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| Denisse Luna: Caution |
By Dinorah
Pérez-Rementería
I have written
this review with the purpose of introducing Jesus to the casual reader, in
the same way John Edredge does in Beautiful
Outlaw or Pastor Joel Osteen accomplishes in his sermon each week. But, I
like to play with and dissolve myself into words. So, please be aware: if Jesus
is not here, between you and I, then run away, without guilty feelings, like my
little brother did. He could not get past the second page. As Eldredge says,
“Jesus is infinitely creative,” and he will find another, more effective way to
capture you.
“An artist is
revealed in the work he or she creates, and in the abundance of the work created,” says John Eldredge in Beautiful Outlaw, his book on the
personality of Jesus (57). Very few things can be as life-giving and fulfilling
as discovering –how to know and see- God through his creations. Having received
eyes to see and ears to hear (him), one is inevitably drawn into an appealing
search –a search for deeper connections
and elements that help us deal with the unpredictability of the ocean as well
as the complex mental, physical, emotional design of a human being.
An essential of
life, these connections encompass the power to awaken curiosity and stimulate a
natural inspired impulse in each of us. The forms, orders and patterns, from
which our intellect and perceptions are nurtured, have been somewhat inspired
by them, serving as interactive channels enlarging, enriching, and, most of
all, facilitating the emergence of
connections as such. Indeed, (external) patterns, orders and forms are needed
insofar as they might help provoke in people a spontaneous inner glow –that is, an intimate desire to navigate connections
free from pressure and be smoothly permeated by them. Very often, however, our
experience of patterns, orders, and forms is not fruitful. We recite, memorize,
and follow through. We might become used to take patterns for the truth.
Instead of approaching patterns as they truly are –substantial venues pointing
our way to greater treasures- we unconsciously learn to adopt them, without
realizing that patterns of thinking and behavior sometimes can be reductive or
even distorted. Thus, they may turn into an obstacle for us to find pleasure in
exploring the connections.
A similar
episode happens with regard to the question of who God is and how we relate to
him. Many associate God with the idea of being religiously affiliated to church or certain ritual practices. Unfortunately,
while these individuals learn to accommodate their searching to a specific pattern or religious methodology, they may
not experience a free desire to navigate God. Nonetheless, others seem
impregnated with some of God’s essential qualities –goodness, creativity, pure
(uncorrupted) spontaneity and Life. John Eldredge from Ransomed Heart
Ministries is one of these people. By reading his books, one comes into an
effortless, engaging experience of God. God created
the heavens and the earth, and he also created
man in his own image: caring, resourceful and ingenious. God’s spirit reminds
us of those deeper connections that,
of their own accord, emerge out of nowhere –or perhaps, everywhere- fueling our
brains as well as our heartbeat.
Can molds or
patterns ever confine, encapsulate creativity, spontaneity and Life? Well, a
pattern in itself can portray the religious, or the theological, or
mathematical, or historical…Still, it can never imprison God. On the other
hand, God can surely permeate a human
pattern. After all, humanity was created in his image. Despite man’s failure to
recognize that he had been naturally, generously, empowered by God to act and
think in caring, resourceful, ingenious ways from the beginning –a crash which
somehow set up the arena for a long list of frightful events, orders and
archetypes that have facilitated the
spreading of inaccurate and very poor interpretations of God among the people-,
he has faithfully assumed/infiltrated fantastic shapes inciting us to
recuperate his humane spirit. As a
matter of fact, God appeared on earth in his most beautiful form two thousand
years ago, determined to uncover himself as he is and rescue a deluded mankind
once and for all.
