Jesus, the Invisible
Remember those follow the dot coloring
book pages when you were a kid? You started with the first dot and carefully
dragged your pencil to the second and then the third, probably with your tongue
stuck out the corner of your mouth as you concentrated really hard. The outline
of the mystery figure slowly unfolded.
Sometimes you missed a number and had to
erase several lines before you could get back on track. And then, there it was!
The mystery was solved, or sort of solved. You still had to figure out what the
shape was supposed to be. But as you carefully studied the lines you could see
the outline of the bear, or duck, or cat that was visible, though its shape was
a little jagged around the edges you had drawn. The inside of the outline,
however, was still enticingly empty, calling for you to color it in any way you
wished.
And so my journey into the ancient
past to discover and shoot a few great snapshots of Jesus as he was back in the
day is going to take a whole bunch more research. The jagged lines I am
creating by studying the historical facts and feelings of the times have barely
begun to create any outline at all. But undaunted, I will continue on with my
research material piled high around me.
As the title to this section suggests,
the real man hidden under layers of history and histrionics may still be seen
only in outline. His essence may remain invisible and I will probably have to
color in the details based on my own personal analysis and assumptions.
Certainly, that is what the early church found itself doing. Over the centuries
many of the faithful have accepted the Gospels word for word as perfect and
historically accurate and perhaps that even includes you, the reader. Well,
unfortunately my own historical research based on the most modern work by
highly respected divinity scholars begs for a major overhaul in my
understanding of what the bible says and why it says it the way it does. Not to
worry, though, because for myself my faith is not challenged -- I am instead
joyfully discovering my spiritual journey is just expanding
Now, the early church and its chaotic
choices is too large a topic to be covered with a simple snapshot of the
disciples, the oral traditions on which the gospels were based, and the fifty
to a hundred year spread between Jesus and the first written words about him.
So, I will leave that tantalizing research project for another day. (I will
cover that in the next book, “Looking for the Early Church”) For now, I will
head back into my accumulating articles and books and follow the trail to Jesus
and see what other snapshots of his past I can capture and share with you.
Questions to Contemplate and Discuss
1. This
short section allows for a little breathing room before we delve down deeper as
we Look for Jesus. I suggest, if you haven’t done so already, research some
other books, papers, articles, commentaries and internet ‘wisdoms’.
2.
As you
read other sources take note of where they are coming from – for instance, from
the Traditional community, the Catholic or Protestant community, the New Age
community, the science and archeology community. How are their conclusions different and/or the
same?
3.
Take
note of how old the sources are. Are they recently interpreted, or are they
commentaries hundreds of years old colored by that time period? How has modern
research affected these materials?
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