What was Jesus doing?

Andrew tossed the paper to his brother Simon and showed him the part about John the Odd getting arrested.

"This man was innocent. He did nothing wrong; instead of causing mischief or causing 'disruption' like this crap says he was, the things he said made people think twice about their lives and if there really is something more than banging girls, getting wasted and getting into grad school. And yet they arrest HIM? That is seriously twisted! I wish I could see them get Levi Roberts, that douche who charges everyone way too much at the tuition office and keeps the profits to pay for his fancy smancy car, mansion, whatever. I swear, I don't know what the heck is going on!" He tossed the fishing rod to his brother. The two guys were out fishing at a local pond to try to pay for the tutition costs Bright Futures didn't cover.

But at that moment, Andrew froze, because that man he saw back at John the Odd's baptizing thing was approaching him.

Jesus. His name was Jesus.

"I'm not even worhty to tie his shoes!"

The Messiah? Maybe? Or was it just some bad ramen noodles that made him a little loopy?

"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," that Jesus guy said.

Normally Andrew would have thought, "Okkkaaay this guy is a hippie or a druggie or something, but I'm gonna get out of here right now if he thinks he can walk up to a random pair of dudes and tell them to follow him." But Andrew did neither of these things.

Instead he left his fishing rod behind and found himself following Jesus. He turned around, and Simon was doing the same thing.

What was Jesus doing?
******************************************************************************************
"My parents couldn't believe that I had dropped out of FSU to follow some 'religious hobo.' But here I am," said Peter and they all laughed. They were standing in the Ocala Publix parking lot, trying to dodge all of the frat boys in their Corvettes.

"But ya know, something about Jesus makes you do things you would have never dreamed of doing-like going from riches to ramen noodles," Matt the former Suntrust employee said, who used to overcharge students for services whenever he could and kept the profits for himself. That is, until he met that Jesus guy.

"Speaking of ramen noodles," piped in Tom, "we need to buy stuff for dinner. What's on the shopping list that Jesus wrote?" John flipped it out.

"Okay, we just need rice and eggs."

"Wait, rice?" Judas asked.

"With eggs?" James said.

"That's what Jesus said, at least." John muttered to himself.

"I'm starting to think I'll never really get Jesus," Tom sighed. "Between these dang parables and weird shopping lists, I'm just confused."

"But who wants a God we can really understand, anyway?" John added. "Tell you what. Why don't we at least go across the street from Publix to where Jesus said he'd be and go see exactly what dinner plans he has in mind?"

"We nominate you, Jesus' BFF! You and your bromance," said Phil, and everyone laughed. John rolled his eyes.

"Oh, whatever, you kids! I'll go see what my BFF wants for dinner," said John, and they all laughed harder. John left the parking lot and crossed the street.

But John wasn't rolling his eyes anymore, but instead staring in shock. Because Jesus was talking to a lesbian woman at a PRIDE booth set up at Heritage Grove. He was drinking a bottle of water.

What was Jesus doing?

Could this be the Messiah?

Dr. Park laughed in his American religious history classs as he asked his students what their plans for the weekend were. Nearly all of them were going to Wakulla County to see Odd John, aka John the Baptist.

"C'mon, REALLY?" he said snickering. "There's the FSU vs. Miami game Saturday, and you want to go hear some weirdo who in between eating his strange diet of grasshoppers and honey insists that some powerful deity is coming..to Tallahassee? Oh, what is that deity, is the god of the Gators angry that we beat them in the last game?"

The class started laughing. Dr. Park took another sip of his coffee and leaned on the podium.

"But..ya know..I have to admit I'm a little curious, too." Dr. Park twirled his mustache. "I was reviewing my notes for my lecture on interpretations of modern Judaism and came across this in their scripture. It's from the Prophet Isaiah, in chapter 40, verse 3. Listen to what it says."

"I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the desert.' How might one interpret this, young scholars?"

A redheaded Jewish freshman raised his hand.

"What's your name?" Dr. Park questioned.

"Andrew. And maybe..he's the Messiah?"
_________________________________________________________________________________
"I'm not even worthy to tie his shoes!" John cried, baptizing a young frat boy in Lake Ella. The kid had come clean about his wild sexual escapades, his addiction to alcohol and use of steroids. He said he wanted the new life, the one only God could bring.

"Are you the one that will save the world?" the frat brother had asked. But his face turned bright red when John the Odd couldn't stop laughing and had blurted that out.

