Not Jesus the Son of God but straight up Jesus the man. If he were only a man, I would still give my life for him.
Careful about that guy preaching
Sometimes we should, back off from the source and just accept the good teaching.
Jesus the man of integrity. So Jesus was the Son of God we say. But Jesus was also a man. Just think about being in his earthly presence.
A man stands and preaches. Oh just another one we say. But do you have any idea what it takes to pronounce personal beliefs to others. Heroes, that is what they are. Of course we have no shortage of them here in hubpages. Christ had no earthly authority, but He spoke loud and proud and did us all right. He just kept preaching, until the crucified him to shut him up.
Today’s gospel reading and therefore the sermon is all about John 60-69. It kind of finishes up on the concept of bread and wine. It is almost depressing as followers leave Christ and go back to the lives they had before. The Christian dogma aspect is pretty heavy. But I write today about a man. Jesus was an extraordinary man.
There are folks that just love to read, Faulkner or Hemmingway or Clancy or Rice or whatever author have you. I can dig it. But my favorite author did not write a word. Others wrote it for him. Probably the same for Plato and Socrates and Buddha.
For both Christians and non Christians Jesus is worth the read. Now for Christians they need to put aside the God concept for while and just read it for content and treasure it. Now for non-Christians they need to put aside the God concept for a while and just read it for content and treasure it.
This guy just rocks
When it is easy, well it is easy. When it is hard, what do we do?
In the reading today, Jesus just throws down on everybody. Almost intentionally challenging them to follow not just Him but a construct of a difference between body and spirit. He has used gross sounding metaphors and parables. It is as though He is culling or thinning the herd.
You may think this is not all that important, but it is. A man or woman must stand for something or they will fall for anything. Jesus is standing tall and drawing a moral line in the sand. Do we stick by our convictions or do we leave when the going gets tough? Do we hang out for free bread and then desert the place when a commitment is called for?
Jesus makes me uncomfortable here. Too, far too often I have walked away for the safety and security of not rocking the boat. Jesus has me in his crosshairs with a clean shot at my lack of faith in what I believe in. Atheist, Buddhist, Muslim and so many more accept the religious activities as a way of avoiding their own issues. Issues worthy of conquering.
Asian Christians close to us called this little boy "baby buddha"
The choice is yours
My Love for all people does not get to be hippy dippy peace and love all the time. I have skills and advantage that others, less fortunate do not have. I have a moral social obligation to stand up against what is wrong. Jesus here is not telling us about all the beauty and wonderment in the world, he is telling us of our own myopic vision and our self fulfilling prophecy of failure. He is trying to get us to be introspective and defeat our own shallow material views.
Jesus is a great teacher.
Good is in you. God is Good. You are Good. God is in you!
I am really blessed.
For me it is just a blast getting up in the morning. I have bad days and I think bad thoughts. And I got mean and nasty moods. I do not share them all with my wife, good friends or adult children or old adult siblings.
But I share them with a guy who is kind of dirty by today standards. Pretty much homeless. And does not work but roams around like a vagabond. I am sure he has had a job. I am sure he was raised by loving folk. He sure is smart.
But we just love each other. And I share everything with this guy. Sometimes people make life so complicated but friendship really is not. We share. We trust and we console and advise. And for sure we assure each other that we love each other and are cheering for each other to do well.