Author John
Eldredge calls Jesus a “beautiful outlaw.” His love for God filters through the pages of the book like an ocean
wave, like a burning bush. In the introduction, as he invites us to delve into
the major adventure/finding of our lives, he writes: “More words about Jesus
are helpful only if they bring us to
an experience of him” (x). A humorous, alarming, abundant Jesus emerges from
Eldredge’s words as he does from the Gospels, our memories, our sufferings, our
visions -when we see him as he is. As Eldredge suggests, “Our experience of
Jesus is limited most often by the limits we
put on him” (154), which means that patterns, orders, and archetypes, whether
religious, academic, historical, social, moral, or any others, that may have fed
(and possibly codified) our perceptions but have become a barrier preventing us
from navigating God after a while, can dissolve in him. In Romans 12:2 in The Bible, the apostle Paul asks us not
to conform to the pattern of the world but to be transformed by the renewing of
our mind. Ironically, as the stagnant (flower?) arrangements of the world melt
away in Christ, other deeper, shape-free connections transpire, permeating us
like the Holy Spirit, or a Thunder Storm, or a Loving Eye, or an Open Sea
Throughout the
book, Eldredge beautifully recovers
the unadulterated humanity of Jesus, in its entire fruitful and assorted
features: his playfulness and intelligence, his trueness and ardent intention of
restoring mankind, his profuse generosity and troublesome honesty, his beauty
and humility, and his scandalous freedom. For Eldredge, writing about Jesus
essentially becomes a passionate, enjoyable, and surrendered encounter with the
love of his life, and the author welcomes us to partake in -and be pervaded by-
it, as any generous man (or woman) would, in the same way Jesus does. Eldredge
says, “An intimate encounter with Jesus is the most transforming experience of
human existence. To know him as he is, is to come home. To have his life, joy,
love, and presence cannot be compared. A true knowledge of Jesus is our
greatest need and our greatest happiness. To be mistaken about him is the
saddest mistake of all” (11). Life, joy,
love, the presence of Jesus is, in the midst of agonies and pain, an event that
energizes us to imagine, to dream of fertile connections among all patterns we
see, to open up to a new appreciation of what it means to be a human effortlessly immersed in the
spirit of God.
One can’t help
but feel easily attracted to the unpolluted, transparent character of Jesus.
Why couldn’t we be/act more like him? Jesus’s qualities must have served as
inspiration for the creation of the human race, though, as Eldredge
notices,“the ravages of sin, neglect, abuse, and a thousand addictions have
left us all a shadow of what we were meant to be. Jesus is humanity in its
truest form. His favorite title for himself was the Son of Man”(48). Sharp, playful, an alluring man, Jesus splendidly
portrays the compelling dynamics of genuine humanity,
intended by God since the conception of mankind. Eldredge recalls how, after
“having conquered death, ransomed mankind, been restored to his Father, his
friends, and the world he made,” a happy, disguised Jesus shows up before his
disciples in an informal way instead of choosing to announce, as both religious
people and scholars would have expected, “his risen presence on the beach with
radiant glory,” mischievously recreating their very first encounter, as
narrated in Luke 5, and taking his
devoted followers by surprise (3).
Another
appealing moment that allows us to perceive Jesus’s operative sense of humor happens when the tax collectors intercept
Peter to ask whether his personal coach pays the temple tariff, in Mathew 17:24-27. Here, Eldredge notices
that even though Peter confirms that his instructor adheres to the “legal”
duties in the village, the disciple could have doubted the righteousness of
Jesus, as the Master senses an urgent need to rescue him from subsequent
thoughts by posing a very ingenious question, along with a ludicrous
four-drachma coin story inviting Peter to go fishing until a deeper
understanding of (or connection to) “the Law” materialized from the inside
(23-24). The customary rigidity and officially permitted two-dimensionality of
God, which had been experienced and “enforced” by religious practitioners for
so long, appears torn from top to bottom like the curtain of the temple in the
projection, incarnation of Jesus.
“The incarnation
is one of the greatest treasures of our faith,” Eldredge writes in Beautiful Outlaw, for it may cause in us a natural and unaffected
desirability for the personality of God (47). The author corroborates that when
Jesus came, “he came as presented in the Gospels –very much human, a person, a
man, with a very distinct personality (…) This is how he chooses to make
himself known” (Eldredge 51). Undeniable evidences can be found in the Gospels
that testify of Jesus’s organic human nature. Eldredge mentions, for instance,
the passage in which Jesus went to Gethsemane
and prayed so intensely that his sweat looked like dropping blood (44). In
addition to enduring a severe perspiration that, together with the dust of the
roads he walked, might have possibly provoked serious acne breakouts
on his face, Jesus ate, drank, rested when he felt tired, openly confronted the
two-faced individuals who tried to prevent others from freely experiencing the
curative power of God and, all the while, warned the “restored ones” against
making the healing sessions a theatrical affair, as well as withdrew to
solitary places to express his deepest sorrows. Eldredge also emphasizes,
“Jesus enjoyed people” and had the opportunity to feast with “a rowdy crowd” in
numerous occasions (49). “His longing for companionship” breaks the surface in the
moment Jesus asks Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to simply stay awake while
he prays in Gethsemane , revealing how much “He
who created love and friendship” desires to build a true, affectionate
connection with us (Eldredge 49-50).
