God is such a writer isn’t he? The Bible is one of the most studied pieces of literature in the world. But have you seen him like that before? Have you ever experienced that side of his character as this crafty writer who enjoys a good story?
Jesus was a storyteller. I bet the disciples learned a lot from him about how to tell a good story. My brother Mac has this innate gift to hold an audience captive with his stories. He could be talking about tying a shoe but you’re hanging on every word because he just knows how to do it well. He has great timing and even if you know the punch line that is coming you’re still enthralled. I imagine Jesus was something like that with his story telling. I imagine that the disciples, even after they had heard the parables several times were still waiting in eager expectation for the conclusions. How would he explain it this time? I bet they still asked questions and were fully engaged, hanging on every word.
I love the disciples. Can you picture them all hanging around together after the ascension talking about Jesus and trying to tell some of his stories and parables the way he did? Trying to capture his gestures and get the timing down? I love imagining the disciples like that. Like the real people they were and not “Bible people” with haloes walking around in clean bathrobes.
Since being so dirty living in my mud hut last month I’ve been thinking about how dirty life was back with Jesus was around in the flesh. (I almost wrote when Jesus was alive but I preached a sermon about how Jesus is still alive so I quickly edited my diction there. Jesus is still alive. And I am beginning to see how little things like that word choice matter. Kingdom is so funny how the big things are little and the little things are big. It is all about out heart. It is ALL about our hearts). So Jesus was dirty all the time and stinky and not that incredibly good-looking. He just blended in physically with his people and that brings joy to my heart more than that phrase we use as Christians all the time “he took on flesh” because what does that really mean anyway? It means he had mad BO in the afternoon heat and probably pooped in a squatty potty like they do here in Africa. I get a good chuckle out of that sometimes when we all get too serious and forget Jesus was real. Sometimes I get frustrated and I just want to escape words and live in images and interact with Jesus beyond words and concepts and all the little chunks of information that my brain needs to process. I want to embrace Him in the fullness of all that he is- divinity wrapped in this frail human skin. God that still got bruised and felt deeply and even wept for his people. How are we supposed to get that? How do we absorb that fully? I find solace in meditating on the humanity of my God and knowing that not only does he care about every detail but he has lived it all before me. Jesus has come. He is here. He will come again.
