Stumble it!
That’s right…Sensual Jesus…not sexy Jesus or sexual Jesus, not to say that He couldn’t be those things–because I’m sure He could be. But, sensual…as in “of the senses”. Of course there is a story here, isn’t there always?
One day two of my friends, Scott and Terry, and I were lazily bobbing along on floaties in Terry’s swimming pool. And, as can happen when three dudes throw cares to wind–skipping out on their jobs and committ to the hard work of leisure, we started to pontificate. I’m not sure how we got there but we came around to the topic of the gospel being “good news”. The longer we talked it became clear that the gospel in our lives hadn’t been very good news at all; mediocre news, so-so news, but not good and certainly not great.
Imagine if Bill Gates sent you a note one day that said simply, “I have a gift for you. It will be yours as soon as you claim it at my office.” Initially the shock would be overwhelming. You might imagine the options and what the gift could be. So you would get up the nerve to go down to the Microsoft office where you discover that sure enough a large suitcase is being held under your name. When you open it you see a dollar amount….$5 Billion!!!! “Holy Five Billion Dollars Batman!” You shriek in glee. And then your eyes come to rest on a note carefully stuck to the travelers checks.
“Dear You–
This is your money…all of it, isn’t that great news? This money will always be yours. It will never not be yours. There is however one catch. You can only spend the money on Sunday between 11am and 1pm. Additionally because I am Bill Gates and obviously interested in computer stuff you must learn to share my interests…my values….therefore You can only spend the 5 Billion on computer related gadetry and do-dads.
Your Friend, Bill”
What?!?!?! Now, if your me, and as un-computer friendly as I am then that news is actually anything but good. It went from being perhaps the greatest gift ever, to being almost useless. Like I said earlier, mediocre…so-so…hardly good.
Most of my life as a Christian has been lived through that lense. Christianity and its message was relegated to certain friends, to a specific enviroment, or to a particular activity. It was meaningful only when it dealt with “spiritual” topics. The concept of “looking at things above” as opposed to engaging elements in this enviroment was constantly reinforced. The notion of reading sacred texts and special religious books dominated my intellectual learnings. Which is fine…if that’s what you’re into. But if your not…well…it’s just boring.
Now, let’s retell the tale:
…You open the suitcase and see a note,
“Dear You–
Congratulations…the money is yours…all of it! You didn’t earn it. You did nothing to deserve it…all you had to do was claim it, and if you’re reading this note then you’ve done just that. There are no strings attached to this gift. In fact you are free to do whatever you wish with it. Spend it however you like. Be free! Let every area of your life be affected. Let the “good news” touch your family and transform how you live. Let it have an impact on your job, your enviroment, your physique, your mental health…this is my gift all of your being!
Your friend-Bill”
And that is the good news. The life of Jesus Christ, the eternal kind of life, is a gift that is to affect every part of us. It’s going to involve a transformation of our spiritual life. But more than that: our feelings will be engaged, our minds will be utitlized, our aptitudes will be rivited…and physically we will find ourselves connecting in ways we never thought possible; whether by reaching out and actually touching that homeless man we always pass by or gazing in majesty at an oak tree in it’s glory. That Life, that Christ Life, wasn’t meant to be contained and applied only in “special” ways but actually was meant to work its way out of us, through us, and then into others. The indwelling and outworking Life.
Terry, Scott, and I were all excited…in some small way we each realized how great the good news was and how small we had made it to be.
The conversation I am longing to engage in is all about discovering exactly how large this Lord is…and where can we not find Him?
In 1 John, the aging apostle recalls Jesus in sensory terms: “That which we have heard with our own ears, that which we have seen with our own eyes, and touched with our own hands…” He probably could have said, “That which we smelled with our own noses,” too. Because when it came time to reveal Himself to us, God chose to do so in a way that engaged every part of us. Ears. Eyes. Noses. Touch. Taste. Thoughts. Feelings. Attitudes. Actions. He didn’t leave anything out in His pursuit of us. So why do I relegate my pursuit of Him to a very limited list of acceptable encounters?
I don’t intend to any more.
Take the journey with me. Let’s get to know this tangible, touchable Saviour.
Emotional Jesus. Intellectual Jesus. Choosing Jesus. Audible Jesus. Visual Jesus. Relational Jesus.
Sensual Jesus.
Join the conversation. I want to hear how you encounter Him and how He engages you. Talk about the CD you just bought that resonates with Christ…even though it has no lyrics. Tell me about the feeling of peace and sweet relief you get when the wind tickles against the back of your neck, and you know it is God’s fingertips comforting you. He can be known. He can be felt…in everything and all around us…that’s what being All in All is all about.
Filed under: Wholeness
What is this sensual Jesus stuff??? This is perversion!! How dare you speak of our Lord in these terms.
He had no feelings, He called Peter a rock and on this rock he would build His Church! The Lord is a rock, unmovable and unshakable. What are you trying to say you oohy goowy feeling person you. Don’t you know that our Lord doesn’t change. He is the same today, yesterday and forever.
I like my Lord just fine. Don’t go changing Him! Don’t go making Him real! I like my preconceptions just fine! Remember he is MY jesus! Don’t change MY jesus!
You start changing MY jesus, why the next thing you’ll want is for MY church to change. Don’t you know that I am quite happy with the way I am! These are preposterous notions. Illogical thoughts.
