WHO AM I ? …. a person can not be distilled into the characteristics and fact or even titles that they may have.. every person, not least of which Jesus himself, is mystery and encounter…. Jesus must be encountered as a person before one can understand him as a figure of doctrine and belief… //
In fact surely one of the most common things humans do to each other and it may be the most unfair thing we can do.. it try to reduce people to categories and file them into neat boxes so that we can understand them… // TO ‘LABEL’ ANOTHER PERSON //
Whilst that may sometimes be helpful for practicality.. it actually is a reducing of the mystery and complexity of a person to clichés and stereotypes… // which can replace dealing with the real person in favour of labels and generalizations and assumptions about a person that are pale shadows of who they really are…..
EACH person MUST DISCOVER the meaning and nature of Jesus themselves….// There is no substitute for personally encountering Jesus as Christ in the scriptures and in our daily lives… // its not enough to obtain merely the PRE-packaged doctrines about Jesus… although that is not to say those doctrines don’t tell us much about Jesus and his mission.. // but Jesus is much more than the things we say about him…Ultimately Jesus is about encountering God (and that encounter with God occurs in relationship and not merely an intellectual exercise)… encountering Christ and his good news in our lives… in the people we meet and ourselves… and our life story…
Perhaps the second reading holds the Key.. in it Saint Paul reminds us that, although there is much we can and need to know and search for in relation to our understanding of Jesus and God in general… nevertheless.. ultimately God is much more than we could ever comprehend… God has some aspects that are knowable but others.. that are beyond our human comprehension….are not// But actually … that applies to any human being… the person sitting next to you… even if you know them very well… ultimately they are (still) a mystery….// They cannot be reduced to a list of facts about them.. they are much much more than the sum of their characteristics and traits…../ or past ways of relating and behaving// we are mystery.. and God is infinite mystery…// ultimately… its not as much about knowing and more about engaging in the mystery…..// , jumping into the deep…./ and ongoing prayer, reflection, dialogue and discussion… and of course, encounter….in the unfolding events of each day…..
Christ reminds us, it’s all really about relationship… more than categorization and definitions. relationship with God… relationship with each other.. relationship with who we are ourselves.. it is an ongoing.. never ending journey…
// each one of us is called upon to reflect personally on jesus question…. “But you….. who do YOU say I am……”
I suppose it should come as no shock… that (personally speaking)…. jesus… means everything to me….. Not only do I really, admire him as a person…. I like the message of inclusion, forgiveness, and welcome that jesus comes to give all people…… I like the way he put people first and God’s law was always put in its proper persepective as a lifegiving source for the benefit and help of humans… not as a millstone around the neck…… I love the fact that jesus is God … become human….. which makes humanity.. and the physical world… blessed, holy… sacred…… // I am in awe of the fact that Jesus is so protective of his children… that he says…. I regard what you do to even the least of these… it as as if you are doing it to me personally……. he throws over each of us… especially the most poor and forgotten…. a cloak of protection, care and inclusion that is beyond comprehension……… Jesus, to me is the ultimate revelation of not only what God is like.,… but how God acts towards us… and what God feels towards each of us…. and that is very good news…
I not only worship jesus as God the son, and messiah.,.but also admire him and like him as he is a friend and mentor // I can’t get enough of the still fresh and challenging message that is to be found in his words, parables and actions… in the new testament… I believe (like Peter) we haven’t even begun to comprehend the radicality of his message…… and we are only just starting to apply it in our lives….
No comments:
Post a Comment