Building
undiluted connections would grow to be one of Jesus’s utmost projects. As we
learn from the Gospels, he looks intrinsically detached from the inconsistent
politics, paradigms and “orders” of the world surrounding him, though Jesus
ingeniously intervenes (in) them, with
the purpose of rescuing people from falling, yet again, under affected
religiosity or anarchist deception. As John Eldredge highlights, “Jesus’ three
years of public ministry are one long intervention (…) He is on a mission to
rescue a people who are so utterly deceived most of them don’t even want to be rescued” (68). The author
calls our attention, for instance, to the occasion in which a certain man who
occupied a position in the synagogue invites Jesus to share dinner with him. In
contrast to the behavior pattern standardized by the rule-making system, Jesus
chooses not to wash his hands but go straight in and seat at the table. When he
notices the surprised man’s face, Jesus replies, “Now then, you Pharisees clean
the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and
wickedness” (Luke 11:37-39). In this regard, Eldredge reminds us that “whenever
you are watching Jesus, you are watching love (…) in action,” a love that does
not necessarily have to be interpreted as “polite” but rather an honest one
(67). “When a soul is encrusted with pride, bigotry, self-righteousness, and
intellectual eliticism –as was his dinner host- then the shell does need to be
struck hard at times in order to cause a crack that might allow some light in.
Jesus strikes with the precision of Michelangelo,” the writer argues, inviting
us to approach Jesus’s attitude from an unsettling perspective (Eldredge 68).
A disconcerting Jesus
appears to be constantly defying the schematizations and convictions of our
cultural politics. As Eldredge affirms,
The spirit of
our day is a soft acceptance of everything –except deep conviction in anything.
This is where Jesus will suddenly confront the world as a great rock confronts
the river flowing ever downhill. He is immovable. The cry used to be for
“tolerance,” by which we meant, “We have very strong differences, but we will
not let those be the cause of hatred or violence between us.” Now it is
something else, where all convictions are softened to second or third place while
we all agree to enjoy the world as much as we can. But truth is not like
conviction. Conviction might be a matter of personal opinion, but truth is like
a great mountain, solid and immovable whether we like it or even acknowledge
it. Christianity is not a set of convictions –it is a truth. The most offensive
thing imaginable. (Eldredge 79)
An example of Jesus’s holy
defiance becomes visible in many of his spontaneous healing sessions. After
Jesus finishes sharing “the Sermon of the Mount” with his followers, a man with
leprosy approaches him, in hopes of being made clean. Although Jesus could have
healed the leper from a distance, for as Eldredge recalls “there are many
accounts where all he does is say the word and people are healed,” Jesus
touches him because “this is the one thing the man needs” (82-83). The writer
notes, “To be starved for human touch is far worse than to starve for bread”
(Eldredge 83). In order to help us gain a better understanding of Jesus’s action,
Eldredge creates an opportune linkage between what “being a leper” meant to the
Jewish society and the public reaction toward those suffering from AIDS during
the early years of crisis. Touching the leper would make Jesus socially and
politically “desecrated” before the official Jewish agencies. But, it is none
other than his simple, caring gesture
itself that transforms into a desecrating act. By touching the leper, Jesus
strategically (and almost invisibly) tears to pieces the vicious politics of
abjection that had expanded like weed within the religious Jewish culture.
Indeed, throughout
the entire account of the Gospels, we can perceive the unquestionable impact
Jesus’s faculty of discernment –consciousness, sensibility
and knowledge- has on accomplishing the mission. Eldredge emphasizes, “He is no
fool. He knows full well he is operating behind enemy lines. Oh, he intents a
revolution, but he knows timing is essential. He must outwit his enemy,
circumvent the religious authorities without seeming to do so, and train his
followers to carry on after his departure (…)” (94). In the book of Mathew, Jesus openly declares to “the
discarded” as well as the political advocates of the system that he has come to
fulfill, not to abolish the Law or the Prophets. As opposed to establishing (a new set of orders and
norms that would eventually be enforced upon the people), Jesus argues that he
will fulfill –complete, accomplish,
imbue, permeate, satiate- the established
pattern of the Law, which
essentially liberates us from the burden of guilt. But, later, the man adds,
“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to
do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (…)” (Mathew 5:19).
