To be completed

Here's part of the reflective reading on Sunday. Behind it is the idea that what we say about who Jesus is to us is based on our experiecnes of Jesus. At least that is the more honest way of doing it. We could simply receite the creeds but they don't mean as much as a real experience of a relationship with the love-maker. So here are a few stories from the Bible that speak into who Jesus is, from the experiences of some of the relationships he had with others.

It is still a work in progress and I'd love/appreciate/celebrate you editing it and suggesting things about it so it is written in community. Also, dare I ask, if anyone would like to be one of the voices...

 

Who do you say I am?

I know you you are
I was standing in a circle surrounded by pharisees and religious types
all warming up a stone in their palms
willing to be the first to throw it at me
the sinner
but you Jesus drew in the sand
hardly looking at them
showing contempt for their hypocrisy
and asked the one without sin to throw their stone
and no one did
and after they left
I left too
willing to never sin again
You are the freedom-giver
That’s who I say you are
(put stone down on table)

Who do you say I am?

I know who you are
I knelt before you as a leper
and outcast from the community
humiliated by the bell I rang
to make sure no one would speak to me
not even my family
I came and knelt down at your feet and said
‘If you chose you can make me well’
You hardly hesitated
You hardly paused
before you proclaimed,
‘I do choose, be made clean’
and you silenced me to secrecy
Yet what a burden to carry with me
what a secret
but you can’t keep good news folded away
and I rejoiced in my healing that brought me back into community once more
back with my family
back in my village
You are the justice-bringer
That’s who I say you are
(put bell on table)

Who do you say I am?

I know who you are
I was with you on a journey from Jerusalem
Cleopas and me
though we didn’t recognise you
even as we talked of you
the events of the cross
the crucifixion and the tomb
so vivid your story
so real your love
we felt your presence but didn’t recognise it
and when we arrived at Emmaus
and asked you to stay even though you wished to travel on
we continued to surround ourselves with your stories
the truths you told us
the words of love
but it was when you blessed bread with us
we recognised you
the light exploded in ever crumb
and we saw you momentarily in our souls
you were the bread-breaker
That’s who we say you are
(place bread)

And so the story continues
as God’s people find ways
to speak of Jesus
not through doctrine
but in relationship
where the word is alive in us

And who do you say I am?

Comments

[Jo]

I know who you are
I pushed through the people
Head down
Ashamed, looking at my feet, trembling,
Afraid of more disgusted looks, turned shoulders.
Desperately I reached and grasped
And touch,
Wholeness.
And You stop.
Who? You ask
Me- it's me.
Daughter, You smile.
You are the life-giver
That's who I say You are.