Jesus our Example...

Stolen from Danny Yang's blog, who in turn stole it from Ross King's blog...

I'll start with the basic story of Jesus' life. He was born in a barn. His mom was a teenage virgin (and everybody probably said "yeah, right; a virgin") and His dad was a blue-collar worker. He lived his early life in a fairly boring, non-cosmopolitan place. He waited 30 years to do anything worth recording (complain to God, not to me), despite the fact that He was GOD and that Jewish males were considered men by their 13th or 14th year. Once He began his ministry, He chose 11 guys, mostly blue-collar types, some even borderline social outcasts, and 1 guy who He knew would betray Him unto torturous death. He did his entire ministry within walking distance of His hometown (they had ships and animal-drawn land transportation back then, which He could’ve used; also, He was GOD, so i suppose He could've flown around or whatever). almost every time He did a miracle (A MIRACLE!!!) He told people who were there not to tell anyone about it or even about Him. He hung out with prostitutes, homeless people (like Him), social outcasts, and lepers (think AIDS patients). He told parables to the common folk and insulted the religious establishment (Matthew 23). He avoided public attention most of the time (remember the Feast of the Tabernacles in John 7 & 8?), but spent lots of time teaching small groups. when He got the biggest crowd He'd ever had (after turning a lunch for one into a feast for at least 5000 -- maybe up to 15000 -- people), He chose a sermon on cannibalism (think about it) and pretty much all of them left. for His "triumphal entry" he chose the borrowed colt of a donkey to ride in on. He put up with an illegal trial, so that He could die a humiliating loser's death on a criminal's cross. after three days, He performed the most signicant miracle the world has ever seen and told a few hundred people about it.

now, that's paraphrased, but that's basically my Savior's story. you tell me. are my questions fair? because if those methods are the best way to give God glory (while imitating Christ as a guide for methodology), then i'm a little confused. did Jesus fail? that's a pretty poor way to market yourself if you ask me. wouldn't it have been much better for Jesus to have said (after miraculously feeding 5000-15000 people), "Ok, next week (month, year, whatever) we're going to do this again. Everybody needs to come on back and bring a friend. Barsiphius is going to play the zither, and I'm gonna bring the Word. And by the way, did I mention I'm God? Just in case all the metaphors have been confusing anybody. I'm God. God I am. Jesus = God." wouldn't that have been better, according to our methods today?

posted by Jimmy at 2:51 PM | |