In the Gospel of Luke we mostly hear about Jesus' adulthood, and when he was teaching and spreading his beliefs to the people. We also see that some people don't like him or believe him or agree with how he does things. I find it very selfish that the people only come to him so he can heal then them of any of their wrongs, from a 'withered hand' to a bad spirit, and yet after he does everything that is asked of him they still plot what evil they shall do unto him.
However, Jesus puts up with this and spreads his philosophy of 'as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.' (Luke 6:31) this aphorisms also appears in the Tao Te Ching, and it is a very common belief which some people call the Golden Rule. In the Bible it is used to describe the kind of life you should lead here on Earth: 'unto him that smiteth thee on the onecheek offer also the other' (Luke 6:29) Jesus says that we should let ourselves be beaten and bullied and stolen from and abused, all the while treating the other party kindly and basically thank them for doing these things to us. I have this before, but only now does it seem to me very unreasonable. If we live like this it would be as if our lives wouldn't be worth anything and that we don't really deserve to have a good life because then in heaven we will be repaid. I don't agree with this.
Wherever he goes Jesus teaches and preaches, but most of all, we see that he cures people. Perfect strangers, even sinners, just go up to him and he cures them for no apparent reason. If you think about it, it is quite strange- we never heard when the Lord gave – Jesus these awesome powers or when he told him to use it with no restrictions. I would like to think that finally someone in the Bible chose to be independent and think for themselves, but this is too much of a miracle for it not to be a work of God. Or at least that is what the bible has lead me to think.
The most amazing miracle yet is when Jesus sees the only son of a widow dead and he decides to cure him 'And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak.' (Luke 7:15) I not only find this totally unexplainable, bringing someone back from the dead, but this is also something I had never heard of before. He was brought back from the dead just like Jesus was after his death. Everybody seems to paint Jesus in such a unique way, the high point of his life being that he was brought back from the dead after three days. I really don't see what the big deal is, seeing as it has apparently happened before, or what makes his case more important than this one. Why don't we hear about the holiness of this one man to whom what happened wasn't that different from what happened to Jesus? Maybe it's because this guy didn't spend three days dead, or maybe it's because he isn't 'the Son of God'- such an honor!
I also see that Jesus doesn't mind so much when people don't like him or believe him but he adores when they do. For example, when a sick man says he isn't worthy enough to come into his house but that only his words would be enough to heal him (I'll finally know what I'm saying in mass- I guess reading the Bible does have its perks!), or when a lady comes in the middle of his dinner and starts rubbing and kissing and crying all over his feet for forgiveness. I personally would slap whoever tried to kiss my feet, but Jesus praises them and says 'Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.' (Luke 7:50)
Throughout his life, Jesus is done many wrongs by many people, but he does not get revenge from any one of them. Even when his loyal disciples offer him to get back at those who have insulted him he declines and tells them that they are misguided, 'For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' (Luke 9:56) His philosophy of 'turn the other cheek' is clearly against any revenge, but I think his disciples don't find it that easy to take on. We have seen many times when God hasn't liked how man turned out so he decides to just kill everybody on earth for a fresh start, and I wonder how someone who is apparently so good and pure is related of someone as revengeful as God has been shown to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment