This post is partially humorous, partially based on an honest search... If you didn't like the title of this post you probably shouldn't read it, as it would probably not be of interest for you... I apologise in advance for any possible offence from now on...
There are many stereotypes of Jesus, but in reality we know so little of the historical Jesus... We can read the gospels which were written by a group of Jews followers at the time of Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans...at least 30 to 40 years after Jesus died...I imagine quite a tragic and sensitive time... The image the older ones might have still kept, and the oral tradition that might have carried most of the stories and parables we read today...it was probably their own construction of what became the experience of God s spirit in their lives, after Jesus' died... a minority group among the many Jews who lived under the oppressive imperial domination system of Rome...
Let's have a look, if you want to amuse yourself, with some stereotypes that survived the ages until now...
Some a bit more serious, carrying the image most Christians share and believe
And this one, just to have a crack, if you have time for that hehehehe...
Anyway, who was this man whose birth, in some way or another, a lot of people celebrate at this season? ... Of course he was not born on the 25th of December...probably little or nothing we are able to know about his birth, since the 2 canonical gospels we know report very different accounts of it...
Considering his public life, which might have been as short as 1 to 3 years, what can we say?
In my opinion he was probably not interested at all in starting a movement, never mind an established organised religion recognised by any state.
Did he want to piss off the religious authorities of his time? I think he did a great job on that matter...well, enough for them to want him killed.
I can't imagine that all he said and did opposing the religious establishment was just to be different or a rebel without a cause, but I think he just couldn't stand all the hypocrisy about it, and how it would lead so many people to live enslaved and controlled by it.
Jesus probably couldn't stand the way people would be rejected, or considered inferior, or abused in so many ways by these authorities...enslaved by lies as if they were "God's will"...
He seemed to have known well his Judean religion about the temple, their scriptures and the rabbi's teachings that were so often misused...
Some scholars defend that Jesus probably lived many years with John the baptiser ( a hippie like prophet who dressed in camel skins and ate locusts and honey - not a vegan then) , and other ascetic Jews in the desert... Praying, meditating, fasting and seeking "the divine"... He was probably classified ( because some people like that, don't they?) as a charismatic Jew, like many others at the time, a healer, like others at the time, a sage and a wisdom teacher, who would teach out of his own authority, based on experience and practise, and not because he was an ordained Rabi.
Jesus was part of "the people" and he would join "the people"...he would be with the poorest ( who were probably most part of the population, as at that time there were only a minority who controlled wealth and power - state and religion, and the rest who would be subdued to them - there was no middle class then), the outcasts, untouchables, the "sinners"... But he was also with "the higher class" people, scholars, rich people and religious leaders, for everyone seemed to be interested in what he had to say, or in need of his healing power.
Jesus didn't seem to have been very politically correct and he didn't seem to give a s**t to social norms neither, never mind religious conduct...
Yet, among others at his time, he must have been an extraordinary healer and sage... People must have marvelled at his teachings, because there was authenticity and honesty, and he probably was not looking to be adored or put in a pedestal... He would probably see himself with all, as one, as equal...
Modern scholars share the opinion that most of "Jesus sayings" written in the canonical gospels, specially the one of John, don't really trace back to the historical Jesus...
Imagine, even if oral tradition was quite strong at that time, to keep exact words after 40 years...
Jesus did become a model to be followed, a memory for all his friends, family and followers, not to be forgotten...words that transformed lives... I imagine Jesus would have challenged and changed the world of so many people...people who were stuck in their lives, their problems, their social conditioning, their illnesses, their lack of self esteem and self love, etc...
Jesus' death became a powerful symbol... Crucified by the Roman empire, manipulated by the Judean leadership... He was a threat to both... And both were and still remain until today, a threat to "the people"...
Authoritarian government's, political and economical systems, which keep people under slavery in so many shapes and forms...
Authoritarian religious systems, who keep people in ignorance and in some extremes in a spiritual slavery...
Jesus, as a symbol and a spirit, represents "the people", the masses...
Those who keep being killed and slaughtered today...silently and away from mass medias...
Those who dare to speak up and confront, are put to death... And there are many examples after Jesus and before...
This spirit in human beings never dies, does it?!!! Both actually, the spirit of love and justice, but also the spirit of greed and power...
It keeps resurrecting over and over again, generation after generation...
Still within all that context, of war, suffering, oppression ( which is not different than today, in so many places in the world) there was time for party...
Jesus was known, supposedly, as a "glutton and a drunk", he probably loved good wedding parties, banquettes in his rich friends' houses where his poorer friends could eat and drink better than they ever did before, or nice barbecues at the beach at the sea of Galilee...
" - Enjoy life! Drink and eat! Dance and party! Laugh and play!
And make the best within your reach, so everybody can do the same, no exceptions..."
- Could have been a nice saying for Jesus... A lot of his parables about "the kingdom of God", "heaven on earth" kinda thing, were about banquets, weddings and other parties, where everyone should be welcomed and treated equally.... for a nice party!!!
It might have been his vision for the world... Here and now... Not much seems to be changed after his death... So what have we been actually learning?
Maybe because his message was continually distorted and focused on an "afterlife salvation" that takes from people the responsibility of living life here and now, caring for each other and this planet...His message didn't seemed to be about any afterlife, or who goes to heaven and who goes to hell... Actually, Christianity ,300 years after Jesus' death, became very doubtful as the emperor Constantine decided to make it a state religion, backing it's purposes of war and conquer, money and power...
Apart from exiles', monastics' and mystics' teachings, little of Jesus must have survived within Christianity...
Jesus was a "party animal"... I will stay with this thought for a while...
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