This forum was closed on October 1st, 2010. However, the archives are open to the public and filled with vast amounts of good reading and information for you to enjoy. If you wish to meet some Wardrobians, please visit the Into the Wardrobe Facebook group.

What was Jesus like as a human being?

What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby jo » March 5th, 2006, 4:16 pm

"I saw it begin,” said the Lord Digory. “I did not think I would live to see it die"

User avatar
jo
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 5167
Joined: Aug 1999
Location: somewhere with lots of pink

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby Marcus_P_Hagen » March 5th, 2006, 5:36 pm

I think that's a good question, Jo.

From what we know of him through the testimony of friends, he was invited to dinner parties & weddings, made wine when the supply ran out, was accused by his enemies of consorting with drunkards & winos, and was known to frequently compare the coming Kingdom of Heaven to a very large wedding party (which, in Jewish culture, was the only thing which had precedence over a funeral, and generally lasted several days).

So I think that we can be sure that he didn't match up with the simpering wimp often portrayed in Victorian pictures. He was a strong, energetic, yet compassionate person. He could call workingmen to follow him, and they did. He was someone who could chase a bunch of animal sellers (no weaklings themselves) out of the Temple, and yet gentle enough that outcast women and young children weren't afraid to approach him.

His anger was directed at the pompous and self-righteous, but his love and mercy were there for the poor, the neglected, and the despised. All in all, it gives me great hope that Jesus said to his disciples, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" -- because if God is like Jesus, then he is love.
User avatar
Marcus_P_Hagen
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 240
Joined: Mar 1999
Location: Bloomington, MN [USA]

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby John Anthony » March 5th, 2006, 5:55 pm

John Anthony
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 524
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: California

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby jo » March 5th, 2006, 5:55 pm

"I saw it begin,” said the Lord Digory. “I did not think I would live to see it die"

User avatar
jo
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 5167
Joined: Aug 1999
Location: somewhere with lots of pink

Re: re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby Karen » March 5th, 2006, 6:12 pm

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
User avatar
Karen
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 3733
Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby Paul » March 5th, 2006, 11:48 pm

Kahlil Gibran in his book Jesus the Son of Man
His words and His deeds as told and recorded by those who knew Him

(1928) gives his insight to what Jesus was like. The book can be read online at various sites including
Paul
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 17
Joined: Nov 2005

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby Messenger_of_Eden » March 6th, 2006, 5:40 am

Just my feeling:

Jesus did things that the religious leaders of his day would NEVER have done--he ate and hung out with social outcasts and sinners--as well as righteous people. He was not a respecter of people, but he loved everyone equally.

I do believe He knew how to have fun--after all, He (being God) invented humor! But of course He would have drawn the line at sin, for He was sinless.

He was a 30-year old guy when He entered into ministry, and he had 12 disciples (all guys too) that He hung out with (the crowds that incessantly followed Him notwithstanding). I don't think that they sat around the fire all the time being "holy"--and I don't mean that disrespectfully. I believe He loved(S) to laugh and to make others laugh.

He also spent much time alone with the Father. He prayed as we all should (and I would say for myself for sure, His is an example that I struggle to follow). There was (is) of course a very serious aspect of His nature. He knew how to commune with His Heavenly Father. He spent much time in this way.

But would He be what we expect? Probably not. After all, He scorned many religious leaders who were "righteous" men. He said some very offensive things when people least expected it. Yet He was clear and unrelenting in His expectations: how many times did He tell someone that He had healed/forgiven "Go and sin no more"? And He said "Be perfect, as I am perfect".

The Life of the Party? Definitely. If the keg ran dry, perhaps He would turn some water into wine.

What any of us would expect? Definitely no.

Go watch the movie called Joshua. That is SUCH a sweet movie. I love it. Bought it for my mom for Christmas one year. (Hey the music score is written by someone named Dondi so my NAME is in the opening credits!! It's weird to see!) That movie is a wonderful illustration of just your question! Go on, rent it! Buy it if you have to. Get!! ;)
"If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself."--St. Augustine of Hippo
User avatar
Messenger_of_Eden
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 6951
Joined: Dec 2005

re: What was Jesus like as a human being?

Postby Robin » March 8th, 2006, 6:59 pm

Hi Jo,

Every indication in the Gospels (particularly the Synoptic Gospels) suggest that Jesus was very human, He frequented parties, spent lots of time with people we would consider immoral, His teaching revealed a soft spot for the poor, downtrodden, prisoners, and children. Then there is this Divine side that the Gospel of John closely reveals (as it concentrates more on what He said than what He did). He was so normal that He appeared to blend in His environment until the start of His ministry. I find His teaching to reflect a gentle heart towards ordinary folk and their plight and a passionate opposition to the "high and mighty" religious leaders. People were drawn to Him. This I find supremely comforting, that the requirement for all who follow HIm is to come as a child. I think we will all benefit if we read the Gospels with an attitude of knowing Him intimately throwing all our doctrinal suppositions and objections to the wind..
Robin
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: Glendale, CA

Postby Fea_Istra » May 27th, 2007, 7:03 am

"Where, except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned?" ~CS Lewis
User avatar
Fea_Istra
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 96
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Shadowlands

Postby A#minor » May 27th, 2007, 7:22 pm

I think He wasn't one to ignore the small things. Small things are important too, as well as the big spiritual things.

He knew the smallest needs and discomforts of those around Him, and He felt those discomforts Himself.

The very fact that He mentions that the Son of Man had no home, no place to rest His head, shows that He had a very human desire for a home and family.

He cared for His mother since even while on the cross He made sure that she would be looked after when He was gone.

Again and again, I find Scripture passages where He just stopped to talk to people. He didn't want to preach all the time. Sometimes He just wants to talk to us about our day.

He definitely had a sense of humor, or why would He have created weird things like a platypus?! :lol:
"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
User avatar
A#minor
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 7323
Joined: May 2005
Location: Georgia, USA

Postby Guest » May 29th, 2007, 6:48 pm

Guest
 

Postby chad » May 30th, 2007, 8:22 am

I think Lewis said of God in Letters to Malcom, "He likes matter, he created it." This often comes to mind when I'm having a cigar and a beer with a close friend out on the beach as we discuss life and God and laugh about ourselves. I sometimes imagine Jesus there and I marvel at the reality that Jesus would likely have enjoyed a good wine, a good song, a good joke. It may be a naive observation, but a fellow student remarked that Jesus knew what good wine was like based on John chapter 2, where Jesus turns the water to wine, and apparently it was good wine. The master says to the bridegroom of the wedding, "You have kept the good wine until now." For some reason the aesthetic side of Jesus' personality has really helped me understand his humanity.
User avatar
chad
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 92
Joined: Nov 2005
Location: California

Postby Guest » May 30th, 2007, 1:26 pm

Guest
 

Postby Robin » June 6th, 2007, 8:02 pm

Robin
Wardrobian
 
Posts: 64
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: Glendale, CA


Return to Religion, Science, and Philosophy

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered members and 14 guests

cron