Recently, the morning DJs on the local Contemporary Christian station swerved in to a most interesting conversation. It all started with Man-DJ mangling his words a bit. Instead of saying "the artist is singing this song about Jesus..., " he said, "Jesus is singing the song...". He stopped himself, having caught his error but it got Lady-DJ all curious and excited. Did Jesus sing? Did he laugh...is there scriptural support? People driving along Hwy. 280 might have assumed that I was talking to my speaker phone, if they caught a glimpse of me carrying on a conversation in an empty car. Well...I wasn't...I was hollering at the radio!
It was interesting to hear a few of the responses...one said he couldn't think of anything in the New Testament that supported the idea of Jesus singing. Caller #2 quoted the scripture about The Last Supper. Caller #3 was pretty adamant that Jesus didn't laugh or sing. I have a feeling he's one of the King James Gang...any other version is considered heretical. He said the "they" in "they sang a hymn and departed" referred to the Disciples...not to Jesus. He taught a lot, prayed a lot, walked a lot, performed miracles and ate. He even cried...but it never said he laughed. Basically, this guy's opinion was that if it wasn't specifically said in scripture, then it didn't happen. Papa, my maternal grandfather, had a phrase for such things....BULL ROAR!
Of course he laughed! Why wouldn't he? He would have laughed as an infant and his giggles would have been just as delightful to Mary and Joseph as Y1 and Y2's were to Mr. Snark and me. There would have been points along his childhood and teen age years that were worthy of laughter. And his time with the disciples....seriously? Thirteen guys, walking around in the desert...sleeping under the stars...fishing...you bet your sweet bippy he laughed! Think about the story of the children coming to him...children laugh...that's part of their charm. That laughter is infectious. It's a cold hearted person to sit in the midst of giggling, smiling, happy children and not return the same actions/emotions. Cold hearted....dying to save the souls of ALL mankind...yeah, they don't work together, do they?
Did he sing? Well, let's see....there are verses in the Old Testament that talk about God delighting in us, singing over us...verses about us being his pride and joy. God, the Father. God, the Son. God, the Holy Spirit. Three in one. If God the Father sang over us, then before he left the glory and splendor of Heaven, so did God the Son. God the Father WROTE the songs, for crying out loud! His spirit is what breathes inspiration to lyricists and composers. Mary sang to baby Jesus...most mothers do...and most babies mimic those early songs. The fact that information is retained better if attached to music is nothing new...I'm fairly certain that ancient Hebrew children were taught certain things about their culture, their heritage, their religion, and their language in song. And if that's not enough...find the story about The Last Supper..."and when they had eaten, they sang a hymn and departed." BOO-YAH!
So think about his life...life at that time in human history...and then add to that what you know about the human condition. This means...stubbed toes from walking miles and miles over hard, rocky ground. Growing up as the earthly son of a carpenter would mean splinters, cuts, broken fingernails and sore muscles. His body would have been shaped by the work he did and the fact that dinner was not out of a burlap bag from the local McFalaffel! No such thing as sunscreen or hair conditioner. No professional grade clippers for beard trimming. When "the crud" went around, he was no more immune to it than anyone else. At one time or another, Jesus dealt with a cold, the flu or whatever stomach bug came down the pike. He understood joy, sorrow, pain, anguish, frustration, disappointment and even anger. Read the story about Jesus and the merchants in the temple....that was no pretty-boy catalog model who turned over tables and walked through that courtyard lashing a whip! We are so quick to buy into a sanitized, romanticized concept of Jesus. I think certain artistic renderings are to blame for this. You've seen them...they look like yearbook head shots or head shots for catalog ads. Perfectly coiffed and groomed...not a hair out of place on his head and beard trimmed perfectly and uniformly. Pristine white robe. Skin tone was a toss up between polar opposites...beautifully bronzed or Irish-white. SNORT! His head always framed by a golden aura. Very willowy...almost androgynous. Personally, if each of these misinterpretations of Jesus' likeness were to spontaneously burst into flames, Christianity might be in a better place.
If you accept him to be the Living Son of THE Living God, then you have to accept the fact that he was as fully human as he was fully God. Without the fully human aspect of his nature, the holiness of his fully God identity remains unapproachable. Without being fully God, he's fully human and completely fallible. He came fully human so that we would have a high priest who understood everything there was to know about being human...so that we would have an intercessor who could go to God the Father and explain just how difficult life is down here. Every temptation. Every trial. Every challenge. Every obstacle. And yet, through it all, he remained blameless, sinless and perfect. He sacrificed his very perfect, very human self for me...FOR ME! No debating that.
