Monday, September 30, 2013

Learning Jesus

Pardon me for getting older.  Getting older means  taking more time to reflect on who I am, what I have done, whether I have accomplished anything worthwhile, what priorities I have and have had that were silly, to mention only a few things I think about and pray about.  Let me think a bit about one reflection.
When I was younger I thought I needed to "learn about Jesus."  When that only went so far I made it more personal:  I thought I would figure Jesus out.  (As you can tell, Jesus is rather in the center of my thinking, acting and believing and has been most of my adult life.)  So I tried to figure Jesus out.
I think that is the wrong priority for me now, and probably was for most of my life.
I think the better priority is to "learn Jesus".
Moses offers a lot.  Mohammed offers some value.  But Jesus, as I  see it, offers everything a human could want -- agape' love, behavior that respects others, values that confront prejudice and pride in the self as well as in others, understanding ("He knew what was in man. . . ") and so forth.
Although his teaching seems essential, his living what he taught is even more important to me now.  I am not Jesus.  Jesus lived in an occupied country with violence and violations I can hardly imagine.
I want to , and I need to, learn Jesus.
What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

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