I like Jesus. Why and however he did what he did, whether it was divinity or his own personal wisdom, I like what he said about a lot of things. It's not surprising people felt a deep feeling of recognition when they heard him and joined him. But he held a mirror up at the powers that be, he saw them for what they were, flawed human beings corrupted by wealth and power. So as Jesus's followers grew and more people saw what he saw the powers that be became threatened, already feeling uncomfortable in the knowledge that their reflection was fundamentally wrong they had a choice, accept it and change or demean and diminish Jesus and his beliefs and hopefully destroy him.
Shame they chose the latter, but he is still an important revolutionary in my eyes, along with people like Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, maybe even John Lennon. Imagine what the world would be like without them. Jesus went about quietly talking to people, trying to change hearts and minds and he practised what he preached, he was what he preached. I really dont think that if his followers had overthrown the powers that be at that time and put him in charge, that he would have surrounded himself in finery's and gold, it would have gone against his core beliefs and destroyed him from the inside.
I don't follow a religion but I like the philosophy of Peace and Love, maybe its from being a child in the 70's. Most of the religions, as I understand, are based on Peace and Love and maybe all the other revolutionary's that they speak about were all going around quietly changing hearts and minds. Imagine now if they saw us arguing over which one was best, going to war and killing people over it. It would seem wrong to argue over who was wiser; Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu. So no I stay well away from religion and stick to celebrating the best of humanity and Peace and Love. Yes I'm an old hippy.
I awoke this morning and found myself thinking about Jesus who died for what he believed in. When we stand up for our beliefs, the core ones, the ones that form our selfs it takes a strong mind and determination and a deep love for those beliefs. People that are doing you wrong will always try to belittle you and make you the monster instead of them in order to justify their behaviour and if we're not strong enough we can let them destroy us. I've been there a few times, at the point where I'm about to give in and let it happen but luckily I've found the determination to resurrect my self again and stand tall.
I'm not sure whether Jesus actually came back to life after being crucified (although my son thinks that would be cool as it would make him a zombie) but I do know that what he stood for didn't die, people are still listening, perhaps that was the resurrection and the miracle, people practise what he preaches, reaching out with Peace and Love to this day. And another miracle is when we can survive, when we can get back up after we've been brought to our knees and still have our core beliefs of Love and Peace intact and not damaged or tarnished. I'm not totally sure what forgiveness means, to me it means understanding the reasons why people hurt you and accepting them, realising that to err is human and that we're all flawed but not sinners.
I've just polished off some Easter Chocolate for breakfast and a cup of tea and I'm looking forward to the eggs and fluffy bunnies. Here's a picture from my 1970's children's bible to celebrate Easter :)