Why this is revolution! Revolution against everything I have ever believed in. And this revolution has got to stop!
Yours Truly, American Christian
Bwa-ha-ha! Excellent inaugural post, brother. Though I’ve gotta ask…did you author that comment?
Thanks for your words of encouragement brother. No, I did not author the comment…though I may know who did.
The humorous thing to me is that some people really do have this knee jerk reaction. One of my good friends recently told me, in response to some of my queeries, that he did not believe Jesus wept for Lazarus’ death. He went on to essentially suggest that he found it difficult to believe in a God who would feel pain already knowing the outcome. And I think that is interesting…in our extrememly humanist society it is far more conveniet to believe in a Lord who was more divine than human. Quite frankly it gives us hope. Hope that one day I will be something more than the wretch of humanity I am today. Someday I will not feel extreme sorrow when my friend shoots himself. Someday I will not cry when my children scream horrible hatred towards me. Someday I will not “enter the emotion room” as I do today. Another friend of mine who struggles with drug and alchohol addiction is infamous for his continuing prayer of “God make me a robot. Make me choose you.” Most Christians are annoyed by this thought…God taking a person’s free will away. Prepostorous. Yet, in many ways we hope that He would take our emotions away. It is a element of our humanity we’d rather be rid of. “God make me a robot.” And so our imagined Jesus, the super hero Jesus becomes a Care-Less automoton of the Father’s will simply on a steady climb to Golgotha. He does not feel. He does not engage with the tangible world around Him. He barely interacts at all with the material universe. And when someone calls his attention to the fact He sort of looks around bewildered by the peoples lack of perception. We have created such a strange Jesus. Hardly human. Hardly divine. What the Jehovah’s Witnesses do in making a Jesus who is sans Divinity, we western evangelicals do, making him a Jesus sans humanity. Neither grasp the uncomfortable reality of Creator incarnated in creation. A God in the flesh.
In my thinking that’s what the gospel of John is all about. It’s to show us that the Word of God–God out loud–became flesh and dwelt among us…Fully Human…Fully experiencing the pallet of human emotions. The tragedy. The sorrow. The joy. The delerium of sleepless nights anxious about tomorrow’s events. Tired. Grieving. Laughing. Partying. Permitting. Rebuking. Outraged. Overcome with sadness. Moved with pity and compassion. The Full Range. The whole nine yards. In Jesus, God relates completely to humanity. Fully Human. Fully God. Unfortunatly our practical theology makes him to be something less than man and something less than God…neither…
But we need a Jesus who wept. And like any human he probably didn’t just weep for one reason. There were probably a multitude of reasons. He wept because his best friend died. He wept because He could have prevented it but His Father’s will did not allow it. He wept because He would raise Lazarus but who would die another day. He wept because the Jews didn’t believe, again. He wept because Mary and Martha wept. He wept because they still couldn’t grasp clearly who He really was and what He had to truly give them. He wept because God who created man to have eternal Life now was intimately watching the ravages of sin. And maybe…just maybe…He just wept…sometimes we just do things. They are senseless but sensory. They are geisers of currents deep within. In some ways this is the beauty of the incarnated Christ. It was all of those reasons and perhaps none at all. But because He wept I can too. And because He trusted God during that moment I can also. And after He finished weeping He continued to know His Father. Tears and tragedy are not an end but rather an element of Life. DIdn’t He actualy say that to Mary and Martha…I am the Resurrection (the ultimate answer to the problem of the Fall, to the problem of pain and tragedy) but I am also the Life…lifetime, the panorama of birth through death, human developement to decay…I am the answer and I am intimately involved in the question. In effect He is saying, “Where will you not find me?” You can know me at every stop because I am the journey…the way.
Like it or lump it we have an emotional Jesus. And He who created emotions also can inhabit ours. For me this is comforting. Whether He allowed the tragedy or caused it matters little as I simply know He cares along with us. Unlike modern surgeons who in order to perform their complex procedures have detached themselves from sympathy and empathy…we have a surgeon who cries as He cuts, a doctor who operates but understands. And maybe we’d rather have a detached doctor…but He didn’t want to be that. Hopefully He won’t offend our sensibilities by how He chose to come to us. Hopefully He will give us courage to be fully human while still “about our Father’s business”.
Irresistible Revolution rocked my world as well, bro.
Our Lord certainly does have emotions.
“…God so LOVED the world…”
“Jesus wept”
“…he made a whip…and ran the scoundrals out of the temple, turning over tables…”
It is wonderful to embrace this very God yet very human Jesus.
One of the biggest confirmations that I have of this reality is in my own heart and spirit.
As you mentioned, some saints would rather ONLY have their sights on ‘things above’.
Others would have us believe that all we need be is steady, balanced and ‘centered’.
GOD IS IN US!!
And He wants us to LIVE HIM OUT.
This means not just ‘contemplating’ or conversing ABOUT this reality, but to LIVING it.
Sure…
Faith comes by hearing the WORD of God…but, sorry folks, James NAILED it.
Faith without works is DEAD.
Peace.
[...] Emotions The following is in response to several questions concerning my first post, “Sensual Who?” I encourage you to read it because it will give you a flavor for the following. It seems as [...]