Who Jesus Was

So I am always wondering what is going through the minds of people when they ask "what would Jesus do?" I wonder this, because it often leads to the conclusion that you could be polite or compassionate or just down right "nice."  But our Prince of Peace didn't always come with peace.

In our attempt to make Jesus personable or at the very least better understood, we have fallen into the trap of reducing Jesus to one perspective; just as we have reduced God to this white-haired, old white man sitting above ruling from a throne.  We have pigeon hold our faith into these neat packages because they are easier to remember, easier to teach and most of all much easier to follow.  It is harder to be a follower of Christ if we admit all the levels to Jesus - it is easy to remember the miracles of healing and leave out the confrontations with the religious rulers of the time.  It is easy to ask "what would Jesus do?" if we are  only thinking of the Jesus who scolded those who wanted to stone the sinful women or who healed the sick or who preached to those who were "blessed" but it is difficult to come up with "what would Jesus do?" if you think of the whole scope of Jesus - if you remember the Jesus who trashed the temple angry with the merchants who were using the temple rules and laws to their advantage and taking advantage of those traveling great distance.  What if we remember the Jesus who called out those who were acting on their own will instead of listening God's will.

So instead of asking what would Jesus do?  We should take a greater look at who Jesus was and the scope of his ministry.  We should realize that in many cases following the crowd or keeping status qou in order to keep the peace is not at all what Jesus' message is.  Jesus calls out the church leaders, Jesus calls out those who are sinful and not looking for change.  Jesus is the Son of God and with that comes the infinite vastness that should never be pigeon holed.

the Spirit

In ancient worship spaces, especially popular during the medieval times, there were openings or "holes" in the roofs.  I had for some reason always assumed that this had to do with the fact that fires which were burnt for heat / cooking needed someplace to escape since they didn't have shoots or vents.  I was surprised when I learned that they were purposely put there for two theologically reasons as well:
1. As a reminder that we are selves always need to be open to the God
2. On Pentecost they would release birds (doves) which would fly out of the holes

Now I would believe you if  you argued that the holes were there for the smoke and then the theologically significance was later picked up.  But which ever, it is an amazing symbol.  Not only do we always need to be open to the Spirit of God working in and around us but we also need to be able to trust God enough to let our Spirits free to accomplish God's work - to fly free from the spaces of worship to work within the world.

WOW - that is kind of a lot to take in and in many ways this is a much more Spiritual line of thinking - but there it is right from our own theology and from God.

 We are reminded in Romans 8 that:
²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ²⁷And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Even when we don't have words for our prays - the Spirit does the work.  Even when we aren't sure what to do next, if we trust the Spirit, God will show us the way.  And more importantly if we let our Spirits free to soar to the heights that God wishes we just might do much more good in this world that we can do on our own or following our own wills.

So this Pentecost let us embrace the Spirits that want to be like a fire burning deep within us; stirring us to release God's will and let it soar!