Being Disabled and on my bed most of every day, I like to imagine Jesus as he was in the days of his sacrifice, temptation and mortality. When I read about him in the gospels, like the people that he mixed with I am “amazed” and “astonished beyond measure.”
His own home, Joseph and Mary’s home, must have been a very loving one, for his upbringing in such a home shines out from his words and actions. During his adolescence, his home was full of the laughter and games and joys of loving parents and younger children. It must have been a joyful home. But Jesus was not unaware of sorrow. There must have been such times also. The anxiety of childhood illnesses? Political troubles? Economic hardships? Was Mary bereaved and the family fatherless by Joseph’s premature death? But for Jesus, sorrow is always transformed into joy.
I picture Jesus as a person bubbling over with joy, full of life, telling his stories, enjoying the company and friendship of all sorts of people. I can see him enjoying the company of the ladies, who were not afraid to share their special concerns with him, an unmarried man. And he encouraged them. Amazing! Children especially loved his magnetic personality and easy manner. They could crowd around him and share his joyful spirits, and sing songs with him. Sometimes his close helpers tried to shoo the children away, but Jesus always said, “No. Let them come to me.”
He was always at home at dinner parties. He encouraged “music and dancing.” He was the life and soul of a wedding. Many of his stories are about celebrations, births, marriages, festivals, joyful family occasions. I can visualize him enjoying those “great feasts” with Matthew and Zacchaeus and Simon the leper. What happy occasions they must have been! One of his own figures for himself and his work was “good wine.”
As a mother I can understand how proud his mother would be when her special Son was circumcised, and became a “son of the law,” and then became a popular rabbi. Like her, I marvel when I read of him bringing healing and joy to multitudes of sick, distressed and mentally ill people. I like to picture him touching the leper and putting his arms around the “broken hearted.” I can imagine the warmth of his kisses, his radiant smile, his quiet words of comfort and cheer.
The day of greatest joy, of course, was the day he “burst the bonds of death” and was given a “glorious body.” I like to imagine Jesus as he is now, but I will tell you my thoughts on that another time.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One