Do you have the Courage to Walk a Mile in the shoes of Jesus? He died for you!

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Walk a Mile in His Shoes

and Your Life Might Change Forever

The Jesus Challenge for You

I once heard you will never truly understand someone until you walked in their shoes or saw through their eyes.

Makes sense to me.

So why don’t you try distracting yourself from your own existence, blocking out all memories, just wiping the slate clean.  Then you must pay attention to your environment, finding a safe haven of solitude in a world you do not control.

No technology, no electromagnetic waves, no smart phones or televisions, no distractions of any kind.  Of course, proper lighting, colors, and sound are crucial to your managed environment as well.  You cannot meditate in blackness, the Void, but must embrace the brilliance of light, the dramatic color spectrum, the infinite octaves of sound, all yours for the taking thanks to Mother Earth and Father Creator.

Now you are prepared to meditate, and can tackle the task of walking in the shoes and seeing through the eyes of Jesus.  What do you see?

Now you best pay close attention from now on because there can be serious consequences to some fairly simple and seemingly harmless decisions you make.  For example, at what point in the thirty-three years of his life do you want to walk in his shoes?

If you pick the last two days of his life for example, you will experience the horrific torture and crucifixion he suffered beyond all human experience.  Not a good choice for a balanced view of his life nor for your attempt to understand the man.

I think Jesus has long been frustrated with the human perception of him that is dominated by his trial and tribulations, ending with his death hanging from a cross.  Our image of Jesus is almost always hanging on a cross in agony when in truth it showed the climatic event in his life, but has little to do with the image and emotions he expressed the rest of his life.

By all descriptions, Jesus was quite handsome, even described as beautiful by some.  Throughout his youth and into his ministry adjectives were always positive, impressions were deep, and his countenance was that of a gentle man, one filled with compassion, empathy, hope, and grace.

His wit, humor, knowledge, and wisdom were powerful forces but only used when necessary to support his mission.  Other times his kindness, concern, and love were dominant.  Yet even that did not reflect the composite Jesus for there were also the miracles, those astounding acts of magic and mystery defying human logic, understanding, and natural law.

Are you in for a treat if you capture but a tiny fragment of the scope of the life of Jesus when walking in his shoes and seeing through his eyes.  You might find yourself in a state of grace and awe as Jesus moves from the innocence of youth to miracle worker, to powerful rabbi, to devoted friend and family member, to dynamic preacher, and to a beloved Son.

His love radiated not just to his Father and Mother, but to each and every one whose path he crossed.  Then there was the immortal love between Jesus and The Magdalene who was born to love him, be his confidant, knew him from childhood, shared every aspect of his life even long after his Baptism by John, the Great Moment.

Perfect love between couples was demonstrated between the two for when Jesus began his ministry and his state of grace intensified making him unable to express intimate contact with people, Magdalene still remained by his side to his death and beyond.  No one but her was at his baptism, trial, torture, crucifixion, burial, discovered his resurrection, then was present for his ascension.

As his confidant Jesus trusted her above all apostles to know and understand the meaning of his words and for thirty years after his death she worked to keep the apostles from misinterpreting the word.  Then she was summoned by Jesus to be at his side in the Kingdom of Heaven.  There is a reason she was considered the apostle to the apostles for the Son of God.

This is the season of Lent, the final days before Jesus returned to a heroes’ welcome in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday before being condemned to death by the same crowds Holy Thursday, crucified on Good Friday, and Resurrected on Easter Sunday.

That is why he came to Earth for you, for everyone, but not just to forgive sin and show the path of redemption and salvation, but also to demonstrate by his actions what humans must do to earn our place in the Kingdom of God.

We must follow in his footsteps, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and experience the five steps of eternal salvation, birth, transfiguration, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Jesus preached, “Because you have so little faith.  I tell you the truth, if you have faith, have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

(Matthew 17:20)                

You owe it to your own salvation, and owe it to Jesus, to study what he did for you, learn the lessons he preached, and take your rightful place in the Kingdom with the Father and his Son.

Once I wrote a song to honor the work of Jesus on Earth in hopes that we can learn today what people failed to understand in his lifetime.  This is how it went.

I Knew a Man

©Jim Putnam

I knew a man a long time ago

he was the kind everybody should know

I don’t know why he chose me

to be his friend

The stories that this man had to share

a heart full of love – one that did care

I didn’t deserve to be

with one that’s so kind

I watched the people listen to him

saw the love he shared

So many people – so many questions

still he was always there

Preaching to his people words that he wanted to share

'cause they’re words that they just could not hear

Words that they just could not hear

Over the years we traveled around

he kept preaching from town to town

I tried to warn him

for my friend I feared

Miracles my friend started to give

healing the sick – raising the dead

Could not believe my eyes

as I watched him go on

The crowds got bigger as we went

still he would not rest

Some believed and some deceived

it didn’t matter to my friend

The gifts that he gave he gave to all man

an act of love I just could not understand

an act of love I just could not understand

One day he brought me to his side

said if we don’t eat the fruit, it must die

And like the fruit of the tree

his day soon would come

Slowly his words came clear to me

he wasn’t talking about that tree

He was the fruit and his life

was nearly done

The multitudes came to him now

to hear of Kingdom Come

Little did they know his work was done

nothing was left to hide

Nothing more could be accomplished if he tried

I could not tell them my friend soon would die

I could not tell them my friend soon would die

I knew a man a long time ago

He was the kind everybody should know

I don’t know why he

chose me to be his friend

I’ll always remember his love inside

even the night he was crucified

Forgive them he called out

right up till the end

All the people turned on him

I never felt such shame

They didn’t listen, they didn’t care

his love they did not share

So they took my friend

and my friend they crucified

Up on a cross that’s where my friend died

I stood there and watched

and then I cried

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Good Friday - A Day of Promise or Day of Infamy? The Trial of Jesus

