I am on a passionate pursuit of the person of Jesus right now. Really, I'm fascinated by him. In re-reading the Gospel accounts, I find him to be such a rich character, such a majestic man, and he has more complexity than the "americanized" paintings we have seen of him. His words are life, literally, and they are obviously from the Father, and Jesus didn't change his mission or his words based on peoples' biases. He responded so differently than I would have or you may have. And the miracles: how he touches and changes people really shows us the love that God has in his heart for us, through Jesus. I love this man.
Observations about Jesus, Part 1:
John Chapter 5.
Here Jesus heals a guy, about my age, who has sat near healing his whole life. Jesus makes him well and then the world turns against him. First, the Pharisees can't believe that he would say to the cripple "pick up your bed and walk", on the Sabbath. But to add gas to their fire, they find out that Jesus actually HEALED the guy on the Sabbath. This was bad. They now plot to kill Jesus.
What strikes me about this episode, and all of chapter 5 of John, is that Jesus never backs down from who He is or what his mission is. Later in the Gospels, people want him to plainly admit who he is, and Jesus veils it to them, not answering directly to his critics. But here, in Chapter 5, very early on in his ministry, Jesus come out with it. He makes radical claims, does radical things, and says clearly who He is, why He came, and where He came from.
It is so clear in fact, that soon everyone wants to leave him, except his closest disciples. But Jesus detects that they may want to leave as well, when they complained, "Master, these are hard things you are saying. Who could stand to hear this?".
All this because Jesus heals a guy.
I just watched a recommended youtube video called Disneyland Revival. In it, this un-named couple goes to Disneyland with a camcorder, and documents some real live healings that happen to teenagers there that day. And then, more kids get healed! They keep bringing their friends around for prayer, too. (Which seems pretty normal to me.) Some of them pray to follow Jesus with their lives, others get touched with the power of the Holy Spirit in a manifest way. God's presence is so strong that one girl keeps saying, "holy s^*t" over and over again, not knowing how to describe what she is feeling.
The couple praying for the teens are full of joy, and laughing and pointing everyone to Jesus. "Jesus is healing you!", they declare. They talked to them about how great God is and how much He loves them, and that's why He is healing them. Wow. Does God really love sinners that much? Would He heal them right there, in Disneyland, while they are swearing? I think that is exactly what He would do.
And I think, that He would go on to say out loud, in the Magic Kingdom, un-ashamedly declare that the Kingdom of God is near, no matter what anyone said.
What anyone else said? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. People said stuff about this couple praying for teens at Disneyland. Youtube's comments were along these lines:
* These are fringe religious wackos
* Why would they invade teens' space, when they came to enjoy Disneyland?
* Where are the parents of these kids?
* The couple is not of God, they are from a cult, using mind manipulation techniques
* Why didn't people get out of wheelchairs then? Why don't limbs grow out?
These comments make me mad.
But they said that junk to Jesus. But He didn't shrink back. He says things like:
* If you believe in me and who I am, you will live forever
* (to the critics, who were the church leaders of the day) You are already judged, and not from God
* God is my Father. (think about that. If someone said that today, we would have them committed.)
* I have been given power to judge the whole world (ouch)
* If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will die. (this statement is weird.)
Jesus drew the line in the sand, and did what his Father told him to do. And where I would have backed down and tried to explain it all in a culturally relevant manner, Jesus says things that make it even harder to follow him if you already had issue with him. And so it is for the "mystery healers" at Disneyland. And may it be so for me. May I be bold enough to obey God, love people like Jesus did, perform miracles in His name, and declare exactly who I am in God.
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