"The Word became flesh and lived in our neighborhood." This is John 1:14 in the Bible translation called The Message. The more common translation is " The Word became flesh and lived among us." This is what is called The Incarnation of Christ. God became a human being, a man who was a carpenter, and lived with us and like us. He was God so he was morally perfect, which means he never did anything wrong. In that way he was not like us! If God wanted to be incarnated in the world, he could have been born in the Temple, raised by the Pharisees and when he was old enough, made ministry forays into the community and then returned to his Temple. But he didn't do that. He lived in the neighborhood. Why? This next bit is really shocking.
God did not want to reinforce the religious establishment of the day. He wanted to be accessible to normal people. This is why he became like us and lived in our neighborhood, or the neighborhood of his time. I think he would do things the same way today. In fact, he wants us to do the same thing he did; he wants us to make Jesus accessible to normal people. It is not God's wish for us to establish the Christian religion that came from Him, but which has been taken over by man, any more than it was his wish that Jesus establish the religion of his day. Much of that did not or does not represent him well, or at all. He wants us to live the full experience of our life in Christ in our neighborhood so Jesus is accessible to normal people again.
Do you know how to do that? Don't feel badly. Very few of us do. It is not hard to grasp, but it does require a shift of thinking. The most important thing to do to begin to shift your thinking is to read the gospel stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read them and then seek to model your Christian experience to match what you read about Jesus in the neighborhood.
God did not want to reinforce the religious establishment of the day. He wanted to be accessible to normal people. This is why he became like us and lived in our neighborhood, or the neighborhood of his time. I think he would do things the same way today. In fact, he wants us to do the same thing he did; he wants us to make Jesus accessible to normal people. It is not God's wish for us to establish the Christian religion that came from Him, but which has been taken over by man, any more than it was his wish that Jesus establish the religion of his day. Much of that did not or does not represent him well, or at all. He wants us to live the full experience of our life in Christ in our neighborhood so Jesus is accessible to normal people again.
Do you know how to do that? Don't feel badly. Very few of us do. It is not hard to grasp, but it does require a shift of thinking. The most important thing to do to begin to shift your thinking is to read the gospel stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read them and then seek to model your Christian experience to match what you read about Jesus in the neighborhood.
Your daa man!
ReplyDelete