John 7:37-46
We all know that Jesus would sometimes go off to pray alone. I think the 40 days in the dessert was an extreme example. Jesus' life is a guide for us and I always encourage people to set aside some legitimate quiet time for themselves. We need time to reflect, time for self assessment and time to speak with our creator or to simply listen. All of this is not very worldly, not really about material things.
But we all like our night out on the town, the good meal, time with friends, good love and yes, perhaps even some good sex. Is this going against Jesus' message? I don't think so. Jesus was fully human like us and as such lived in a material world. Jesus experienced all we experience and while he did set time aside to pray for sure, he also enjoyed life for sure. Jesus also drew most of his parables from his lived life and observations. In fact, Jesus quite often railed against the very strictures religion put on material things. Jesus seems very judgemental of what religion said about some pointed material things.
Let's look at Jesus' firs reported miracle, the water into wine, and fine wine it was if scripture holds true. How much more earthy and material can one be than to indulge in 'spirits' at a wedding? This is no Bible Belt temperance leader. Jesus made wine and I assume for drinking. Very worldly, very material ( the "best wine" ).
When you look at the people Jesus associated with, the hemorrhaging woman, the leper, the marginalized, the lame, the sick, the poor, the sinners, all looked down on by the religious of the day but Jesus dove right in. At the risk of being labelled a sinful person himself he delved into the most very human of situations, sick and sinners all. Not very ascetic but perhaps prayerful in a different way.
When I think of Jesus and his humanity, I cannot help but think about the people he loved as well. We have the disciples of course but also people he was friends with, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Did not Jesus weep when he was told Lazaraus was dead? Is this a detached response or a deeply personal human and earthly response. Perhaps even more so, what of "the disciple whom Jesus loved"? This speaks of a deep emotional attachment if not more. Was not the "beloved disciple" laying his head on Jesus' chest at the last supper? This does not preclude Jesus' spirituality and his need for 'time away' but it speaks of his humanity, his foundation in his real and true humanity. Jesus did not speak from the theoretical. Jesus was both spiritual, the holiest of course, but also very material, very human.
So many religions and churches, even today, speak against the material, against sex, against living a passionate life. Passionate living was all about Jesus and Jesus quite often took to task those that tried to vilify human action, human love and human thoughts. No more. They say that money is the rot of all eveil but that is not true. The love of money is the root of all evil. I think Jesus would be one of the first to enjoy money, enjoy eating, drinking, maybe even loving a person in a most intimate of ways, whether that involves sex or not. Who knows.
As much as we are called to completeness in our creator, we are here to live a fully human lives as God created us with the material things we have been graced with. So long as we respect everything and everyone, so long as we are free to love and be loved and as long as we do not let anything own us, we are doing quite well I think. I think Jesus would approve and it is His life that we should emulate.
We all know that Jesus would sometimes go off to pray alone. I think the 40 days in the dessert was an extreme example. Jesus' life is a guide for us and I always encourage people to set aside some legitimate quiet time for themselves. We need time to reflect, time for self assessment and time to speak with our creator or to simply listen. All of this is not very worldly, not really about material things.
But we all like our night out on the town, the good meal, time with friends, good love and yes, perhaps even some good sex. Is this going against Jesus' message? I don't think so. Jesus was fully human like us and as such lived in a material world. Jesus experienced all we experience and while he did set time aside to pray for sure, he also enjoyed life for sure. Jesus also drew most of his parables from his lived life and observations. In fact, Jesus quite often railed against the very strictures religion put on material things. Jesus seems very judgemental of what religion said about some pointed material things.
Let's look at Jesus' firs reported miracle, the water into wine, and fine wine it was if scripture holds true. How much more earthy and material can one be than to indulge in 'spirits' at a wedding? This is no Bible Belt temperance leader. Jesus made wine and I assume for drinking. Very worldly, very material ( the "best wine" ).
When you look at the people Jesus associated with, the hemorrhaging woman, the leper, the marginalized, the lame, the sick, the poor, the sinners, all looked down on by the religious of the day but Jesus dove right in. At the risk of being labelled a sinful person himself he delved into the most very human of situations, sick and sinners all. Not very ascetic but perhaps prayerful in a different way.
When I think of Jesus and his humanity, I cannot help but think about the people he loved as well. We have the disciples of course but also people he was friends with, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Did not Jesus weep when he was told Lazaraus was dead? Is this a detached response or a deeply personal human and earthly response. Perhaps even more so, what of "the disciple whom Jesus loved"? This speaks of a deep emotional attachment if not more. Was not the "beloved disciple" laying his head on Jesus' chest at the last supper? This does not preclude Jesus' spirituality and his need for 'time away' but it speaks of his humanity, his foundation in his real and true humanity. Jesus did not speak from the theoretical. Jesus was both spiritual, the holiest of course, but also very material, very human.
So many religions and churches, even today, speak against the material, against sex, against living a passionate life. Passionate living was all about Jesus and Jesus quite often took to task those that tried to vilify human action, human love and human thoughts. No more. They say that money is the rot of all eveil but that is not true. The love of money is the root of all evil. I think Jesus would be one of the first to enjoy money, enjoy eating, drinking, maybe even loving a person in a most intimate of ways, whether that involves sex or not. Who knows.
As much as we are called to completeness in our creator, we are here to live a fully human lives as God created us with the material things we have been graced with. So long as we respect everything and everyone, so long as we are free to love and be loved and as long as we do not let anything own us, we are doing quite well I think. I think Jesus would approve and it is His life that we should emulate.
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’
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