Monday, March 3, 2008

Jesus was human, and I am human

So I just commented on another blog about this and thought, "Hey, I'll blog about that as well." The author of the blog was basically differentiating between Jesus' first 30 years of ministry (the carpenter times) and his last three (the Messianic outpouring.) This was a small part of his blog but really resounded in my thinking. The question that arose was this: Does Jesus' first 30 years as a man have more relevance to us as humans than his last three. The answer is yes...I mean no...I mean both. We have to be honest that those last three were fairly documented and I would not want to be the one to say that the words and teachings of God incarnate are not important. However, looking at the practicality of his earthly ministry, he seems to offer some simple practices.
1. Get a job - You have to support yourself and have some kind of identifying factor in you community.
2. Know your neighbors - People knew Jesus when he came back home, for good or for worse.
3. Be a part of your community - This is a lot like the last point with the exception that it takes the point of knowing your neighbors a step further to where you create an atmosphere that they can know you.

I think I would like to dig up some scripture on this when I have time, but till then, I have to confess to being rather convicted. Jesus says love your neighbor like it is so easy. I think it is because he knew his neighbor first. I have so much room to grow.

3 comments:

Tim said...

Josh, very cool blog. Tim and I were having coffee a couple days ago (at starbucks I admit a little sheepishly, but hey, there's nowhere that offers the Klatch around here), and we saw someone who, from the back of his head, looked Totally like you! It was freaky. I miss ya dude! I hope CBB is going well for you. You can check our blog for updates on our life too. Say hi to your wonderful Rebecca for me.
Maija

sbradfordlong said...

good thoughts, bro. I especially find the last few sentences most intriguing.

I think we have kind of missed Jesus's humanity. One of the things that keeps me from going insane in trying to communicate and understand God is Christ - he is such a relatable God and representation of the father.

Unknown said...

You know, this ties into what I'm researching for a paper on body theology. We often forget, or like to de-emphasize, the fact that Jesus actually took on flesh. He had a body, a fleshy one just like ours, and it was through that body that he bought our redemption. I think we have a tendency to get a little Gnostic. It's important to realize the goodness of the flesh and its role in our spiritual experiences of God.