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About 2000 years ago in the city of Jerusalem the most tumultuous week in the history of the Holy Land came to a brutal and tragic end when a young man named Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to a cross and put to death just before the beginning of the Sabbath.

It started just five days earlier, on Palm Sunday, when thousands of people lined the streets of the holy city to welcome the Messiah, Jesus, as he rode into the city for his final confrontation with those who feared him most, the Jewish spiritual leaders.

In anticipation of the difficulties the Roman rulers, who wanted no part in this squabble between Jewish spiritual leaders and zealots, between the people and the church hierarchy, had commissioned a review through the Roman Senate of the threat posed by this man Jesus.

Here is the letter the Senate received from Publius Lentulus, Roman Governor in Judea.

Text of letter sent to the Senate of Rome by Publius Lentulus, Roman governor in Judea, in the days of Tiberius Caesar:

“Conscript Fathers: There appeared in these our days a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is now living among us.  Of the Gentiles he is accepted as a Prophet of Truth; but his own disciples call him the Son of God.  He raiseth the dead and cureth all manner of diseases.  A man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as beholders may both love and fear.  His hair is of the color of a filbert fully ripe, plain to the ears, whence downward it is more orient of color, somewhat curled and waved about his shoulders.  In the midst of his head is a seam or partition of his hair, after the manner of the Nazarites.  His forehead is smooth and delicate, his face without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a comely red; his nose and mouth exactly formed; his beard thick, the color of his hair, not of any great length, but forked; his look innocent; his eyes gray, clear and quick; in reproving, terrible; in administering, courteous; in speaking, very modest and wise; in proportion of body, well shaped.  None have ever seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep; a man for his singular beauty surpassing the children of men.” 

Nothing in this report indicated such a man to be a threat to stability in the region nor to Jewish leadership.  Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi who some called the Messiah as prophesized in the Holy Scriptures.

To the Gentiles he was a prophet and healer who raised the dead and cured diseases.  His own disciples called him the Son of God but there was nothing in the Roman report indicating he was a threat to anyone.

At that time there were three different contemporary Jewish sects competing for control of the Jewish people, the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes and the competition extended over various political, social and religious roles.

The Sadducees were identified by historian Josephus as the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society.

Also within the Judean culture was the Sanhedrin, a rather mysterious Judicial court that dealt only with religious matters.  It was the last institution that commanded universal Jewish authority among the Jewish people in the long line of tradition from Moses until it was dissolved by decree of the Roman Empire in 358 CE.

It was the Sanhedrin under High Priest Caiaphas who arrested and tried Jesus and eventually, failing to find witness against him, charged him with blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God and King of the Jews, to which Jesus had responded, "You say I am."

The next morning Jesus was led from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate in the Praetorium where the Jewish elders demanded the Romans judge and condemn him.  From there is was Pilate's court to Herod's court back to Pilate as the Romans used every maneuver possible to avoid sentencing Jesus to death.

In the end Pilate offers condemned prisoners be substituted for Jesus and the Jewish crowd demanded Jesus be put to death.  Pontius Pilate then told the rabid crowd he washed his hands of the blood of Jesus since they demanded his death, not the Romans.

Jesus was then led to Calvary where he was nailed to a cross and crucified to death.  Did the Jewish factions demanding his death give him a fair trial?  Certainly not in the eyes of the Romans.  But the execution they demanded was allowed to avoid the threat of civil unrest in the Jewish community and preservation of the Jewish institutions.

Throughout his ordeal according to Gospel accounts Jesus is generally quiet, does not mount a defense, and rarely responds to the accusations, but is condemned by the Jewish authorities when he will not deny that he is the Son of God.

In his Gospel, however, Mark indicates Jesus does not passively acquiesce in the injustice that is perpetrated against him, as is the usual view of commentators on these narratives. Instead, Jesus alternately engages in and resists the judicial proceedings in which he becomes embroiled. Initially, he welcomes and participates in the proceedings before the Jewish council and, subsequently, before Pilate. He disengages, however, when the prosecution dissolves into a series of false allegations established by perjured testimony.

Right or wrong the face of Judaism and emergence of Christianity in honor of the crucifixion of the Rabbi Jesus changed forever the religious nature of the world.

There could be no resurrection without Good Friday and no lesson of forgiveness which we seem to have lost in the years since so I guess the consequences of the crucifixion more than justify the sham of the trial and manipulation of the judicial system.

In the end there can be little Good about Good Friday because of the injustice it allowed although there are those who will argue that it was a brutal but necessary fulfillment of ancient prophecy in order to change the course of mankind and give it hope for the future.

I wonder...

As the great prophet Bob Dylan once wrote:

“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.”

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