Pick a stage of Jesus’ life and write about Jesus
at that time: baby, toddler with kingly
visitors, 13 year old in the temple, anointed and commissioned in the Jordan
River, teacher, table-flipper, persecuted, risen, or something in between. Use an intimate friend's perspective - what would the encounter be like?
Teenagers- Doug Millar
ReplyDeleteJoseph has been working in the shop all day. His kid Jesus has been helping with the chores. Joe comes in for a drink of water. He looks frustrated and upset. Mary, ever compassionate, asks her husband, “What’s the matter dear?”. Joe says, “If that kid makes one more perfect three legged stool, I’ll strangle him. It took me years to get it right.” “It’s ok dear, he’s special”. Another day in the life of a family with a teenager.
ah the travails of a step-father.
Delete:-)
ReplyDeleteGetting to know Jesus again is as scary as deciding to write. As scary as deciding to leave my other life behind. I know it's dangerous. It's happened before.
ReplyDeleteGrow Up Jesus!
ReplyDeleteJeeeesus, it’s a game, it’s called pickle, you run between the bases and they throw the ball back and forth and they try to tag you out. I’ve told you this a million times. If they tag you out with the ball you are OUT. The point is to NOT get out. If you don’t get tagged you WIN! WINNING is GOOD! Don’t you want to WIN?? Cooooome on!
Ok Ok you don’t care if you win. Riiiiight. Who are you? Everyone cares … I don’t believe you. Somewhere in there you have got to want to compete and as my friend it is my job to …. find ….the competitive edge in you.
Oy-vey … or….let’s just go for a swim…Ok Ok OK I’ll race you to the river.
No No No you don’t wish me well and just run alongside, you run, you beat me, come I know you’re faster…I know it, I know it, I know it!
How are you ever going to succeed if you don’t do better than someone else? How will you ever buy your own carpenter’s shop or dicker in the market place. I’m telling you Jesus, as your friend, you will not last long as an adult with that kind of ‘I care for you’ attitude. They’ll crucify you! They will!
Yeah Yeah Yeah, I’m just telling what my Dad tells me and he’s done ok for himself, better than my uncles……Those slobs……So you still don’t have a plan after the Bar mitsvah do you? You just don’t think far enough ahead. Come on, you’re eleven already. Grow up!
No No you just don’t have that much time, really. Have you thought about the Jerusalem MBA program? I hear they would toughen you up. They would like all that charity stuff you’ve been doing – then they’ll teach you what life is really like! Come on…I’ll help you with the application…. Huh? Huh?
Yes ….it is competitive. Oh my God!
What? What did I say?
Oh…you still want to be a Rabbi. Uh huh. Riiiiight. Was your dad a Rabbi? I don’t think so. Case closed. Hey now..I’m telling you this because I’m your friend. And… a word to the uninitiated… Rabbi’s …those are some competitive dudes… just saying…I’ve know a few holy people… ehhhhh
A problem child for sure. Nice story. It is always interesting to me to imagine what things could have been like. Doug
DeleteHah! Being friends with that young fella is a full time job.
DeleteJesus wept.
ReplyDeleteIt was his seeing Mary that did it, I think. They're so much alike, you know. Both caring so much, leading with the heart. He's always had a soft spot for her. Oh, he loves us all, you understand. And we - Mary, Lazarus, and I - adore him, of course.
When our brother got sick - when we saw there was nothing we could do - we sent for him. But he did not come in time. I wonder if even he fully realized what that choice meant for us...and him.
It's one thing to heal strangers - the outcast lepers, the man whose friends lowered him through the roof, the woman with the blood issue. But it's another thing when it's the death of someone you know and love.
We spent so much time together. Listening to him. Learning from him. Sharing meals with him. He was more than our teacher, you see. He was our friend, our brother.
Naturally, we were heartbroken when Lazarus died. If only he had come when we called! Mary was inconsolable, of course. And I think that's when it struck him - our grief and his own.
But that did not stop him from doing what he came to do. He returned our brother to us. Oh, yes, I was disappointed when he didn't come when we first called for him. Did I doubt when he promised to bring Lazarus back? No, never, not a moment of doubt.
After all, he loves us doesn't he? And he's always kept his promises.
I wonder what he's going to do next?
such a gentle, faithful, real account. I wonder too.
DeleteLent 1, Wednesday
ReplyDeleteAlmost Six
Dislocation marked this child’s life.
His gestation, a once in history event,
The pre-birth trip, Nazareth to Bethlehem, simple strife,
At birth he was placed in a manger, no longer a tent.
Step-father Joseph, mother Mary, a new place claiming.
Bethlehem received a carpenter’s shop and home,
Eight days old, presented at Jerusalem’s temple for naming,
Sages proclaim a new day’d come, Messiah wouldn’t roam.
Out of the east travelers arrived with peculiar gifts.
Their star struck journey found a young two-year-old fair,
Bestowing treasures, they chose another path, one of those historic shifts.
Angelic messengers sent the young family to Egypt, an escapade most rare.
Once Herod had died, Jesus’ family returned to Nazareth’s familiar streets.
Rabbi, synagogue friends, a budding family life soon ensued.
Younger brother James soon fought with Jesus for sheets,
Carpenter shop duties fell to the elder son, wood implements trued.
A regular part of the daily routine was the retelling of the family story.
They knew of Holy One as the keeper and guide of all.
There’s no problem with heavenly visitors; life’s a gift not a worry.
Their life’s events went beyond folk tales, no matter how tall.
The Nazareth rabbi had heard the wondrous story many a time.
He found himself curious, cultivated a relationship strong, real.
Little Jesus a bright individual, full of insights, on occasion a rhyme,
Perhaps the messianic prophecy, Isaiah’s words, was more than zeal.
Jesus combined Mary’s thoughtful way, Joseph’s can do spirit.
Regular worship, synagogue school, filled the young lad with hope.
As older brother, yet a young one, his responsibilities he did inherit.
Helping, chores, play times raucous, an active lad forced to use soap.
Never discouraged from asking questions, exploring possibilities rich,
This busy mind, active body, devout spirit, empathetic heart grew,
He could handle his almost six notions with adults, seldom a hitch,
This beginning prophet, budding scholar, messiah-in-making so true;
The Rev. Ronald Allen Melver, M.Div.
27.2.15
I stood, hidden behind another large stone,
ReplyDeletenot the one rolled away during the night.
I watched the women as they approached
looking for you, already in the garden.
They would not see you step out of the tomb
in the darkness of vesper light,
over the slumbering guards.
They would not witness the way you
touched your own wounds,
gingerly and carefully.
Or the way you stirred the dust
of the ground with your feet.
They would not see the knowingness
as it crossed your face,
finally understanding what it meant
to be the Beloved.
Julie Hutson
Encountering Jesus
ReplyDeleteHis laser eyes
scan the crowd
"He knew everything I ever did!" she said
I would both wish for
and want to avoid
that gaze
Knowing that by submitting to it
I would also have to share
all my shame and guilty secrets
just to be a part of His promised Freedom
Yet, knowing it would also free me
would I go?
I'd like to think so
Knowing what I know now,
it's easier
Yet back then
what courage, what faith
those women had
To go public
go forth
even to touch His hem
speak with Him and risk it all
finance all those followers
knowing you would never even get remembered
just so His laser eyes
would cleanse you
and make you whole
fHs
Sara