feelings let alone navigate them, which leads to failure as we abandon the process because we are so uncomfortable with the feelings that attend change. 

I know all have done it because I know that people know what to do … but do not do it. You have seen it; you have done it;

 What happens is that we are faced with new information that doesn’t fit our scheme at all!  The superficial facts and acts seem obvious enough, but the emotional construct needed to make change feels daunting.  We don’t know how to let our stomach hurt.  Part of the solution is to learn to stay uncomfortable when we are solutioning.

In faith practices, discovery and growth  is sometimes called “liminal” spaces, the spaces of waiting for change.  Traditionally, the liminal space is the space of transformation.  It’s a waiting area filled with anticipation, disorientation, uncomfortableness, maybe even fright.

The extreme example is the Saturday after “good” Friday.  Jesus is dead and the disciples have no idea what is happening.  They don’t know that Sunday is coming, and they are in a terrifying space of reorientation…and towards what future, they don’t know.  I can only imagine what that 48 hours was like, but I imagine the room was flooded with dark emotions of grief, fear, despair.  I imagine the sobbing and wailing.  I imagine the ferocious need to save themselves, yet their future seeming to be in complete disarray. Their lives had to go on, but how?

How does one solution in the midst of pain?  Could it be possible that those dark emotions could be teachers or guides?  Could the primal howl of existential suffering actually be healing or transformative?  Have you ever screamed out of sheer frustration or fear?  What if that was healing?

In a larger sense than when we are in a liminal space, the disciples had to face  how to navigate not just next steps, but new identity and purpose.  All they held true had collapsed (although we know Jesus would reorient that collapse).  What if, in less terrorizing moments comparatively, that is true for us as we make change?  What will we become?  Can we let Jesus reorient our path (determine our steps)? What will that liminal space teach us?

Squint ahead and see that God has determined our steps.  He knows the way.

Psalm 39: A Lament on the Brevity of Life

 (My version of Psalm 39)

I promised myself:  I'll be careful on life's journey not to sin with my words.  I'll seal my lips when wicked people are around.  I did keep my mouth shut.  I had nothing to say - not even anything good - which grieved me more and more.  I felt my heart become hot inside me as I thought on these things.  I was furious (with myself?).

Eternal One, let me understand my end and how brief my existence is.  Help me deal with myself by realizing that my life is fleeting.  Why torture myself like this?

You have determined the length of my days and my life is nothing compared to you.  Even the longest life is only a breath.

Selah

(consider this) 

In truth, all journey through life like a shadow (analyze that!)  We busy ourselves accomplishing nothing (lasting or of real value), piling up assets we cannot keep (or are fleeting).  If it is all so temporary (of light impact) , what I am really doing?

You, Lord, are my only hope (for meaning and purposeful action).

Keep me from wrong (for your sake and mine).  I am quiet.  I keep my mouth closed because it comes from you to humble me this way.  Discipline me for my sin.  I am but a moth, which you can consume.  I am only breath.

Selah

(consider this) 

Hear me, O Eternal One, listen to my pleading and don't ignore my tears.  I am estranged from you - a wanderer like my fathers before me.  Look away from me so I might have a chance to recovery my joy/my smile again before I lay this life down and am no more.

An Authentic Human - Jesus...and me?

 Who is this human?  

Could Jesus have been fully human?  

To be true to ourselves as human beings, we first have to get honest about our Lord's humanity, too. Could Jesus be more human than we previously thought?   I worry that we have turned into gnostics who spiritualize the Christ to the point that we miss the humanity of Jesus.   I don't intend to overlook Jesus' divine nature, but to integrate it with who he was on earth as a man.  That is our own struggle in reverse, trying not to overlook our human nature, but integrating it with who we are in the spiritual realm.

The real Jesus took life seriously - there were lives and souls at stake; the Father's will was being acted on; there was the seriousness of sin and the cross to bear - but there is indication that he did not take life solemnly.  Yet, he felt human emotion to its deep and demanding end.

Through his humanity, we can be drawn back to the holy, divine Jesus, who today still longs, understands and has compassion for us.  Through his humanity, we can understand the depth of our calling for community and communion with the Lord and each other.  Jesus spoke explicitly of our kinship relationship to God and of the unifying nature of that relationship.  He understands the need to feel love and belonging, relief and release.

