Getting The Real Picture Of Jesus

Getting The Real Picture Of Jesus

We know that it is written, “That it would take volumes of books to record all the things that Jesus said and did.”

Like all the books in the New Testament we have a record of the spoken word and actions having to do with what the disciples have recorded about Jesus. I think it’s great that God set up the whole Bible with the accounts written by many individuals, so you get an all around perspective and narrative of thought throughout the ages. It shows forth the good, bad and the ugly. God is so clever and I am always astounded by him. Many books have been written throughout the ages and many have one opinion; that of its author and him alone.

We have Paul who wrote the most of the NT and Moses a great portion of OT, and then about 40 others covering the rest. We have historical records and manuscripts that happened to survive decades and centuries of rise and fall of governments, dictators, fires, floods, earthquakes and I’m amazed that we have anything with which to base our faith upon.

But God knew, exactly what was needed to assist us in having faith, hope, and accounts as necessary for our stimulus.

Since then there have been millions of books written about, on, or expounding upon these mere few writings.

Hollywood has painted some terrible word for word portraits of what and who Jesus was by using the words from scripture, just as if it was recorded verbatim of the actual accounts. These are a brief record and not written like someone was thinking about writing a book. Theses are records and books of the NT written from memory as Holy Spirit gave to each of them, leaving room for their individual personality and thought on the actual events. They were not a day to day account logged in a memo type pad by a professional journalist, being paid to cover the story. Even then we would get his input and interpretation. Much more of what was written was lost, destroyed or succumbed to natural events.

There were more writings that were never canonized by scholars. Remember also that the use of chapters and verses was only introduced somewhere around the 12^th century.

We were not there, and in fact there was not any film crew from a reality show filming the actual accounts; in your face; let’s find out who you really are.

So how do we get a picture of Jesus personality?

Was he humorous?

Were there foods he would avoid?

Was he right or left handed?

Did he like to laugh?

Was he one to play jokes on others?

Was he all business all the time? (Some people have pictured him as such and I think that this attitude paints an untrue portrait of the Son and God and creator of all things.)

Indulge me for a moment. If God was all business all the time and he created us… why is there such a diversity of humans on this planet and why do we each have a DNA unlike anyone else?

Why are there the extreme artistic, the extreme intellects, the poets, song writers, the geniuses with IQ’s in the 200’s?

Why do we have distinct continents, oceans, weather conditions, and seasons?

We get excited, we are enthralled, we’re dumbfounded, we laugh at creation, we are amazed about the heavens, and we even get a peek at angels from time to time. What happens in our hearts and emotions and expressions are what takes place in that of our creator and his son.

Why do we have millions and millions of created things all about us if God is mundane and all business all the time?

I’m sure we have all known or worked for people who were like this… being around them was no fun at all.

Was being with Jesus as his closest followers all business or was he fun to be around?

Peter, James and John were in the inner circle of closeness with him. This shows he was approachable, loving, and enjoyed close friendship.

Our North American culture does not leave room for these types of friendship. But eastern and other cultures allow for friendship to have expression, where we are uncomfortable. We even have a problem hugging our own families.

Did Jesus show emotion? Yes, he wept and on more than one occasion.

Did he like to party and have fun? The first miracle takes place at a friends wedding and he provides additional wine, and not just any wine, but the best.

Now lots of people have tried to play this down as non alcoholic to appease their religious viewpoints. But Jesus was spoken of by the Pharisees as one who was eating and drinking with sinners. He was called a wine bibber. An old word meaning a steady drinker.

The North American church becomes offended for God, but I think God has no problem defending himself. Jesus said, “It’s not what goes in your mouth that condemns you, but what comes out.”

Noah made wine not long after the flood, and he slightly over indulged. So the thought of non alcoholic wine… come on get real… Jesus was.

At the wedding, it was tradition to dance and have fun. I’m sure he did not check out early, but joined with the others and truly celebrated. Tradition shows that this party went on for many days. A real festival of joy.