 But just after John finally gained control of his laughter, another man entered. He was skinny and awkward looking, but his eyes shone brighter than anything the people had ever seen.

"Baptize me, John."

So John gave in and baptized the man who just walked in. But the focus was no longer on John the Odd, but on this mysterious man. Was he on drugs? No, for he was too sane and had a look to him that implied he knew everything about you without you even knowing it. Was he a spy? No, because that guy didn't look intimidating in the least. There was something different in that man, all right. Was it how captivating his eyes were?

Just then a loud voice echoed into every corner of Lake Ella:

"You are my Son, whom I love," a voice cried from above the earth somewhere. Everyone immediately took off screaming in fear.

"I always knew John was odd!!!!!!!!"

But the scrawny redhead Jewish boy didn't run away.

"Could this be the Messiah?" Andrew asked himself.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Nicodemus "Nick" Park stood outside Bellamy Hall at 2:30 one Friday night. This was just an FSU crime bulletin waiting to happen.

But Nick didn't care, for there were much bigger things to consider. Students didn't just give up huge football games to hear religious fanatics. So maybe this man the called Jesus was onto something. Because after all, completely otherworldly things had been happening. Either that, or everyone was hallucinating.  Because voices just didn't pop out of the sky after the religious ceremony of baptism. Water couldn't turn into wine by itself. Jesus was a weirdo. Normal people didn't have weird groupies headed up by John the Odd following them all of the time. But most of all, normal people didn't kick people out of the temple for selling Seminole gear instead of worshipping Yahweh.

Who was Jesus? Was he an incarnation of the Buddha or a Hindu god? A lunatic? Most of Nick's colleagues went with the latter. Nick had arranged a meeting with this strange man so he could decide for himself. But he wanted to meet Jesus at night so no one would know he took this man (somewhat) seriously.

In fact, there was one option that seemed more likely than a reincarnated being or a lunatic. He could be the Messiah.

Hero: An Introduction

"Tengo que correr tras de mi ovejita!"

This summer I had the opportunity to work with the Quechua people in the rural Peruvian Andes for two months and encourage new Christians in their faith. It was awesome! Now, keep in mind that most of the Quechua are shepherds/farmers. This means that they spend most of their lives in the fields with their livestock. If I wanted to hang out with these awesome people, this meant I usually followed them up the mountain to their field..with all 20 something of their sheep and cattle. (This ain't easy for a gringa, by the way!!!)

Today as I was walking out with Tetchi, one of her sheep escaped and she left me and my partners Andrew and Sam all alone with her herd! We started laughing as we watched her running after that sheep of hers, because little Quechua women can RUN! And she ran, ran, ran until she found that missing sheep.

Watching that woman run after her sheep made me see firsthand what Jesus meant when He told the parable about the lost sheep and how the Good Shepherd searched and searched until He found that missing sheep. See, I had never really been able to fully understand Christ's parable, because in Tallahassee we value College Night at Chick-fil-A and that glorious day when financial aid is dispursed, but not sheep. Baaaaah. Because sometimes in the Bible, we have to read some about the historical context and background that is unknown to us in order for the words on the page to fully make sense. Why? Well, the Bible doesn't take place in Tallahassee, Florida, 2012.

But what if it did?

I thought about that this summer, before and after the event with Tetchi's sheep happened. What would the Gospel look like in our culture, in our world as we know it? Who would Jesus challenge? Who would try to condemn Him? What people would be hated by the high and lofty?

So I did what I do with all things that require much thinking on my part..and wrote about what I thought might happen. And these next several weeks, I'm going to share with you my 2012 versions of the Gospel story here, just like I did last December with the Christmas story.

Please understand a few things. First, I'm not trying to take away from the Word itself. Go read that to reallly understand what happened, because this is just me being creative. Secondly, I'm not trying to be irreverent of God's Word but rather try to get people to see things in a new perspective. Finally, I may or may not have the right interpretation of what would have really happened. All I know is this. Jesus Christ was, is, and will be a hero. He is the shepherd that saves all of the lost sheep and saved us at the highest price He could pay-His life.

He's my hero. I'm His sheep and He's my shepherd. And He loves all of us and will RUN after all of us to bring us back home. Now let's see what Christ may have looked like in Tallahassee, a land with no sheep but people in need of a Shepherd.

A hero.

                                          Taking livestock up the mountain.
 
                                       

A shepherd feeding her sheep.