From their Perspective

I always try to take the stories from the bible, and put them into a modern context. To try and make them more real. To put the faces of humanity as I know them into those 2 dimensional stories, and round them out into something more relateable. Something I can connect to, rather than just words on a page.

I was driving to work, when I began to think about Jesus. We are quick to condemn the religious people of the day for the way they did not see who he was - after all, they'd been looking for the promised messiah for centuries!! They knew all the prophesies about him! Surely they should have been able to add things up and recognise him! But I wonder if we would have been any different if he'd been born here, in our lifetime?

First of all, they were expecting someone from Bethlehem, not Nazareth, which was filled with the low-life of the day! What was Nathaniel's response? "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" John 1:46 He was only in Bethlehem for his birth since they had to be in their ancestors' town for the census. They returned to Nazareth for him to grow up, after a couple of years in Egypt, escaping a King with murderous intent. I doubt most people thought of him as coming from Bethlehem.

Secondly, there were the circumstances of that birth - highly questionable! As everyone knows, there's only one way you can get pregnant! The evidence is there, whether you want to try to deny being sexually active before marriage or not! And saying God did it - well that just sounds like a unbelievable story to try and cover yourself! I doubt they expected the messiah to come from such tainted beginnings.

People liked him for most of his life! He was helpful and gracious, and a well brought up son! Mary and Joseph did a good job with him after such a poor start! But then he turned 30, and instead of continuing in his father's profession, things began to change. He suddenly set himself up as a religious influencer, without any real formal education in it at all! He began to draw crowds, who followed him everywhere! The spiritual leaders of the day saw a generation being led astray from the truth they knew that had stood for centuries! Not only that, but he allowed them to revere him in a way no person should ever be revered!!

And he did not respect the wisdom of their years! In fact he was downright rude to their faces at times! Called them white-washed tombs, snakes, vipers and hypocrites! Matthew 23 He was undermining the church as they knew it! And leading whole flocks with him! He was certainly able to do some amazing things! But who knew whether that was the work of God or the devil??? After all the devil can be pretty convincing in leading people astray!!

And the things that he said!!! Some were nice and supported the church's teachings - but others were pretty disturbing and disgusting!! Telling people they need to eat your flesh and drink your blood??? John 6 That is just gross!! They couldn't tell if it was literal or imagery??! And if it was imagery, what in the name of anything good could it mean??? In fact, it was the turning back point for many of those who had been following him!

And then there was the final thing - the freedom they were expecting was for literal freedom from their invading oppressors! To make their whole nation great again! They had no idea it was a much greater story than that! And when his life began to unravel before them, it threw his remaining followers into deep rethinking!!

I would like to think that I would have been one of those who stayed with him - one who saw his great love and compassion and began to hope that this was, indeed, the one who would set us free. Who saw the beauty of his teaching, in comparison with the selfish coldness of the established church, and sought to be with him, rather than safely where friends and family thought I should be. But would I have?

Maybe I would have been like Nicodemus, wondering and watching carefully from the sidelines, without being caught up in the hype of the moment. Maybe, in time, it would have all come together in my head so I could have accepted it?? Hopefully I wouldn't have been one of those who threw it all out as too weird and disruptive to have been a good thing.

No wonder Jesus' prayer from the cross was "Father, forgive them for they don't know that they're doing." Luke 23. It took time and much learning beyond his death for even his closest friends to understand who he was and what he had done!

We have the benefit of hindsight! We look beyond the contemporary life beside us, from where they stood, back through history, with all its revelations and explanations from the followers who stayed and finally understood! We understand from a revealed perspective! They were trying to understand a man who lived in life among them! And I'm no longer so quick to condemn. Where would you have stood?

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