Dear Brothers and Sisters (there are no more In-Betweens),
You can see pictures of Jesus in a lot of places. Sometimes He's a light-skinned, bearded guy with a brilliant aura in the background. Sometimes He's a dark-skinned guy... not that often, but I've seen it. Sometimes, He's Jim Caviezel covered in blood.
Sometimes, He's pictured walking on the water, sometimes on the cross, sometimes in front of the empty tomb. Sometimes He's healing a blind man, or a leper, or He's feeding the 5,000.
I don't know what Jesus looked like. Having spent a lot of time amongst Middle-Eastern men, I can form a vague image in my mind. But, it's vague. I'm pretty sure that He was bearded, fairly dark-skinned and dark-haired. He was probably pretty short. As the son of a carpenter (or stone mason, depending on what you've read), I imagine that His hands were calloused, and His arms, shoulders and back were well-muscled. I don't know if He was handsome or unpleasant looking. I don't know what kind of clothes He wore.
I think He probably had a pretty good laugh, and an infectious smile. I think He had a look that, when He gave it to you, you knew that you were in the presence of someone who loved you.
I think about this sometimes, because I don't just think that I've been called to follow Jesus in my every day life. I think that I've been called to BE Jesus to the people that I encounter, because no one really knows what He looked like.
A thousand Christian denominations try to define Him, and ten thousand Christian churches and pastors will try to paint a picture of Him week after week. I'm not writing this to argue with any particular denomination, church or pastor. I'm writing this, because I've been called to be Jesus to the people around me. I've been entrusted with presenting His face to the world, along with every other person who has accepted the call to discipleship, and so I'm taking some time to think and write about what that means to me.
Being Jesus means that I feed the hungry.
Being Jesus means that I pray for and minister to the sick.
Being Jesus means that I touch the ones that society - and sometimes the church - have declared "untouchable."
Being Jesus means that I eat in the homes of the most despised of society.
Being Jesus means that I sometimes have to stand in the presence of powerful and dangerous men, and speak with authority about their misuse of power.
Being Jesus means that I might have to flip the tables of the money-changers, and crack a whip at them, to keep them from misusing the poor and dispossessed.
Being Jesus means that I kneel in the dirt next to a person who has been condemned and cast out, and show her forgiveness and acceptance and freedom.
Being Jesus means that I sometimes have to stand at the grave of a friend and weep.
Being Jesus means that I sometimes have to stand at the edge of a city, and weep for the brokenheartedness of its inhabitants.
Being Jesus means that I must welcome the "least of these" into the Kingdom.
It means that I honor the servant, not the master.
It means that I stand at the side of the oppressed, not the oppressor.
It means that I cry out to God in my own Gethsemane, standing in the gap for my friends while they fall asleep.
It means that I reject my sense of self so strongly, that I allow it to get nailed to a cross.
It means that I live in New Life, and it means that I can show others the Way to New Life.
What does being Jesus mean to you? Is it a belief system, or is it New Life?
My love to you, wherever you are,
Michael Brian Woywood
Standing in the gap for you
No comments:
Post a Comment