Thus, an authentic Jesus emerges.  Part of his ministry was to be like us, to know what it felt like to be human and to demonstrate emotional wholeness.  With authority, he can lay claim to understanding our lives, our suffering and our joy.

To rest in that claim gives us a chance to claim our own humanity as the very cause for our spiritual development.  I propose that to be more like Christ might be found in being more human, not less.  Let's not live a pious and passionless existence;  Jesus didn't.

Jesus was Fun and Funny!

 

The most overlooked part of the emotions of Jesus is his sense of wit and humor, often evident in his teaching.  Western readers miss it because of cultural difference with the Near East culture of biblical times.  Especially, in Jesus' parables, his metaphors probably brought ripples of laughter down the hillside.  While, we take with seriousness "removing the log from our own eyes" and "a camel passing through the eye of a needle," the crowds of Jesus' day would have loved those sayings for their exaggeration.  The use of such humor in the ancient Near East would serve to drive home Jesus' point, just as comedians do so well today.

His favorite target, though, was the religious elite, and the common people might have howled at his sarcastic descriptions of them.  The twinkle in the eye is not recorded, but, oh so evident, when Jesus talks about the Pharisees "straining gnats and swallowing camels." (Matthew 23:24)  Matthew 23:5 is a Saturday Night Live satire waiting to  happen in Old Palestine:  "They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long" would have brought laughter from the crowd as the obvious word-picture of the encumbrances of showy religion would be easy to ridicule. 

Jesus also used sarcasm, which is hard to capture with the written word.  An example is in Luke 5:30.  With Jesus teaching about the transformation of people so they can receive new revelation and new teaching, he used the analogy of the problem of placing new wine in old wineskins.  Only Luke records the follow-up statement, "And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says 'The old is better.'"  If we don't appreciate Jesus' use of irony and the subtle humor of sarcasm, Elton Trueblood (writer of The Humor of Christ) would surmise this sounds like he just nullified the entire parable, except that we miss the exaggerated tone of voice Jesus must have used.

The moral of Jesus' parable is acutely in the opposite meaning of his words in this statement, but we miss it if we don't understand the potential of Jesus' sarcastic wit.  It is hard to justly record Jesus' meaning, which may be the reason that only Luke has it present.  The Synoptics don't want to confuse the lesson.  Luke may have included the statement because he wanted to show Jesus' humorous way of teaching.

I relate it to the modern-day equivalent when I have said in church board meetings, "We've always done it that way" in complete (but deadpan) sarcasm and with raised eyebrow.  This is a ripple of chuckles and smiles, for the members understand my true meaning.  No one writes it down in the minutes exactly that way because words alone cannot capture my true intent.

So, Jesus was funny.  Crowds followed him not because he was dour and condemning in his lessons and outreach. He used humor to point out truth that all his listeners needed to hear. He understood that "Laughter is holy when it penetrates our pretensions and feelings of self-righteousness."  

Jesus' Emotions Inferred

Emotions and behaviors are closely related because behaviors can tell us so much about what a person is feeling.  We can look at Jesus and his reactions to infer the set of emotions he was having. Jesus did not just "have" feelings and then stuff them.  His being, his body had a response. Such a discussion of Jesus and his emotions helps us access the truth about being a whole, healthy human, too.  Let's look at the most obvious.

Sometimes, Jesus had a measured response, like when he "sighed" before the deaf/mute.  (Mark 7:32-35) Was it a sigh of pity or, as translations show, was it reflective of the strong emotions he felt as he battled satanic power?  Jesus also sighed at the request from the Pharisees for a miraculous sign his authority. (Mark 8:11-12) This sigh was obvious distress over their obstinate unbelief and it is recorded as "sighed deeply," indicating it was a groan.  

Have you ever groaned under the weight of pressure?

Sometimes, inference can be made about emotion given the context and action in which Jesus is engaged.  It is not too hard to infer Jesus' vehement indignation with Herod and the Pharisees' threat to his work in Luke 13:32.  Jesus responds to Herod's threats by calling him a name!  His boldness comes ringing through as he offers this stinging retort:

A few minutes later some Pharisees said to him, "Get out of here if you want to live, because Herod Antipas wants to kill you!"  Jesus replied, "Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and doing miracles of healing today and tomorrow;  then the third day I will accomplish my purpose."