(I know it's been awhile between posts. The schedule around here at YOHOS has been brutal and I've had a massive case of writer's block. I've been working on this particular piece for a couple of weeks. Maybe the block is broken.)
It was interesting to hear a few of the responses...one said he couldn't think of anything in the New Testament that supported the idea of Jesus singing. Caller #2 quoted the scripture about The Last Supper. Caller #3 was pretty adamant that Jesus didn't laugh or sing. I have a feeling he's one of the King James Gang...any other version is considered heretical. He said the "they" in "they sang a hymn and departed" referred to the Disciples...not to Jesus. He taught a lot, prayed a lot, walked a lot, performed miracles and ate. He even cried...but it never said he laughed. Basically, this guy's opinion was that if it wasn't specifically said in scripture, then it didn't happen. Papa, my maternal grandfather, had a phrase for such things....BULL ROAR!
Of course he laughed! Why wouldn't he? He would have laughed as an infant and his giggles would have been just as delightful to Mary and Joseph as Y1 and Y2's were to Mr. Snark and me. There would have been points along his childhood and teen age years that were worthy of laughter. And his time with the disciples....seriously? Thirteen guys, walking around in the desert...sleeping under the stars...fishing...you bet your sweet bippy he laughed! Think about the story of the children coming to him...children laugh...that's part of their charm. That laughter is infectious. It's a cold hearted person to sit in the midst of giggling, smiling, happy children and not return the same actions/emotions. Cold hearted....dying to save the souls of ALL mankind...yeah, they don't work together, do they?
Did he sing? Well, let's see....there are verses in the Old Testament that talk about God delighting in us, singing over us...verses about us being his pride and joy. God, the Father. God, the Son. God, the Holy Spirit. Three in one. If God the Father sang over us, then before he left the glory and splendor of Heaven, so did God the Son. God the Father WROTE the songs, for crying out loud! His spirit is what breathes inspiration to lyricists and composers. Mary sang to baby Jesus...most mothers do...and most babies mimic those early songs. The fact that information is retained better if attached to music is nothing new...I'm fairly certain that ancient Hebrew children were taught certain things about their culture, their heritage, their religion, and their language in song. And if that's not enough...find the story about The Last Supper..."and when they had eaten, they sang a hymn and departed." BOO-YAH!
So think about his life...life at that time in human history...and then add to that what you know about the human condition. This means...stubbed toes from walking miles and miles over hard, rocky ground. Growing up as the earthly son of a carpenter would mean splinters, cuts, broken fingernails and sore muscles. His body would have been shaped by the work he did and the fact that dinner was not out of a burlap bag from the local McFalaffel! No such thing as sunscreen or hair conditioner. No professional grade clippers for beard trimming. When "the crud" went around, he was no more immune to it than anyone else. At one time or another, Jesus dealt with a cold, the flu or whatever stomach bug came down the pike. He understood joy, sorrow, pain, anguish, frustration, disappointment and even anger. Read the story about Jesus and the merchants in the temple....that was no pretty-boy catalog model who turned over tables and walked through that courtyard lashing a whip! We are so quick to buy into a sanitized, romanticized concept of Jesus. I think certain artistic renderings are to blame for this. You've seen them...they look like yearbook head shots or head shots for catalog ads. Perfectly coiffed and groomed...not a hair out of place on his head and beard trimmed perfectly and uniformly. Pristine white robe. Skin tone was a toss up between polar opposites...beautifully bronzed or Irish-white. SNORT! His head always framed by a golden aura. Very willowy...almost androgynous. Personally, if each of these misinterpretations of Jesus' likeness were to spontaneously burst into flames, Christianity might be in a better place.
If you accept him to be the Living Son of THE Living God, then you have to accept the fact that he was as fully human as he was fully God. Without the fully human aspect of his nature, the holiness of his fully God identity remains unapproachable. Without being fully God, he's fully human and completely fallible. He came fully human so that we would have a high priest who understood everything there was to know about being human...so that we would have an intercessor who could go to God the Father and explain just how difficult life is down here. Every temptation. Every trial. Every challenge. Every obstacle. And yet, through it all, he remained blameless, sinless and perfect. He sacrificed his very perfect, very human self for me...FOR ME! No debating that.
(I know it's been awhile between posts. The schedule around here at YOHOS has been brutal and I've had a massive case of writer's block. I've been working on this particular piece for a couple of weeks. Maybe the block is broken.)
I know Jesus was perfect and not like us in so many ways...but really...there were 13 guys hanging out all the time. Do people really think they didn't goof around and laugh like guys do? Just my opinion. Nothing scriptural about it. But they were a bunch of guys...
ReplyDeleteAmen, Michelle!! (So happy to have a new article, finally!.. ;) )
ReplyDeleteTiffany~