Have you ever found yourself involved in a good novel to the point where you feel connected to at least one of the characters? If the character development is authentic enough, I find that I want the story to keep going when I reach the last page. This is one reason that I love to read a series, provided also that the plot is compelling and the books are well-written. But if the characters remain flat, one-dimensional, merely names on a page, then I find myself detached from them, indifferent to the consequences that they face, deaf to the lessons I might otherwise have learned, for even fictional works have things to teach us if we’re willing..
I recently began genealogical research into my family and continue to come across names from earlier generations, ancestors whose names are at best only vaguely familiar, at worst completely unknown and important to me only in that they eventually resulted in my existence. I see them listed in various census records, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, but none of these convey who they were, what they believed in, what made them, well, them. The only way for these people to truly come alive to me, aside from a personal relationship, is by the stories passed down through the generations. Even then I need the ability to understand the context in which the events occurred, the time periods in which these people lived; I need to grasp the differences in various societies and generations, otherwise I run the risk of misjudging the mitigating factors that affected their decisions and personalities.
Too often I think that people, myself included, tend to view Jesus in this way. We say that we love Jesus, that we have a relationship with him. But do we truly know Jesus? Do we really know his personality? Of course we know that the Gospels describe his claims to divinity, of being fully God and fully man, and yes we have the lessons that he gave to us. But if you ask someone why they love Jesus, you’ve got pretty good odds of the answer going something like “because he died on the cross to forgive my sins and he taught love and forgiveness.” While these are certainly valid reasons to love Jesus, at the core it is really only loving what he did for us and what he taught us, not loving Jesus himself. Even though I wholeheartedly believe that the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus are historically and theologically true, I often times view Jesus as a character in a book who made a great sacrifice for me and made a miraculous and triumphant return. By taking this view of Jesus, I have reduced him merely to that one act and a few good lessons on leading a moral life, which is not only unfair, it is insufficient. How is this insufficient? Because if you don’t truly know somebody, their personality, who they are, what they stand for, then you can’t love them in the complete sense of the word. But why is that relevant to accepting Christ and following his teachings? Because the cost of following Jesus, of facing persecution for those beliefs, of dying unto yourself is so great that without that love, I am bound to fail miserably. Therefore, I need to not only understand his lessons, I need to know the tone with which Jesus communicated them because it is his actions and attitudes that will convey how to lead a righteous life infinitely more than his words.
Though the Gospels are some of my favorite books of the Bible, I admit that when I read them, I have a hard time interjecting Jesus’ personality into the words. I find that I typically try to focus on the lesson that Jesus is trying to teach instead of looking at the tone in which he is speaking, or the circumstances surrounding the lesson. In fact, until recently I can honestly say I have never given much thought to Jesus’ humanity as it pertains to his personality, sense of humor, his fears, his anxieties, and everything else that made him just like me, like you. Aside, of course, for that whole being God thing. Because Jesus was human. He experienced pain, hunger, joy, love, exhaustion, humor, exasperation, anger, happiness, the full spectrum of feelings. Genesis 5:1 states, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God”, that means everything that we experience, so too does God, and He was able to do so from man’s perspective through the person of Jesus Christ. While some might find it upsetting or problematic to think that God experienced human feelings, I find it comforting. I love that God not only understands what I go through when I struggle with anger, impatience, greed, envy, but I also love that He knows how I feel when I experience joy, peace, gratitude, reverence, contentment. Because our God is a living, loving God who actively pursues a relationship with His creation, he does not view us with a sense of detachment, as flat, uninteresting, one-dimensional characters. Rather, though God knows us better than we know ourselves, He wants us to willingly open ourselves to Him in an honest, loving, intimate relationship. He is not only writing, but also reading an amazing novel in which he feels so deeply connected to the characters that He interjected Himself into the story. Not only did God enter Himself into the story, He did so in such a way that He would be persecuted and sacrificed so that man never has to reach the final page because our story can last an eternity.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (NIV)
Reborn & Remade 