The light and warmth of a small camp-fire keeps Jesus and his disciples in close and comforting proximity. Peter with his back supported by the smooth flat side of an olive tree leans noticeably to one side and farts like only Peter can.
James whose head had been tilted back, receiving the stream of wine from a skin, half swallows, chokes and then blasts a spray or red. Now on all fours, coughing, laughing, drooling. A rumble of laughter rolls over the fire-lit faces. A near-state of exhaustion, the late hour and a little wine has made them corporately giddy.
Thaddaeus rolls over and wakes from a slumber and stares in childlike query. Jesus, sitting on the ground by the fire lowers his head, wags it in mock disapproval, able, just, to prevent a smile from becoming a laugh, says to Peter… “Your mother would be proud.”
Did this moment happen? Or a similar one? What we are handed in the pages of scripture is a “paper” Jesus. We are delivered highlights of his mission and ministry, his teaching, his compacted, condensed, agenda-driven moments that the Spirit vivifies and uses to lead and feed his followers.
One thing I learned a long time ago was never to take a paper author at face value and compare my life to what I imagine his life to be, based solely on his writing. I was in the middle of reading “Ordering Your Private World”, one of my all-time favorite books, when the author Gordon McDonald confessed to being involved in an long-term, adulterous affair. It took me 20 years to finally forgive him and start respecting his writing again. Shame on me, perhaps, but I’m only human.
I’m not at all suggesting that Jesus ever sinned or would disappoint, quite the opposite. I’m suggesting that there were non-agenda driven moments that we can only imagine. What tear did he let fall on his mothers shoulder as he comforted her after the death of Joseph? What laughter did he share with James when making smiley faces at the table with a mouth full of fish?
What moments of comfort and joy and acceptance and friendship and love are lost between the pages that we could only imagine and seek to experience as we fill in the gaps of the story. What love and acceptance and compassion and rest must we offer, as we seek to emulate Jesus, with only “What would Jesus do?” to go on?
John tells us that, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)
Is it possible that some of the counter productive sternness and argumentativeness that develops in some seasoned saints comes from simply imagining that this “paper Jesus” is the complete Jesus. Was he always on task, always arguing in public, never personally congenial, affable? What did he talk about sitting with tax-collectors and prostitutes around a table? Did he ever just listen and love with his presence? Did he ever simply comfort with a touch and not add a single word. Did he ever forgive, just by pursing his lips and nodding his head to one side? Did he ever show acceptance that changed a life with a smile of his eyes?
We could only (and must) imagine if we are ever to live with more than a paper-Jesus. We must live with and reveal the present, living Christ. We must be disciples of more than paper. We must incarnate, demonstrate… him to the people around us. The people we love, the people in whose presence we fart.
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4 comments:
Andy you have an incredible ability to shock us, make us cry and then laugh in one short sermon. Thank you for not being a "Paper Christian". We all need to be more real. People can see through the facade. I think non believers will respond to us more and want what we have when we let them see that we are human, but that we have help to deal with our weaknesses...Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you also for reminding me that Jesus was truly human, he does understand us.
And...from this day forward, I will have a totally different mental picture come to mind whenever anyone farts ;)
At this late hour (well for me), I enjoyed this post. Peter would be the best. And yes I could see the "non-paper" side of Jesus'. Which can be just as powerful as we build relationships with each other, friendships and fellowship that will last eternally.
If anybody is interested in maybe filling in the gaps not written in scripture, Anne Rice has completed 2 of 3 books about the life of Jesus. She has done exhaustive research about the rituals, lifestyle, climate etc. that Jesus grew up in. It shows what He may have been like. The work is of course fictional and she doesn't claim otherwise. I have started the first book and have been interested in what this 7 year old Jesus may have been like. Yes, this is the Anne Rice who wrote about vampires- she has now dedicated her life and her writting to glorifying God and states that people have actually called her asking to talk to the vampire so she wants to make Jesus that real. This is Kimberly but I can't seem to remember my password to sign in!
I actually started reading Rice's book a while back but must confess that fiction is not my favorite type of reading. I'm glad you found it useful. Perhaps I'll pick it up again on sabbatical.
ps just click on name and write in your name - you don't need to sign in
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