someone brings a friend to meet Jesus
before an introduction can be made, Jesus remarks " look at this - a real Jew!, a man with no deceitfulness in him .. "
something about Nathanael struck Jesus before they ever shared a sentence
and it was significant enough for Jesus to exclaim
notable enough for it to be recorded
for us to read
in 2016
..
Jesus was impressed with Nathanael's genuinity
he could read him from a mile off, see right through him
don't think " well of course, he's God "
rather, consider the quality in this man that attracted Jesus' attention and comment
kinda like .. like recognizes like
Jesus saw something of himself in Nathanael
Jesus saw something of Nathanael in himself
and the recognition was apparently refreshing .. remark-able ..
..
maybe Jesus was saying
" this is the mark of a true Jew "
or maybe he was reflecting on this sadly uncommon trait among Jews, his own people
here was Jesus, Godperson become human, understanding the reality of who humans are, of human nature (John 2.25), marking Natahnael's authentic self, his realness - like what you see is what you get with this guy ..
and Jesus was impressed ..
integrity
no deceit
guileless
real
..
when Jesus says something like this
you get out your pen
it's underlineable, starable, highlightable
..
i've made this a favorite verse since like forever
it jumps off the page
nails me
as in bullseye ..
..
i finally landed in the place where i understood the gravity of being myself
such that i am who i am whenever and wherever with whoever
( i learned some of the significance of this from a dear friend, who became a model,
a mentor to me in this area .. sadly, only after his passing .. my bad )
'cause the other side of that being is pretense
put-on
masking
hypocrite (from Greek 'hypokrites'='actor')
trying to impress
'course understanding and doing land in different courts
and i fail regularly
desperately so
.. nevertheless i try again
to be genuine
eschewing games
running like hell from pretense
burning the masks
and then reburning them when they despairingly reappear ..
like i can't believe they came back from the pyre
where i burned them last time
to hustle me back into my dungeon
where i apply the already-blooded whip to my own backside again
`|`
last evening a friend and i talked
we spoke of the danger of being genuine
.. really
and it wasn't me that initiated that dicussion ..
but i totally enjoyed it
because i saw my friend stepping on to a path i've been on
and it gave me hope
hope for him
and for me, 'cause maybe there are others out there
and that's big, 'cause maybe i'm not a fool after all
or simply antagonistic
or antisocial
or hateful
..
being an ordained pastor, my friend spoke from educated experience in the church as a leader ..
he was questioning whether the people could accept that genuine in a leader
or whether there had to be some dumbing-down in order not to come across offensive
.. and that is a huge sign that my friend is really working through this
his considering the effect on others of his strive to be real
whether it was fair to others who hardly see the real in this life
whether it would scare them off ..
.. and while that may sound strange
it actually is a very real consideration
'cause people get offended by it
.. absolutely
`|`
thank God for my friend's foray
into the core of christian
hear that ..
for it's my understanding of things God
that the issue with us humans is being genuinely human
human the way God intended
human according to Jesus the Man
.. HUGE
if God wanted to tell us more stuff, there would be more scripture, more prophets ..
more writing on the wall a la Daniel
or on stones a la Moses
or maybe God would write it in the clouds
or appear on international tele
or speak through the mouth of an ass a la Balaam
or one of us asses ..
the fact that ' in these recent days God has spoken to us by a son .. through whom God created the worlds ' (Heb 1) is a grand statement of the purpose of God's speaking
the apostle John refers to this Son-who-appeared as the Word
this was God expressing Godself in the clearest possible way
as human
to us humans
so we could recognize the God that is there
the God in whose image we are created
so we could say " Aha! "
as in " Wow! this is God?! but .. he's quite like me .. "
and then we could diss the other weird convoluted visions of a god made like unto our debased cruel imaginings
and embrace the True Way, the Life
the person that is Jesus
who leads inexorably to God
right into the presence of Godself
who has chosen to live among us
and to live in us
..
what an amazing thing!
that my friend is Good News
wonderful almost beyond words
the best news ever ..
it bursts with delight on the senses
in every direction
across all boundaries
traversing the seas
shouting from the mountain peaks
in every language
to every creature under the light of the sun ..
the Son is come!
and he is quite like me ..
astonishingly .. like me
.. and ..
i am like him somehow
`|`
there must have been something 'holy' about Nethanael
(think 'whole', 'integrated')
that set him apart from the rest ..
whatever that was
i want it
i want the i am that i am
to be for realand i want who Jesus is
to be me
for real ..
authentic
genuine
integrous
real
imagine if Jesus had been anything other than genuine .. .
..
let's be Jesus
for Jesus' sake
peace to you
No comments:
Post a Comment