Jesus' expressions of anger do not end with just verbal exchanges.  The picture that John gives us of Jesus cleansing the temple is the most graphic of all the Gospels.  Jesus fashions a whip (notice the forethought) and used it forcefully to drive the merchants out of the temple.  This is a passioned Jesus, demonstrating it with a strong human response.

Take note of the passion in Jesus' weeping, too. In English, "weep" is a passive, tepid word, but it is translated from a Greek word that has connotations of "overflowing" and "sore."  That would be "wailing" in today's English.  Jesus felt such loss over Jerusalem's future destruction and the grief-state of Mary and Martha's loss of their brother that he was overly demonstrative.  Both are examples of deep and heartfelt anguish.

Yet, this Man of Sorrow was never far removed from also being the Man of Joy.  Jesus was responsive to the joy inside of himself.  When filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, Jesus gave thanks to God (Luke 10:21; Matthew 11:25-27).  He greatly rejoiced with the 72 when they returned with the report of their great successes over demons and sickness.  Jesus took particular note of the source of his joy and explained it to the disciples, "I saw Satan falling from heaven with a flash of lightning!"  and properly focused the disciples' joy by adding, "Don't rejoice just because evil spirits obey you; rather, rejoice because your names are registered as citizens of heaven." (Luke 10:18-21).  Then, after the resurrection, I can only begin to imagine how much joy was exchanged between Jesus and his disciples!

Past what is obvious by Jesus' emotions and his responses, we can probably presume some things about Jesus' emotional life by his associations with certain types of people.  The Bible records him eating with tax collectors and "notorious sinners" and that the Pharisees looked down on his behavior.  I assume Jesus wasn't condemning those at the table, but laughing and participating in hearty discussions, especially since the Pharisees were so quick to call Jesus and his disciples "gluttons and drunkards."

Well, it seems like Jesus knew how to have a good time.  He got along well with others (except the authorities).  Hey!  That sounds like me!  How much of that sounds like you?

We are not done exploring the emotions of Jesus, but I want us all to begin to see his human self, so you can see and honor your human self more clearly, too.  

Jesus' Emotions clearly stated

 There is a distinctive and distinguishable feature of humans over and above all other parts of God's creation:  the emotions.  I wonder if in our question to look at and follow Jesus, his emotional side has been overlooked.  In so doing, we minimize his full humanity and our ability to identify with him.

Did Jesus have emotions?  Anyone who has ever participated in Bible quizzing knows the shortest verse in the Bible:  "Jesus wept."  Okay, he shared the grief of the sisters of Lazarus and cried at Lazarus' tomb.  Who wouldn't?  But, did Jesus have a full range of emotions?  Taking into consideration that Jesus was betrayed by a disciple, rejected by his family and community, taken care of by a group of loving women, dogged by religious leaders, partied with notorious sinners, saw serious pain and suffering, how can we ever imagine that he did NOT have emotions and emotional responses?

There are several places in the Gospels where Jesus' emotions are mentioned by name.  Jesus felt "compassion" several times for those in need.  The word in Greek and Aramaic (Jesus' spoken language) means "from the gut."  For anyone emotionally stirred and wrenched by someone else's suffering, you know this is not a trivial emotion.  He felt it physically and it always moved him to action, igniting and fueling his mission. Jesus was also moved to compassion after spending time with God (Mk 1:35-42).  Compassion was a significant and frequent emotion for Jesus.

Jesus also experienced great sorrow, even to the point of depression ("sorrowful unto death") (Matt 26:38)  He seemed to grieve most over things that separated people from him.  He was grieved over the Pharisees' hardness of heart, over the future desolation of Jerusalem and over the grief at Lazarus' grave.

Jesus seemed to take in the full measure of many emotions.  He was indignant when the disciples kept the children from him (Mk 10:14)  "He took it very ill that his disciples should keep the children away.  When he saw it, he was very displeased (or angry or indignant, depending on the translation)...and had a few pointed words for the disciples:  "What do you mean?  Will you hinder me from doing good to the rising generation, to the lambs of the flock?"  Christ is very angry with his disciples and probably isn't using a gentle voice with them.  

Even though Jesus knew and expected the suffering required as part of the redemption plan, that foreknowledge did not keep him from experiencing emotional angst.  He was troubled over the coming betrayal of Judas (John 13:21) and experienced "great anguish of spirit."  Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, with the betrayal imminent, Jesus was "terror struck and in terrible anguish."  (Mk 14:33)

Jesus didn't just observe pain, he felt it deeply.

