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.