Who do you say that I am
So it is late, and I am just now sitting down to try to get my sermon done, so here is a little rambling to get my head moving and shaking around this issue of the Gospel question, who do you say that I am? Hopefully my contacts will cooperate here, they are getting a little cloudy right now...
There seem to be two subjects that are necessary to address as part of this GOSPEL, the first is this question of who do you say that I am, and the second is that of being a disciple, following Christ.
First, the who question is interesting, Marcus Borg says a lot about this, how he believes that Jesus did not believe himself to be the messiah, that Jesus had a whole other agenda, and was not seeking to change the world as the anointed Davidic King to bring justice and freedom to all the oppressed. NT Wright, however, believes that Jesus did know himself as the messiah, and therefore acted accordingly. I think I tend to go with Borg on this one, but not because of what he wrote, though tomorrow morning I may be able to get my head around it and agree with him, but I support Borg because I another thing I read.
Mediterranean Peoples during Jesus time were not like us Americans, unlike us, they believed that people were defined by others more than by their own actions and beliefs. People, during Jesus' time were placed according to what the family or the community set them up to be or not be. Today we believe that each person creates and defines and forms their own opinions and is not defined by the larger community, see the Matrix and its popularity for evidence of this, it is also why the whole "It takes a village" was and is so controversial. Anyway the commentator I read said that Jesus was trying to figure out who he was, he was not testing the disciples, they would have known better who he was than he himself, because he could not define who he was without looking at himself through others' eyes.
Hmmm.
Secondly is the whole deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Apparently this Gospel takes place at the beginning of the final journey of Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. So the imagery of journeying is important, not only the journey to Jerusalem, but our own journey in following and walking the "Way" of Christ. In order to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, which is a post resurrection projection onto a pre resurrection Jesus, because how would Jesus have known he was going to be crucified, he clearly did not want people to know he was perceived as the messiah, because he would have been killed a whole lot sooner if people would have thought of him as that. Anyway, take up your cross, and follow Christ, follow the messiah, enter the same journey I am embarking upon the journey into suffering, into darkness not power and strength.
Ok, so off I go to write this darned sermon. Wish me luck!
Be well,
A+
There seem to be two subjects that are necessary to address as part of this GOSPEL, the first is this question of who do you say that I am, and the second is that of being a disciple, following Christ.
First, the who question is interesting, Marcus Borg says a lot about this, how he believes that Jesus did not believe himself to be the messiah, that Jesus had a whole other agenda, and was not seeking to change the world as the anointed Davidic King to bring justice and freedom to all the oppressed. NT Wright, however, believes that Jesus did know himself as the messiah, and therefore acted accordingly. I think I tend to go with Borg on this one, but not because of what he wrote, though tomorrow morning I may be able to get my head around it and agree with him, but I support Borg because I another thing I read.
Mediterranean Peoples during Jesus time were not like us Americans, unlike us, they believed that people were defined by others more than by their own actions and beliefs. People, during Jesus' time were placed according to what the family or the community set them up to be or not be. Today we believe that each person creates and defines and forms their own opinions and is not defined by the larger community, see the Matrix and its popularity for evidence of this, it is also why the whole "It takes a village" was and is so controversial. Anyway the commentator I read said that Jesus was trying to figure out who he was, he was not testing the disciples, they would have known better who he was than he himself, because he could not define who he was without looking at himself through others' eyes.
Hmmm.
Secondly is the whole deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Apparently this Gospel takes place at the beginning of the final journey of Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. So the imagery of journeying is important, not only the journey to Jerusalem, but our own journey in following and walking the "Way" of Christ. In order to follow Christ, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, which is a post resurrection projection onto a pre resurrection Jesus, because how would Jesus have known he was going to be crucified, he clearly did not want people to know he was perceived as the messiah, because he would have been killed a whole lot sooner if people would have thought of him as that. Anyway, take up your cross, and follow Christ, follow the messiah, enter the same journey I am embarking upon the journey into suffering, into darkness not power and strength.
Ok, so off I go to write this darned sermon. Wish me luck!
Be well,
A+
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