While Jesus obviously bore well the title of the "Man of Sorrow," do not let that foreboding title lead us to forget that he was also the "Man of Joy."  John says that Jesus was full of joy that he wanted to give the disciples so that their own joy would be "full." (John 15:11).  This expression of joy has a quality of being more than a felt-emotion but a sure-experience, grounded upon God himself and indeed derived from Him.  Jesus would go on to teach much about this kind of joy.

Surely, not the least of Jesus' emotions was his ability to love.  Jesus loved sacrificially and he also loved people as his friends.  He loved Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  He loved the rich, young man who, in his own way, was truly seeking the kingdom.  Jesus' love for his disciples made his moments with them treasurable.  In Luke 22:15, Jesus "greatly desired" to spend the Passover, a last meal with them.  The Greek form gives it a double intensity such that the New Translation says, "I have looked forward to this hour with deep longing, anxious to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins."  

This description reminds me of our own family dinners that have been the setting before a member leaves for college, overseas duty or extended vacations.  No one wants to miss the event.  We long to spend any time together before the impending separation, however short in length it may be.

So, the Gospels, in their overtly stated presentation of emotions of the human Jesus says more about him and us than we might have previous focused.  It seems intense to think of him this way to me.  I was hoping a peaceful detachment from life.  Since it was not so for Jesus, it won't be so for me.

Reflect the Glory of the Humanity of Jesus

In light of the hope that we have, we act with great confidence and speak with great courage. [not like Moses and the Israelites who could not face the truth of God's glory presented...] Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors.  We are being transformed into his same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord reveals it. 2 Corinthians 3:12, 18

Oh, to reflect the glory of the Lord!  That is what we are called to do now that the "veil is lifted."  What is the image of the Lord we will reflect?  Paul says in verse 16, that this veil is lifted by the Spirit, which becomes present in such a way that there is liberty:  freedom to be.  Maybe freedom to be fully human and divine?

How often Christians have been challenged to be like Jesus, to seek his way! While we have looked intently at Jesus' divinity in that call, we sometimes fail to look at the breadth (fullness) of his humanity.  It is hard to reconcile the divine Jesus with the human Jesus, who spent time with children, women and notorious sinners. We forget to look at him as a person with daily, physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  We forget to look at his relationships with others.  Our Jesus - as the suffering servant, facing accusers or praying into the night - can seem far from our human capability and experience, such that we don't even try.  

We, also, forget to look at the passion which drove him.  Yet, to properly understand ourselves, it seems necessary to look more closely at Jesus' humanity, for, like him, we are a reconciliation of the spiritual and the human, especially now that the "veil is lifted."  We may be surprised to find that in our search to relate and identify with our Lord, the solution may be found at our own fingertips:  our humanity.  What if to be more like Jesus might be for us to be more fully human:  a Spirit-revealed and Jesus-modeled human?

Was Jesus Real(ly human)?

This begins a series on the humanity of Christ.  Christians have long sought the divinity of Christ, often to the neglect of his humanity.  Even worse, we have done it to the point of misrepresenting what it means to our own humanity:  we neglect it, too.

Jesus' teachings were great, but my childhood picture of the pious, passionless Jesus was just too hard to identify with.  The image of Christ, on a picture on the Sunday School wall holding a sheep, was far too restrained for me. As a result, I once avoided looking at Jesus too hard, especially in contrast with my own energetic and enthusiastic humanity. 

I preferred Pauls' style:  raw and reckless.  Like the bumper sticker my friend said described me, "I tried to contain myself, but I escaped," Paul could not be contained.  He was bold and brazen.

This distorted view of Jesus' humanity I also heard spoken by a man in my Sunday School class, "Didn't Jesus ever have fun?"  He, too, was looking for a Jesus with whom he could identify.

Then I discovered the retort Jesus had given the Pharisees in Luke 13:32.  He called Herod a name!  And he called him a bad name, for his era.  I checked several translations and the original Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic.  It doesn't mean "sly or cunning," but rather is an idiom for being a "lowlife."  It was an intense slur.

This was not my childhood, passionless Jesus.  Here was a man calling Herod "out."  I became determined to find out who this Jesus, this man really was.  I knew him as the Messiah, the Holy One, the Son of God, the Savior, but I wanted to know the man, because I knew that in finding him, I might understand myself and my place with him better.