Five Things I Dig About Jesus

Rating: GT, QGT

Brought to you by the letter Q and Kirsten. Check out the originator, where you can see a bazillion other responses if you want. Wander around the blog while you're there--lots of interesting stuff.
Only five? Randomly selected out of the many things I dig, and in no particular order:

1. Jesus gets really cranky sometimes.
It comes out most in Mark's Gospel account. Or maybe it just stands out more because of the author's rather terse, telegraphic writing style. Why do I dig this? Because it's just so bleeding human.

2. Jesus doesn't write people off just because they get it wrong sometimes.
He really doesn't. He can get really cranky about it (see item #1), but he doesn't cut them loose.

3. Jesus doesn't write people off just because they're right.
Which is, let's be honest, a far worse sin in the eyes of many great leaders. Most of them can't stand it when someone else is right. Jesus, on the other hand, shows a refreshingly remarkable willingness to listen and be affected by another human being. Case in point: the Syro-Phoenician/Canaanite woman, who challenges Jesus to broaden the scope of his compassion (Matthew 15:22-28, Mark 7:25-30).

4. Jesus is funny.
I mean, come on, that bit about "get the log out of your own eye before trying to get the speck out of your neighbor's" is classic. Also calling the Pharisees--who seem to be friends of his, given the number of times he's having dinner at one or another of their homes--a bunch of snakes; actually, he calls them a "brood" of snakes, which is pretty much a "yo mama" joke. And let's not forget his response to Thomas's "unless I put my fingers in the print of the nails, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe." Put your finger here... Now, that's comedy!

5. Jesus is both an impeccable host and a gracious guest.
Lots of people can do one or the other, but many can't do both. Now, my mother was a fabulous hostess, but feeding 5000 hungry people on 5 loaves and 2 fish was beyond even her extraordinary talents. And I like to think of myself as an appreciative guest, but I've never turned my host's water into wine. And I don't always accept every invitation. The thing I dig the most about Jesus? He always shows up. To every party, whether it's just 2 or 3, or 100 or 1000. You invite him, he's there. Even if the music sucks and the food is dry and tastes like styrofoam, even if the decor is lousy and people are uptight, even if the liturgy is boring or messy or incoherent or just plain dumb, Jesus shows up like it's his birthday or something. I just love that.

The rules are that I now must tag 5 other people, but everyone I know who would do this meme has already done this meme. Maybe I should tag some people who would normally never do this meme. Hmmmmm. Have to ponder the relative obnoxiousness of doing that to someone.

How about this: if you're a person who normally would not, in your usual day-to-day life, consider doing this meme, then you are tagged. Leave a comment with a link to your site, or just play in the comments. Or both.

yours in the struggle,
Max