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There are times when it seems that the whole of the Christian message is about ‘why Jesus died.’ In many ways, one would think that Christianity is about providing for a better death, rather than life.
In this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, it seems to me that the real question we should be asking is not ‘Why did Jesus die,’ but ‘Why did Jesus live?’ This, for me, is the issue at hand. It is the real question because it provides me (and you too I think!) with the real reason for why we live.
This story called ‘gospel’ or ‘good news’ is about much more than just under-populating a place called ‘hell’ so that we might over-populate a place called ‘heaven.’ Even contemplating such a wager produces the very fear that the Bible tells us God, as Love, drives out.
No, the good-news-story of the celebrated one in this holiday season is about issues of life – life in all of its fullness, which in essence means (to me, anyway), love.
The way of love is the baby in a manger. This, I think, is because the real power of love is found in its vulnerability. It’s the apostle Paul telling us that to be strong we must be weak so that the strength of God might be made manifest rather than our own.
The way of love is also the way of honoring the law of gestation. Through Jesus we see many years of preparation and time for growth in wisdom and stature. His is a full-life of work and play and family. It is a life of learning and study and the gathering of spiritual insight.
The way of love is also about a process of coming to know one’s true-self or real identity. And then, once this realization comes (the realization that we have been made in the image and likeness of God – that we have been made partakers of God’s divine nature) then we, like Jesus, extend God’s love to a world in waiting. As Jesus told Thomas, ‘if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father,’ i.e., Love.
Jesus lived because love never dies.
Jesus lived because love never ends.
Jesus lived because love is present and active and transformative and healing.
Love seeks out those on the margins to make them the center – it embraces the unembraceable, forgives the unforgiveable and gives us a safe place to live.
I think in this way it is the life of Jesus that provides for us ‘true North’ on our spiritual compass. His life points the way for us to enter into relationship with God and each other; to ‘understand’ by ‘standing under.’
We learn that by serving, others are lifted up. By loving, they are comforted. By touching, they are healed. By embracing, they find the acceptance and embrace of a heavenly Father.
And because Jesus lived, these eternal truths put on flesh and give us hope, joy and peace in this holiday season.
9 comments to “Why Did Jesus Live?”
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I love your posts Tim! It is interesting that we focus so much on Jesus death, when that is only a small portion of the books we call the gospel. The majority of those books talk about how Jesus lived, this includes what he said and did. It is funny that at Christmas time we celebrate Jesus birth only to fast forward to his death, it is like having an Oreo and deciding to eat only the chocolate ends and throwing out the best part. I do not know anyone who does that, if anything we eat the best part first and then the ends, or at least that’s how I do it. Thanks for your thoughts Tim and Merry Christmas my friend!
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I love the post! You know, I always regret, having preached in the past that “Jesus lived only to die.” It was one of those hard core, I know it all sermons….Geesh, thank God or as you would say, “the Unnameable”, that I have evolved, and continue to evolve, in the way I see things. I used to preach that, we too, in a sense, were “born only to ‘die’”….blah, blah, blah… however it strikes me as ironic that in a sense my words ring true for me still. What I mean is that, now, I am still to think that I was born to ‘die’, but specifically, at this point in my life, I am to realise that I was born to ‘die’ in regards to thinking and teaching that Jesus was born only to die! LOL!! Did that make sense? In other words, I am now, destined to stop teaching the things that I was so sure of in the past and thus deliver a message that will encourage my listeners to feel like that they were born to live, born to love, and born to smile- whether it be from the warmth of the sun on their faces, or the company of special people in their midst….we were born to love,enjoy partake, and reciprocate.
(Deep breath of relief…..it feels better you know?)
Thanks again for the post!
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Great post. I really enjoying reading your insights. Have a very blessed Christmas!
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If a son can come as a child and be followed beneath an obscure star, can we not come as children though a gospel be obscure and a Christ’s significance be misunderstood?
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Right on, Tim. You’ve spoken to me… brother! Love!
Merry Christmas!
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“That’s all I’m sayin”!” Excellent insights. Love – so simple a message, so hard to fathom for some. Grace is awesome indeed!
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Amen!
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Beautiful post, Tim! This is why I embrace Christmas with such joy and celebration! It is my favorite of all celebrations in the year, for who would I be if “Love” hadn’t come (would I even BE?) Love that became flesh and dwelt among us is the origin of all that exists….and it is our hope! Thanks for your words and your heart in this!
This is an excellent post Tim! The emphasis is exactly correct as Jesus life truly demonstrates God’s love for humanity, especially the disenfranchised and down trodden.