Hi Oz,
Interesting thread ya got here.
This will probably set the hounds of hell nipping at my heels, but I can't resist throwing in my two cents (maybe less). Anyhow, I've been kicked out of churches on more than one occasion, so I'm used to that (yup... Christian, and nope, they haven't asked me back yet). So being as how I been kicked out, I don't really count myself as a Christian, in a way. But I have done a bit of studying anyhow.
To me, the most remarkable thing about the life of the Son of Man as told in the Bible is what he did. And what he didn't do. And to me, that is where most of the message is.
It's always mystified me why everybody seems to want to "glorify" him. Certainly, being "glorified" wasn't anything he ever sought, quite the opposite in fact. And that impresses me tremendously. Here's a guy who was born on the run from the law (I mean Herod). Seemed to be a pretty average Joe Sixpack, but became a rebel with a cause, and that cost him his life---he was perceived as a political threat, really. He didn't seem to have a lot of regard for authority, but also didn't have a vendetta against them, he just went about his business.
And what business it was: he mixed it up with the Rabbis and the elders and the common people, but seemed to gravitate to the lowest of the low, the prostitutes, the criminals, the sinners, the lepers and other sick people, crazy people. He was even executed with a robber, and did he lecture or judge or pontificate? No... he took him to heaven with him; or more to the point, he comforted him, gave him some peace before they both were killed, just as Sydney Carton did in the last chapter of A Tale of Two Cities, as he and a total stranger were together and about to be executed by the guillotine.
I don't think one could accurately characterize his life as one of seeking detachment or stillness or rising above anything at all. Quite the opposite, he seemed to disdain detachment the vast majority of the time, and reveled in people and their problems and affairs, and if anything, sought out the lower echelons of his society. Nothing seemed beneath him (although he did go postal at the money changers in the Temple, and had little tolerance for the Jewish establishment as represented by the Sadducees and the Pharisees and even the Sanhedrin).
He didn't seem to be interested in a lot of introspection or looking within. Yes, he did run off to the desert for 40 days once, but I don't know that his motivation was that he wanted to be alone, as I recall mostly he was terrified because they wanted to crown him king. He was never very interested in being glorified----HE washed the feet of the disciples at the last supper.
He seemed far more interested in doing things for people, very practical things, but also in talking with them and listening to them. Giving whatever he could.
He didn't seem to have religious ritual high on the list of things to do, and was not very enamored with those who did.
He didn't even seem terribly interested in what people believed, but was more concerned with what they did----not really in any judgemental way (to me at least), but rather out of concern for the effects of one's actions upon himself, and upon those around him. So this was an expression of consideration more than anything else.
There's an odd disconnect there----the rhetoric in the Bible is one of Kings and Glory and Grand Armies and trumpets and great victories and such on one hand, and stern, uncompromising standards and swift and sometimes terrible judgements and punishments on the other (especially in the Old Testament). But that is strangely inconsistent with the character of the Son of Man as he lived his life. Personally, I think the reason for that sort of tone had more to do with the mentality of the people at the time, and what would play well with them, what they would understand and identify with, what they would respond to. Why write something that will not communicate well?
In short, he lived a life of service to God's children, and didn't make much distinction about the outer appearances and behaviors they displayed, or what they happened to believe or not believe.
So what's my point?
Well, prayer and meditation have their place, and the Son of Man did both, but didn't spend a ton of time on either. To me, his life was a kind of walking prayer, and that's where the real money is. I think the answers are not within, they are without. The booby prize is behind your eyeballs (and mine). The grand prize is behind the eyeballs of others. And I think that's one of the major points that the Son of Man makes with his life.
How might that play out here and now? Well, I know you didn't ask me, but if you were to ask me, I'd say the most impressive post of yours I have ever read was the one where you said that you took people from New Orleans into your home after Katrina.
But maybe you want a real quote from a real Bible, rather than the sorta wise-ass paraphrasings and perhaps over-simplifications above?
Okay. Here's one. I think this is far more profound than would appear at first glance. Two things stick out at me like a sore thumb in this passage: (1) most importantly, the "righteous" didn't know they were righteous....guess you might even say they didn't seem particularly aware, spiritually or otherwise; and (2) nobody was asked what they believed, or what religion they did (or didn't) adhere to.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'"
T |
