Copyright by Shea Oakley
All rights reserved
Because the only recorded words of Jesus Christ are found in the words of scripture we have a natural tendency to develop our idea of who He is based solely on those words. If we desire to get a more complete picture of the Son of Man we may also do well to look at the context of His close relationships with his disciples, relationships that are also clearly evident in the Gospels.
Many, if not most, of the known words of Christ are related to His profound teachings. The inspired writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are greatly interested in setting forth an accurate picture of the Man in relation to His mission. This is because the most important things that we need to know are found in what Jesus said when He was acting in the role of Preacher, Prophet and coming King. All of those roles involved communicating sublime truth to a human race desperately in need of both that truth and, more importantly, the One who embodied it.
But there had to be another side of Jesus.
He could not have spent his three years with the Twelve speaking only magnificent and glorious words to their awed ears. These men were the traveling companions of their Teacher. Beyond that they were also His friends. It seems safe to conclude that Jesus also spoke to His apostles as any man would to his friends. That would appear to mean that sometimes, perhaps even the majority of the time, their conversations were casual. Whether they were discussing the routine events of the day or where to eat or the prevailing weather they must have spoken to each other with the informal banter characteristic of people who are close to one another. Perhaps they shared in the laughter of impromptu humor. Could it even be that the Lord and Savior of humankind occasionally entertained his disciples with a good joke?
After years steeped in the New Testament, with its frequent admonitions and exhortations, devout Christians can be forgiven if they find themselves a bit uncomfortable with the idea of “the casual Jesus”. After all we are called to reverence the Son of God above all things, and well we should, but that said the One we worship was and is both fully God and fully human and part of being fully human is the simple warmth and intimacy of friendship. We do not always speak to our friends in formal language suffused with deep meaning, far from it. In fact we rarely communicate this way and maybe that is what enables such language to have such a profound impact when we do use it. Is it unreasonable to think that it was the same with the human Jesus?
If this is true than it is also logical to assume that the Gospel writers knew that the most important words to record from Christ’s earthly ministry were the words He used when He was making a greatly important point. The fact that they did not try to convey three years of casual banter on the road stems from the need to distill the words of Christ which would have that most “profound impact” on the fallen race He came to save. However this does not mean that casual banter was not part and parcel of the experience of following Jesus in the flesh.
Today some believers may believe that we have somehow cheapened the value of the One we worship by making Him more “accessible” as a human being. I submit that this is only the case if we forget that the One who truly is our friend is simultaneously also our Master, the Ruler of the universe. If we know Him first and foremost in a spirit of reverence for His Deity we can then also safely know Him as a human being, not a pious caricature of one. It may actually enhance our knowledge of, and love for, the God-Man to think of him walking with His twelve friends along a dusty Judean road telling a humorous tale and joining in the laughter His Father designed all men to enjoy. The only thing such a thought “cheapens” is our false piety and, if that is the case, let it be so. What really matters is strengthening our true connection to the One who became one of us. Pondering the full-breadth of the humanity of Jesus Christ might do just that.
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