JESUS, B.C. (Before Christ)

The great divine titles given to the person of Jesus are so dazzling that they almost reduce to a shadow the man that he was and continues to be.

For me, Jesus is first a man, the man of the lilies of the field, of the mountains, of the fish and of the sheep, the man of the crowds, the man of the poor. He is the free man who does not let himself be worried by the traditions of the ancestors, by their rules and their laws, even if they are marked by the seal of a divine property with all rights reserved for God.

For example, Jesus is not afraid to put the society of the just and of the males back up against him while surrounding himself with women and sinners. He has elbow room with the tribe, the clan, the family and with the religious leaders of his people. Undoubtedly, he obeys God who he loves with all his heart, but in the eyes of the authorities of the earth, he is taken for a rebellious and a disobedient being.

He is gentle and humble; his patience and his compassion have no limits, but at the same time, he is the man for justice, very critical, provocative, free and liberating.  He makes a good number of enemies for himself. He is not afraid to debate with them, He does not hate them. He even loves them…in his own way.

Jesus is poor, but he lives as if he does not lack anything. He loves simplicity, freedom, friendship and joy. Despite all the conflicts that he provokes, he knows how to enjoy the good moments in life. He is an untiring walker who enjoys hiking throughout the country. He likes fishing, picnicking, weddings, banquets, the flowers that do not weave nor spin and the birds that do not sow nor harvest.  He is a man who opens and does not close, and who gives a voice to those who are afraid.

The secret of the intelligence, of the freedom, of the power and of the great capacity for loving of Jesus is his God whom he tenderly calls «Abba». This God is not a scholarly definition coming out of a 2 kilogram weighing dictionary, but Someone. He is Someone who lives in him and who fills him. He is Someone who practically merges with him, loves through him, speaks and acts through him.

At the end, Jesus is rejected because his God is too similar to himself: a God who is not very orthodox and who does not respect scrupulously the rules of religion. He is crucified because, due to his words and actions, he spreads confusion, disrupts the spiritual tranquility of the good people and the «peace» of the nation. He is crucified simply because he displeases the «established order», and because he disturbs…

However, even on the cross, Jesus does not regret anything of what he did; he does not retract, he does not excuse himself, he does not ask forgiveness. He leaves it to God’s judgment instead of the judgment of the priests who crucify him. He forgives his executioners, but he will never say that they were right.

Nowadays, that would go on Jesus talking strongly to the young people and to many people if we had not placed him so much above the humans, and if we did not hurry to make him a God without taking time to show all that God was able to accomplish through him while being content just to be…human.

Yes, I believe that Jesus is «seated at the right hand of God». I believe that he overcame death and that of all human beings. But I believe also that he would simply love, like the young David, to be rid of the heavy royal armor with which he has been vested so as to come back to us like the one who presented himself to the world 2000 years ago: a deeply human person, driven by a boundless faith in God and in each one of us, who, every day, with his eyes focused on the Kingdom, walks with us with joy while sharing with us his breath.

                                                                               
                                                                              ELOY ROY          

Translated by Jacques Bourdages