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A Motherly Sentiment
A Jewish Liberal Mother's View of a Very Human Jesus
Rene Thompson, wife of The Remarkable Librarian, Steven Thompson, also maintains a blog of her own, View from the Sandbox, ardent with a sensitivity and flavor of socio-political discourse we rarely enocunter in the male of our species. In her profile, she describes herself as follows:
One side of the family was Baptist, the other was Methodist, my parents converted to Judaism and sent me to a Catholic school. This basically means I can guilt in three different languages. My world revolves around my son and what I can do to make the world he enters the best that it can be. In desiring to help bring a better world for the children, Rene reaches to define and comment on the media publicized issues of social and political relevance, which together contribute to the general decline we see all about. But in a moving entry on the very human side of Jesus of Nazareth, An Oldie But a Goody for Mother's Day, her motherly instinct takes over to reveal a rarely perceived facet about a man widely elevated to Godhood and stripped of any semblance of the basic human qualities we all know he must possess, and which his very own mother had nurtured:
Imagine a woman coming to grasp the full impact of what was going to happen to her son, not looking at him as the Son of G-d, but as the baby she had nursed and loved as she taught him to walk, to talk, to feed himself. Her son that she loved as only she could. Knowing that on some day, in the not so distant future, he would start down the path that would eventually end in his painful death.
If you were a parent, would you be able to deal with the possibility of that future day after day? And yet, Mary did more than just accept it. In John 2 we see evidence that she encouraged Jesus to take those first steps. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, WOMAN, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE? MINE HOUR IS NOT YET COME. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. John 2:1-5 On a light note, it's amusing to see that even the mother of Jesus sometimes had to put up with the biblical equivalent of "Ah Ma, not now!"
Just as Abraham was asked to sacrifice his beloved son, Mary had to, in her own way, built the sacrificial pyre. Mary could have taken the passive role that would have been perfectly acceptable for that time. Instead of sitting by and hoping that her own bitter cup might pass her lips, she actively celebrated her promise to G-d by assisting her son in starting his mission and being there at the end. Thus she showed a most magnificent love for her God, her people and her son. I'm always moved by this very Jewish view of the more human Jesus and Mary. It doesn't happen very often that Jews openly speak about it. The Christian world prefers to keep the Christ figure raised high into the Clouds of Heaven stratosphere, and maintains a God-like image of Jesus the man, where any mention of his humanity, is immediately perceived as heresy.
This, naturally flies in the face of Jesus' presence in the world and the few times he himself spoke of this issue. One such instance in the Gospels tells of a woman addressing him as "Good Master" upon which Jesus replied, "Why do you call me good? I am not good. Only God is good!". In the Book of Revelations, when the resurrected Christ appears to John on the island of Patmos, John falls before him to worship and Christ immediately implores him to stand up, saying: "See thou do it not, for I am of your brethren the prophets, worship God."
These two instances, amongst others, point to Jesus rejecting that he be elevated to a position of Godhood, as the Church has done with him. Just the opposite is true, actually. By doing so, the Church nurtures false holy pride, division and strife in the world over an issue which Jesus himself wants not part of.
Why is it that you so blatantly disobey your declared master, all ye hypocrites amongst the Christians? How long will the atrocities you perform, repeatedly, in the name of Jesus Christ continue, Pope Benedict XVI, before the cries of the innocent children who suffer at the dark clouds you bring are heard? How long before judgement comes upon all who take the Lord God's name in vain?
Not very much longer at all, believe me. Awaiting around the corner, actually.
Coming soon, like a thief in the night.
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Posted: 4:01 PM EST
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