A renewed interest

By MARY JANE HOLT
Contribuing Writer

One thing about it, “The Passion” sure has revived an interest in all things Jesus. And when you are looking at all things Jesus, division is a word that immediately comes to mind. But Jesus Christ did not teach an exclusionary or divisive message.

Jesus is reported to have summed it up like this: “The first commandment requires that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. And the second commandment clearly requires that you love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s it. That’s what Jesus was, and is, all about.

No more. No less. In fact, He Himself said you could hang all the law and all the prophets on those two commandments. No pomp, circumstance and fluff. Nothing to set apart his followers except love, the active “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” kind of results-oriented love.

Did you know that “do unto others” theme runs through all the great religions?

I have learned much about Jesus from church attendance over the years. But, if the truth be told, I have learned much that I have chosen to unlearn. I have come to realize that the Jesus story is so much simpler than many folks, especially those caught up in organized religion, make it out to be.

I see it like this: There was a Creator God. He made man. He made rules. He loved His creation. The creation broke the rules. The penalty was death. Jesus, who was with God at Creation said, “Don’t kill them. I know you love them. Let me go down and die for them. Let me take their punishment. Let me redeem them.” And when the timing was right that is exactly what he did.

Think about it like this. A nine-year-kid labors for weeks building a little boat. He takes it to a stream to play and the boat which is so eager to find out how it can perform in the setting for which it was created quickly gets caught up in the water currents and very independently floats away from its creator.

Many weeks later, the little kid is playing at a friend’s house and he sees the boat amongst a pile of toys and clutter in the friend’s room. It’s all scratched up, broken in a couple of places, but recognizable. He wants his boat back. The friend says, “No, it’s mine, I found it.”

The creator of the boat goes home and gets all his money out of his piggy bank, goes back to the friend’s house and buys back his boat. He repairs all the broken places and makes it like new again, then sets it free once more in the streams of life to be the little boat is was created to be. Created, redeemed, repaired and stronger than ever, this time the little boat which has come to appreciate and love its maker, waits for that maker to offer guidance or lovingly lead.

So, maybe the created ones (you and me) were too eager to try our wings to take time to even acknowledge our maker in the beginning. May we were too big for our britches as elders of yesteryear might have said. Then again, maybe the Creator decided all those rules were just too complex for some of us and that’s why Jesus said we don’t have to go there. He really simplified the whole picture with those instructions to just love God with all our being and love our neighbor the same way we love ourselves.

So, how does one become a Christian? Believe the Jesus story. Admit there were rules and we broke them. Ask God to forgive us for breaking the rules. Ask for the Holy Spirit (God and Jesus combined) to come into our heart and life and guide us and keep us. It’s really a no-brainer, folks. It’s just a matter of connecting with the One who wrote the Manual. For Christians, the man Jesus — His life, His death, His Spirit — is the bridge to such a connection.

I suppose I am thankful for “The Passion” and anything that stirs us to think and talk about all things Jesus. But just thinking and talking is not enough. Jesus is about being out in the midst of life and actively loving God, loving and respecting ourselves as His creation, and loving others as we love ourselves.