THANK GOD FOR JESUS!
"Thank God for Jesus!" an elderly black woman used to exclaim when she got happy in church, and, quite often, even when she was outside church! Jesus made her happy!
Jesus Christ makes me happy! Happy enough to make one who "knows him" to exclaim, to shout, rejoice at the sound of his name!
As we approach Yuletide season , Christmas , with its songs, carols, decorations , gifts, presents, bows, shopping, happiness, good cheer, high hopes, stories, fables, cards, pageants, feasts , family festivities, I am moved to say that if there was no actual, historical, savior "Jesus Christ," as certain authorities claim, there is, now, one fitting substitute!
Jesus was clearly supernatural! too amazing to be, even from the start. To have been prophesied; to have been born to a virgin who remained virginal after his birth; to have been inseminated by the Holy Spirit, not by male sperm; whose birth was heralded by angels; birth place was located by stars; one to whom wise men traveled from the East bearing gifts of oil, spices, silver, gold, incense, to anoint this baby, the new-born king of mankind; which glorious birth announcement had so frightened Rome's King Herod, of Idumea, he slaughtered untold multitudes of baby boys below age two to prevent Jesus' maturation.
Yes, supernatural was Jesus Christ, is Jesus Christ! Yet he is still just like normal, everyday men. He grew. He ate, drank, slept, wept. He walked, talked, debated, taught, gathered disciples, followers, including "many women" along the way: Mary, Martha, woman at the well, Mary Magdalen, many women!
Like other men in history, Jesus, too, was betrayed, arrested , tried, wrongly convicted, crucified, died.
Nevertheless, he also rose from the grave and sat at the right hand of God the Father, maker of heaven and earth. Before ascending to heaven he reappeared among men to reassure them that he is and was and ever shall be an "ensign on a hill " to which all who are troubled, oppressed, weary , worn may repair for hope, restoration, sustenance.
This was the Jesus Christ that the "Thank God for Jesus!" elderly woman knew, that my own mother knew, that her mother knew, and grandmothers knew; that my father knew, that his father knew, and all mothers and fathers knew, going back, stretching all the way back, until the horizon of understanding blends, merges, into the darkness of ignorance. Jesus Christ of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Egypt, Calvary, Earth and Heaven is and was the one who has been with primordial mothers under a host of names, in a host of places in time and space on earth. Whether in sickness and in health, life and death, trials, tribulations, tragedy , challenges, and triumphs, joys, happiness, abundance, plenty! "Thank God for Jesus!" I also say!
Sunday, December 9, 2018
THANK GOD FOR JESUS!
THANK GOD FOR JESUS!
"Thank God for Jesus!" an elderly black woman used to exclaim when she got happy in church, and, quite often, even when she was outside church! Jesus made her happy!
Jesus Christ makes me happy! Happy enough to make one who "knows him" to exclaim, to shout, rejoice at the sound of his name!
As we approach Yuletide season , Christmas , with its songs, carols, decorations , gifts, presents, bows, shopping, happiness, good cheer, high hopes, stories, fables, cards, pageants, feasts , family festivities, I am moved to say that if there was no actual, historical, savior "Jesus Christ," as certain authorities claim, there is, now, one fitting substitute!
Jesus was clearly supernatural! too amazing to be, even from the start. To have been prophesied; to have been born to a virgin who remained virginal after his birth; to have been inseminated by the Holy Spirit, not by male sperm; whose birth was heralded by angels; birth place was located by stars; one to whom wise men traveled from the East bearing gifts of oil, spices, silver, gold, incense, to anoint this baby, the new-born king of mankind; which glorious birth announcement had so frightened Rome's King Herod, of Idumea, he slaughtered untold multitudes of baby boys below age two to prevent Jesus' maturation.
Yes, supernatural was Jesus Christ, is Jesus Christ! Yet he is still just like normal, everyday men. He grew. He ate, drank, slept, wept. He walked, talked, debated, taught, gathered disciples, followers, including "many women" along the way: Mary, Martha, woman at the well, Mary Magdalen, many women!
Like other men in history, Jesus, too, was betrayed, arrested , tried, wrongly convicted, crucified, died.
Nevertheless, he also rose from the grave and sat at the right hand of God the Father, maker of heaven and earth. Before ascending to heaven he reappeared among men to reassure them that he is and was and ever shall be an "ensign on a hill " to which all who are troubled, oppressed, weary , worn may repair for hope, restoration, sustenance.
This was the Jesus Christ that the "Thank God for Jesus!" elderly woman knew, that my own mother knew, that her mother knew, and grandmothers knew; that my father knew, that his father knew, and all mothers and fathers knew, going back, stretching all the way back, until the horizon of understanding blends, merges, into the darkness of ignorance. Jesus Christ of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Egypt, Calvary, Earth and Heaven is and was the one who has been with primordial mothers under a host of names, in a host of places in time and space on earth. Whether in sickness and in health, life and death, trials, tribulations, tragedy , challenges, and triumphs, joys, happiness, abundance, plenty! "Thank God for Jesus!" I also say!