We want to segregate Jesus, protect his image, that he was so holy he was untouchable. He was simply a God man who knew within himself how to fulfill the law and the prophets. How? By loving God to the full potential and showing us that there is a way to accomplish this. He gave us the gift of life in Holy Spirit, not to become some pious stuck up proud peacock type person without any substance. We were not created to be a stick, unmoveable, unbendable, unhappy, unreasonably dressed in dark clothing and standing with our arms crossed frowning at the world. That sounds too much like communism, but yet this attitude pervades the church. They really don’t know the heart of God, they only think they know. The God i know makes me laugh and want to dance and rejoice.

Can you imagine this picture of the angels when a soul is born into the Kingdom, going to the key card section of heaven, getting out a huge dusty book and punching in another 6 or 7 digit number and with this long face saying, “Yup we got another one, but let’s not get too excited, it’s just a soul.”

No they do get excited, it is written that, “they rejoice!” and they know how to make a joyful noise.

The Kingdom of God is about joy.

When Jesus healed people, what do you think they did?

“Oh, hey thanks Jesus, have a nice day, see ya around, maybe in Jerusalem… call me dude… later.”

They jumped around, were astounded, shouted, rejoiced, praised God and got others excited, so excited that thousands of people followed him where ever he went. Does this sound like a party is going on when Jesus came to town? You betcha! They even forgot about food on a number of occasions, just to be where he was.

When people start to get this excited about your church, because Jesus is going to be there, then we know something real is happening. When food is not a priority, then we know Jesus is speaking and people are getting healed. When the crowds begin to get so big that you might have to rent a building large enough to hold them, will you get excited then? Reality is Jesus has been trying to be real with us since day one, but we painted our own portrait and we want it our way, so God said to Samuel, “They want a King to lead them, and not me, then let them have a King.” (We all know what happened to Israel after that.)

He has remained the same, whenever we push for our own way, God lets us have it.

We don’t think he is fun to be around, so we painted a picture of him with a frown and a rod of discipline in his hand.

We didn’t think he really meant that thing about unconditional love and grace, so we built a stairway of rules and regulations to warrant his favor.

We didn’t think Holy Spirit could go beyond the first century after Jesus death, so we made him lifeless and powerless, and we figured we knew how to crucify our flesh through our own doings. We liked how that sounded and we were proud of our thoughts and our words.

We didn’t understand the fruit of the Spirit thing, so we made up another set of soul influenced propaganda and letters of law.

We didn’t like the sound of the words, demons and evil spirits, so we dismissed them and put them under a rock and said, “do not disturb, they’re not real, it’s an old fairy tail.”

We didn’t want God to be himself when there were times he’d show up unexpected like and he’d have church his way. So we set times and programs, certain songs and music and preachers to fill in a specific time and said, “If you come, would you come between 10 and 12, so as not to mess with lunch, and don’t have those tongues of fire on peoples heads it’s just too scary, or those weird languages, or those prophets telling about events and stuff, just come in quiet like, no thunder or clouds filling the place, oh yes and keep the angels away, they scare us too, and that Holy laughter, just wont do, we’re upstanding and dignified you know!”

So what do you think God did? He stayed away, Holy Spirit was grieved, and the real Jesus was unwelcome. And Jesus, “ever interceding for the church, wept!”

He stands at the door and he knocks, and if any church, man, woman, child will open that door, he will come in and dine with them, have a time of fellowship with them and they with me. A two way intimate friend with friend, time in him.

The book The Song of Solomon is a book defining the passionate heart of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ… (that be us.) It paints a portrait of the Spirit behind who God is. The Psalms of David portray the heart of a man chasing, pursuing, and desiring all that the entirety of God is and God saying of David, “A man after my own heart.”

We don’t want to believe that Jesus has a real face… that the Father has real outstanding passion and love for us… that Holy Spirit can bring us into this relationship of being in the vine, connected, life flowing in the Spirit, not to our flesh man but to our spirit man, and to our hearts. Out of which will then flow a river of living water from the throne of God and touch the nations. How? Through us!

This is the reality of Jesus, the God man who came demonstrating with everything that was within him the unconditional love of God. “That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, giving us a gift that came from the heart of the Father, for, He so loved the world, us, that he gave… Jesus and Jesus gave… Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit in us gives us to the world.”

Us, as we are, beautiful unique individuals of every race, color, creed, culture, size, educated and non, that we might be Jesus to others.

Now that’s getting the real picture of Jesus.

So what does his face look like today?

Go right now and look in the mirror and you will see him!