Did Jesus brush his teeth? [Religion]

        We usually see Jesus pictured on the cross with a cloth around his personal area. I don’t know why it never occurred to me until it was mentioned in passing during a sermon that Jesus was completely naked on the cross when he was crucified. I just never thought about it.

        Jesus’ humiliation was complete in addition to the pain he endured. He is covered in pictures out of prudery I suppose. Believers don’t want to visualize him naked. But it’s real. It’s accurate. It’s honest. Yet a picture of Jesus naked would be controversial even though we have seen every other aspect of his death portrayed vividly. I do think that it’s important to understand it.

        We don’t often think about what Jesus did in his earthbound body. I mean a lot of his day to day activities probably consisted of doing similar things the rest of us do. There are just some kinds of bodily functions that can’t be skipped. I’m not trying to be graphic. The point is that we often don’t think of the more basic or mundane aspects of life in regards to the time he was here on earth. He slept. He ate. He drank. He learned a trade. He helped out his mom and dad. The majority of Jesus’ time spent here on earth was just being like those around him.

        Setting aside the religious aspect the smallest history of the man named Jesus made it down through the ages. Odd that. What we know about Jesus is hearsay based upon a tiny snapshot of everything that he was and did. We only have bits and pieces of conversations out of all the millions of words that he surely spoke in his life. The most of what we don’t know about is that for a big part of his time here on earth he didn’t stand out in a crowd or we would have heard more about it. He just wasn’t on the historical radar for a large portion of the time. We fill in all the space in between the words that we do have through myriad translations with what he probably meant or would have said about subjects not specifically covered. In some cases context of the times is applied and at other times not.

        Jesus speaks in 15 verses in the bible. 193 words. (KJV) That’s it, give or take a few words. What 193 words would you choose to have as your record here on earth? What would your life story say?

        The claim is that the important essential thoughts made it through. Then wouldn’t that mean that most of what Jesus said wasn’t important? Well, that can’t be true. Besides, it just wasn’t up to us. In reality most of what we know is what we don’t know.

        In idealizing him have we made him unrecognizable? He wasn’t ethereal in his physical body. Jesus the man was human. I think that we skip a lot of the Jesus was a man part or at least don’t spend much time dwelling on it. Why is that? Is it totally unimportant? Is there fear that humanizing the man Jesus would de-deify him, make him less approachable? The life stories of Jesus tell us that he was completely approachable to the poor, the afflicted, working people, the masses.

        While I am not a literalist when it comes to the bible it seems apparent to me that Jesus had emotions. We know that he got frustrated, could be angry. Could he joke around or was he always Mister, “Our father in heaven and he is me said…”? Were there times when he just walked out of a morning and thought, “It smells like it could rain today” or did he already know what the weather would be? Did he tap his foot when a catchy tune of the time was playing?

        Did Jesus have “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” over the backyard fence kind of conversations that didn’t make it to the final book version? It wouldn’t have made for powerful reading but I kind of think it would have helped provide context and color. If we can accept that he was capable of simply saying “Hi” to someone without it having any deep philosophical meaning then some other things kind of fall into place. In other words he was capable of just having everyday types of conversations. Have we taken comments made in passing and made them gospel?

        We have a sense of humor. It seems like that should be for a reason if our design is indeed intelligent. So if Jesus saw someone in one of those silly pratfall slapstick incidents that have gone on throughout man’s existence do you reckon that he would chuckle at the humor? If he talked about someone having a plank in their eye was he joking or was he being sarcastic? If he could be sarcastic we have some serious problems.

        What about his early years? He didn’t start doing miracles until his later years. A toddler performing miracles surely would have made it into the good book. As a child did he play? I like to think so and we don’t know otherwise. Did Mary and Joseph have to sit him down and explain to him who he was or was he born self-aware?

        There was certainly literal and figurative ritual cleansing during Jesus’ time. But how about day to day personal cleansing? Those weren’t times that were real conducive to maintaining good personal hygiene. People smelled and had to have extremely bad breath. On a day to get through the day basis these were not the sweetest smelling people and frankly somebody not smelling or having bad breath would have stood out.

        We can say beyond any doubt that people in Jesus’ time got cavities and were missing teeth at an early age. Did Jesus? Smiling with a few front teeth missing wouldn’t have been noticed. But having a full set of chompers!? It would have been mentioned and noted if he had the glowing white teeth that are becoming so popular today. Granted it wouldn’t have been a miracle on the scale of turning water into wine but it certainly would have qualified as a minor miracle. That’s the kind of stuff that gets written down. “Sure he can raise the dead but did you see those teeth!”         

        If Jesus didn’t brush his teeth then he had bad breath. Would a disciple offer him the equivalent of a tic-tac before he went into a crowd to speak? “Here Jesus, how about a nice mint leaf to chew on before you talk?” Would that make any difference? What if bad breath, body odor, terrible table manners and image aren’t all that important to God? If he showed up for dinner would people tell him to wash those hands and brush those teeth first? I don’t think so.

        Religion market share is about numbers. In the world of business who has the best number is the one that wins. Would a god that doesn’t brush his teeth be less believable than one that does? Or would a god that brushes his teeth be one that we can more readily identify with? Whose picture would be the most marketable today?

        Would the Jesus of his time be welcome in our homes today? Would we let him through the door, or turn him away because of his looks or hygiene? Would he return or check up on us as a contemporary man? The kind of man that would blend in with the crowd?

        It is the actions reported not the word for word dialogue of Jesus that inspire as well as the message. I’m talking about the barest of scraps of all the parts that were Jesus. The message of unconditional love survived regardless of the specific words. Some things, like love and faith, you have to feel and believe with your heart. Falling in love is more than a physical response; more than hormones. It’s knowing. Faith is or can be the same way. Believing can also be a matter of intellect, an intellectual acceptance derived from a variety of disciplines. Faith can be an experience.

        My belief and faith falls into the experience category. My two deepest connections and communications came during a time when I was unchurched and though still a believer I was not engaged with any of the trappings of the faith including regular study. While I am comfortable with my beliefs I do believe that it’s important to study the bible and be inquisitive. It’s our nature as human beings.

        There are some things that we need to start accepting as Christians. What we are proposing for others to accept does sound a little cray cray if you strip away the religious covering. We have to be open to challenging thoughts and questions. Mostly we need to live in a way that would be considered desirable to others. There has to be a reason for people to change behavior. Jesus lived real and did good. He loved and told people to love. (We’re talking spiritual love not the act.) He taught acceptance.

        Accepting that there was a real person named Jesus can be the first step of a journey. Just leave out the God stuff. Who was he? What did he stand for? What did he believe? Can his ideas help me? Can I be a better person? Ask questions of yourself. Are you happy? Do you feel empty? Is there more than this physical world? Do you always have this feeling like an itch that you can’t scratch? Do you feel fulfilled? Is life just something that happens to you? Would you like to know joy? Would like to not be alone? Perhaps a figment of the imagination can be a help to you. Perhaps a very real Jesus beyond just the concept of Jesus can be with you.

        We have what we have. We just have to make the best of what there is before us. That’s what we have to work with. The evidence before us is that his “message” of love from the past did make it through a couple of thousand years. There is the message that there was Jesus. Just that means a lot and speaks volumes about his few written words.