Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Jesus, As We See Him

We watched them back to back. The course is simply titled, "Jesus," which I presumed to give me some leeway in what might be expected. We will get around to Matthew, Mark and Luke, along with a few other points of view, but last night it was Jesus Christ, Superstar and Godspell. One after the other. The purpose, I reminded the students, was not simple entertainment. While I hoped they might enjoy the movies, what I was interested in was the "Jesus" characterized by each telling. The Jesus in one is quite different from the Jesus in the other.

And so we watched, and listened, and reflected. One is the serious, heavy-laden revolutionary accompanied by Jimmy Hendrix-style guitar riffs in a minor key who forms in his disciples obedience. The other is the exuberant, face-painted playmaster who evokes in his followers something warm and full of joy.

"So which depiction is correct?" I asked the class, and simply hearing the question revealed its absurdity. Neither...and both. Neither portrait is adequate; both have truth to express about this One who has stimulated faith in so many. The various writers in scripture offer their own, less musical, characterizations. But theirs, too, are portraits -- no one "correct", but each expressive and evocative in its own way.

As I drove away from the classroom, I considered my own devotion. If I had wondered with the students why disciples followed the Jesus of Superstar and Godspell -- what devotees might have found compelling about each distinctive "Jesus" -- what about me? What about the "Jesus" that I have come to know do I find animating, enlivening, compelling?

Some mix, I suppose, of who I see God to be when I look through his eyes, and also who I see myself to be, and the attraction I feel to both. As I think about it, I'm not sure which is more important.





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