My Jesus

I sit down sometimes and ponder on Jesus and what he is really like.
Is he black because Revelations says his feet are like brass or is he white because all the movies depict him that way? Or is he Hispanic or really (SERIOUSLY) does he look like Osama Bin Laden because he was from the Middle East?

(I'm sure many have not thought about that before!)

Would his temperament have been sanguine or would he have been a hot-blooded choleric? Did he turn water to wine just for the wedding bash - or did he enjoy a Jewish cocktail every now and then?
(I have NOT yet been privileged to stumble on a non-alcoholic Jewish wine. So, MAYBE, just MAYBE the wine Jesus 'created' had the label 'שתה באחריות' - which is translated in English as "Drink Responsibly" – that’s what the online translator came up with anyway.

Truth is, I don't know - and while those who are zealots will want to fight and talk about what Jesus is not (like they strolled through the streets of Jerusalem with him chewing on a kebab and dates), no one really knows.

He displayed many human emotions, love, fear, happiness, anger, sadness

And yet he was God in a human stocking.

At the end of the day, Jesus becomes who we think he is. We basically project on him our desires, the things we have learnt about him from people around us, from denominations, from the public, from the news, from the media, from parents…and so on.

However, study has led me to see “information”, "news" and "facts" in a new light. Many times, the news and media is controlled by people who decide what the public sees. The people who watch the news and listen on their radios then make decisions based on the pool of selective information they have been 'primed' to receive. This is the same way scribes and historians would write about events around them, but many times, would favour a ruler or a point of view, and would sometimes edit out significant events.
The sad fact is that many times, nothing is further from the truth than 'truths', that "news" has been set up to be received in a particular way - or to evoke a particular response.

The same applies to the Christ.


We see him as the effeminate man on the posters, the confused martyr on stained glass windows, constantly looking depressed as though thinking “Wow, how many times do I have to mount that cross?”
Or we see a gay version of him dancing down the street on a Youtube video singing "I will survive" - and it goes on and on.


At this point, I have to relate a story. I am not sure if it was a dream or a vision, but a fellow Christian was allowed to ‘peep into the esoteric’.

He saw a gathering like a regular denomination with people doing all the norms: the singing, the dancing, the chanting, the praying, the raised hands, the crying... and many more interesting things we tend to do in "houses of God".
Note: Let the reader understand that the Christian/Disciple is the House of God, not any denomination.

Now, in the vision/dream/what he was seeing, there was a man seated at the back, alone and away from "the action". Well, the fellow who was seeing this unfold wondered who the man was and walked up to an usher in the vision.
Man: Who is that lonely man in the back row way from the attention and the interesting stuff that is going on in this "house of God"
Usher (with a bewildered look on his face): Are you kidding me, mate? How can you not know who that is? That is Jesus Christ, DUDE!

I think a lot about this analogy, and in my constant search and quest to know God, it reminds me of key facts.
First, the search for God and his truth is an individual quest. No one has seen God and those who may have glimpsed into the eternal have only seen a sliver of a larger picture - a sliver that was meant for them alone. Taking that sliver as doctrine or dogma leads to error - and a great many have toed this line.
Secondly, just like relationships break down because an individual assumes his/her partner will have the same likes and dislikes, there is only one way to learn to SEE Christ and to PLEASE Christ - learn of Him FROM Him.

The corporate expression is alright, but when it starts to lead to the death of the individual walk with God, it starts to become an addictive disease. Its symptoms are the clock-like preparations for a Sunday Service with no thought of God during the week or life’s dealings, feelings of guilt at missing a service/’fellowship’ meeting - when godless actions do no evoke the same emotions.

So what is my version of Jesus? Who is My Jesus? I have seen he is meek, humble, and easy to talk to. I also notice that while he hates evil he is not overbearing and like he never did in the whole of Scripture, he doesn’t try to choke the Talmud down my throat – and he applies the same thing to the KJV. I don’t understand him a lot of the time and he still makes me angry because I think he should be watching my back with regards to things I find important – but I am slowly learning to trust him and that he has a way of working things out at the end. I have found out he is very strong, tough, extremely decisive and is not the pussycat of Judah. In fact, he embarrasses the expression, Lion King.

In my life, My Jesus allows for a lot of drama, things happening just in the nick of time – sometimes, drama I’d rather do without! And, he gives me songs in the night, inspiration in the morning, balance for my madness, and a light in my frequent depression.
But that’s not all.

However, I don’t know the other facets at the moment and I am content to keep exploring.
But, that’s enough for now. I’m off to ‘trouble’ my wife in the kitchen (devil grin) and I know, for sure, Jesus will be watching.

My Jesus…