Speaking of the past, present, and future humanity of Jesus of Nazareth.
You may appreciate this - my experience of the “killer app” of orthodoxy - the Jesus Prayer.
Decades ago I was pedaling along on my bicycle diligently doing the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me, a sinner” having recently read The Way of the Pilgrim. The Lord spoke, saying in a bemused voice, “Okay, I will have mercy on you” in shock I swerved on my bike, and laughed at myself. Yes the Lord has a sense of humor, he is a guy after all.
“the real Jesus was also very human, and in John this comes through especially with the Magdalene. we know why of course, and when you read John with this fundamental key, it’s so absurdly obvious, but it’s still today almost forbidden to say.”
OK, I’m probably very dumb, but what am I missing here?
John 20:11-17 shows Jesus common humanity with us, his equality with us. He is the firstborn among many brethren as it says, our friend and brother at our side also note the comment I made here. This humanity is knowable in the Spirit in the here and now, a breath of life, subtle and real.
The prior paragraph suggests, if I’m reading it right, that the Beloved Disciple was Lazarus:
“in John i accept the eyewitness, and because of that add a grain of salt. i mean, could you be objective if God resurrected you, and before he himself did.”
Hm. I would certainly sign on to all of this. Jesus’s humanness is perhaps the thing that most keeps me Christian; he comes off in the gospels as a real person who lived in a particular time and town, not a legendary god, yet as one possessing authority that transcends, even bypasses, all religion.
But I thought Laeth’s point had to deal with Jesus’s humanity in a different way, perhaps regarding his relationship with the Magdalene. I’m not sure why emphasizing Jesus’s humanity, or even his equality with us in some sense (after all, he is us; he is of the same stuff as we are), would be considered “forbidden.” I don’t know.
Perhaps not forbidden, but so over shadowed by the usual emphasis on him being THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD (which is also part of knowing him in the Spirit), that speaking of his ordinary common humanity has a tinge of blasphemy. It’s kind of like having Captain America as a fellow brother soldier in the squad. I thought the movie version Chris Evans did pulled off a combination of approachable ordinary and extraordinary humanity
My understanding of the divinity of Christ and of the hypostatic union has long been that he is the clearest expression of, the most pellucid window into, the divinity that we all have, the imago Dei. Thus the Gospel of Luke’s “the kingdom of God is within you.”
Therefore we can say that, e.g., Isaac, Melchizedek, and Moses were types of Christ, with Moses literally radiating the uncreated light of Yahweh, and none of that diminishes their humanity. Nor does Jesus’s divinity; he is simply the unvarnished glass.
With theologians in the tradition I grew up in, Catholicism, I don’t think any of that would be especially controversial. With the Lay Internet Inquisition, yes, but that’s neither here nor there (nor anywhere).
Speaking of the past, present, and future humanity of Jesus of Nazareth.
You may appreciate this - my experience of the “killer app” of orthodoxy - the Jesus Prayer.
Decades ago I was pedaling along on my bicycle diligently doing the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me, a sinner” having recently read The Way of the Pilgrim. The Lord spoke, saying in a bemused voice, “Okay, I will have mercy on you” in shock I swerved on my bike, and laughed at myself. Yes the Lord has a sense of humor, he is a guy after all.
“the real Jesus was also very human, and in John this comes through especially with the Magdalene. we know why of course, and when you read John with this fundamental key, it’s so absurdly obvious, but it’s still today almost forbidden to say.”
OK, I’m probably very dumb, but what am I missing here?
probably best for God to provide the answer when appropriate.
😆
I figured you’d say something like that.
John 20:11-17 shows Jesus common humanity with us, his equality with us. He is the firstborn among many brethren as it says, our friend and brother at our side also note the comment I made here. This humanity is knowable in the Spirit in the here and now, a breath of life, subtle and real.
The prior paragraph suggests, if I’m reading it right, that the Beloved Disciple was Lazarus:
“in John i accept the eyewitness, and because of that add a grain of salt. i mean, could you be objective if God resurrected you, and before he himself did.”
Hm. I would certainly sign on to all of this. Jesus’s humanness is perhaps the thing that most keeps me Christian; he comes off in the gospels as a real person who lived in a particular time and town, not a legendary god, yet as one possessing authority that transcends, even bypasses, all religion.
But I thought Laeth’s point had to deal with Jesus’s humanity in a different way, perhaps regarding his relationship with the Magdalene. I’m not sure why emphasizing Jesus’s humanity, or even his equality with us in some sense (after all, he is us; he is of the same stuff as we are), would be considered “forbidden.” I don’t know.
Perhaps not forbidden, but so over shadowed by the usual emphasis on him being THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD (which is also part of knowing him in the Spirit), that speaking of his ordinary common humanity has a tinge of blasphemy. It’s kind of like having Captain America as a fellow brother soldier in the squad. I thought the movie version Chris Evans did pulled off a combination of approachable ordinary and extraordinary humanity
Does it. Hm.
My understanding of the divinity of Christ and of the hypostatic union has long been that he is the clearest expression of, the most pellucid window into, the divinity that we all have, the imago Dei. Thus the Gospel of Luke’s “the kingdom of God is within you.”
Therefore we can say that, e.g., Isaac, Melchizedek, and Moses were types of Christ, with Moses literally radiating the uncreated light of Yahweh, and none of that diminishes their humanity. Nor does Jesus’s divinity; he is simply the unvarnished glass.
With theologians in the tradition I grew up in, Catholicism, I don’t think any of that would be especially controversial. With the Lay Internet Inquisition, yes, but that’s neither here nor there (nor anywhere).
"you don't know me."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTU1MxVjvfc
man this takes me back to the summer of 2009