What is Yeshua (Jesus) really like? First and foremost, He is human. God, certainly, but you wouldn't have known it just meeting Him. That was the point. You would have seen just a Jewish man, almost the spitting image of His mother, in His mid to late twenties with chestnut colored hair, sea green eyes, standing about 5'6", average for the time, with a beard and hair tied back in a thin braid. His clothes were travel stained as they hung off of His modestly thin frame, and He walked barefoot most places. You would have seen a man with an easy smile, and good natured laughter in His eyes who looked at you as though you were His dear brother or sister every time you met His eyes, and those eyes were always welcoming. You would have met a man who instantly felt safe and non-threatening, protective even in spite of Him being easily tired from exercise that most wouldn't find challenging. He was a Man that you felt like you had known all of your life, had grown up with even, when you had just met Him.
And He knew things, things He would let slip every now and then that He couldn't possibly have known. Nothing embarrassing, nothing that would be threatening except for the fact that He somehow knew them. Sometimes it would be your name when you first met Him. Sometimes it would be little details about your childhood or your family that no one else would have known. It only added to the feeling that you had known Him all of your life.
Most of the time, He either spoke Aramaic or Greek depending on who His audience was. Aramaic with His own family certainly, and when addressing just those whose first language it was, but Greek when talking to the large crowds, though He still had the Aramaic rural accent. But on occasion, you'd hear Him say something in Latin just out of the blue when speaking to a Roman. Or even some language you'd never heard before to a foreigner from Africa, Arabia, or much farther north. When asked about it, He'd only reply, "Was I now? I didn't notice."
Above all though, He was kind. Just kind. He would give away His last lepton without a thought to a beggar on the streets of Jerusalem, and Himself rarely if ever carried any coins on Him. He never really carried anything except the clothes on His back, and when He was given something, it wasn't long before you'd see it in the hands of someone else who didn't have it before. And He was patient. He would sit for hours if need be just listening to you, even if what you were saying made no sense or was offensive. The smile in His eyes rarely wavering. He always made you feel like you were the most important person in the world to Him.
His disciples called Him "Teacher," either in Greek or Aramaic, and this was how just about everyone addressed Him. As time went on, He would be called "Owner" or "Master," though He wasn't enamored with those titles. One time He even turned it back on those who called Him such and asked them, "If I'm your 'owner' why don't you do anything I say?" He disliked such appellations intensely because it set people on different tiers, and He wanted to identify with the people around Him, not have them see Him as above them, even though He really was. that was the reason why He kept calling Himself the "Son of Adam." It was Him saying, "I'm human just like you."
The only people He really every became angry with were the religious people, those who would use the Torah for their own personal and political gain. And even then, it was like a brother scolding His siblings because He cared.
This is who Yeshua was and is.
No comments:
Post a Comment