16>Mt o*rt -mly ia.2003
Would Jesus Visit the Baths?
£a ‘Roa JeweCers
“Inconceivable! How Could One Even Consider Such a Thing!?“
Tliamonds on Broadway
Such is the likely response of many people calling themselves Christians today. But it
is ironic that their attitudes and notions more closely resemble those of Jesus' enemies,
the Pharisees and Scribes, than those of Jesus himself, tie sought out those shunned by
the respectable religious of his day, being far more concerned with the inner state of
men's hearts than the outward behavior observable to the world. Mot that he condoned
a tax collector gouging the jxxir or the illicit act of an adulteress he saved from stoning;
he simply knew that much of the righteous indignation of the pious was a cover for their
own imperfections and their unreflective condemnation of the scandalizers was unlikely
to lead to any real change of heart in anyone. Both the condemner and the condemned
share a common need for the personal inner transformation that Jesus urged.
Jesus knew that faced with disapproval and rejection from others, we are unlikely to
confront our deepest and most troubling issues and more likely to retreat into the bunker
mentality of rationalization. Paralyzed by fear and smarting from hurt and anger, we are
easily caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of conflicted behaviors, pursuing that which
"feels right" at the time while thwarting the realization of what we most deeply desire. At
some level we may be aware of our plight but are helpless to escape on our own.
Our best hope for liberation is God's love. Each of us has a mental concept of what it
means to be loved, but many of us do not comprehend and have not known a love so
powerful it can break down our bunkers. Knowing and experiencing the love that
exceeds all other love, we are finally empowered to begin loving ourselves and we
discover the courage to risk seeing ourselves as we truly are, both the good and the bad.
Thus becomes possible the repentance Jesus calls for in the gospels.
Would Jesus visit the baths? Who knows? But if he did, it would not be to wag a
finger at the patrons. In the uncanny way he conveyed love and acceptance to those
rejected by others and themselves, Jesus would point to the worth and value of every
man there, tie would grant each the authority to decide for himself whether his motives
and intentions were consistent with his own deepest values and whether he was acting
out true freedom or irrational compulsion. And regardless of how an individual chose to
face these guestions and no matter how he might answer them, Jesus would continue to
love him.
Mot all who met Jesus were ready to accept unconditional love. For some religion
acted as a protective shield while for others skepticism proved too strong. For some
however, meeting Jesus was the turning point in their lives.
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