While Jesus’s words
comprise a releasing force, they seem to apprehend
us on deeper level. As John Eldredge says, “Without his teaching on genuine
holiness, the crowd could shift to anarchy” (95). Is Jesus instigating us, in
an indirect way, to recognize -to remember- that we have always been released by God to act and think caringly,
not so much by circumscribing ourselves to a secular or a religious archetype
but by means of sustaining a closer connection with him? While we may use (religious,
theological, historical, mathematical, scientific…) paradigms as facilitating
channels for tracing, classifying, assimilating the abundance of Creation*, we would be terribly deceived
if we take them for the source/fountain of experience per se. The words of
Jesus have the power to deactivate any external pattern, or format, or deception scheme as they, in basic terms,
awaken us to him. For only Jesus brings us (back) into a fulfilled, complete, accomplished, satiated experience of God, as
happened in the beginning of mankind, as so generously still occurs in our
early childhood years. The weight of Jesus’s presence comes to light through
his words, a true and uncompromising way to live and love.
Eldredge recalls
that Jesus “doesn’t force anyone to follow him. He seems rather reluctant to do
his miracles. He never overwhelms anyone’s will with a fantastic display of his
majesty,” living out the most unobstructed view of God, displaying an
entrancing sense of holiness, and letting people walk away from him if they
want (103). In Philippians 2:6-7, the
apostle Paul expresses about Jesus, “being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” As Jesus neutralizes
all archetypes constructed by men trying to encapsulate, domesticate, and
ultimately accommodate God’s spirit into their own thinking model, he entirely satisfies
the human pattern.
To empathize
with the beautiful humility of Jesus, we need to consider several factors that
are often overlooked. First of all, by becoming human, Jesus learned how to derive his life –the needed fuel for his actions- from the
Father, surrendering his inherent influence over Creation, in order to teach us to do the same. He had to
learn to walk, talk, tie his shoes, use a hammer and a saw, and nail two boards
together (Eldredge 108-109). Eldredge observes, “God –who is in all places at
all times –has to get from one place to another like a guy who can’t even come
up with bus fare,” calling our attention to the fact that “we pass right over
phrases such as ‘Jesus went up to Jerusalem’,” as if he had merely crossed the
street to purchase some milk at the public store, when the real distance
between Bethany and Cana is nearly sixty miles (109-110). At the time people go
out to the Jordan River to be baptized by
John, Jesus does so as well, patiently waiting his turn in line. As Eldredge
says, “Nobody gives him a second glance. He’s just another sun-baked Jew in
robe and sandals” (111). Contrasting Jesus’s ordinary, unimposing appearance with
the attitude of a few leaders who believe “they’ve come to change the world,”
Eldredge offers the following comment,
When Saddam
Hussein was ousted from his dictatorship, a good deal of coverage was given to
public places in Iraq
Drawing
substantiation from the Father frees Jesus to
be true humanity for us –that is, as Eldredge says, “to be entirely free of
false guilt, free from pressure, from false allegiances” (129). The writer
makes a point of arguing,
It is what
enables him to be so scandalous. This is the secret of his ability to navigate
praise and contempt. Neither success nor opposition has power over him. One day
the crowds love him, the next day they are shouting for his crucifixion. Jesus
is the same man –the same personality- through the whole swirling tempest.
Jesus is free from the fear of man. It is something more than integrity, though
it certainly encompasses that. He is true to himself, true to his Father, true
to what the moment most requires, true to love. In this forest of fig leaves,
where you are never sure you are getting the true person, there is nothing
false about Jesus. (Eldredge 129-130).
To our amazement, the human pattern filled by Jesus thoroughly
reveals the spirit of God. The apostle John insists, “No one has ever seen God;
the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (1:18). One
can say that Jesus becomes a building block, the authentic, deeper connection among all the elements
created by God, and through which we can learn of the Artist himself, from
lightning to sweat, to an unruly heartbeat, to desire and wisdom, to the person
of our dreams. Eldredge explores Jesus from an unfastened perspective,
He is the playfulness of creation, scandal and
utter goodness, the generosity of the ocean and the ferocity of a thunderstorm;
he is cunning as a snake and gentle as a whisper; the gladness of sunshine and
the humility of a thirty-mile walk by foot on a dirt road. Reclining at a meal,
laughing with friends, and then going to the cross. That is what we mean when
we say Jesus is beautiful. But, most of all, it is the way he loves. In all
those stories, every encounter, we have watched love in action. Love as strong
as death; a blood, sweat, and tears love, not a get-well card. You learn a
great deal about the true nature of a person in the way they love, why they
love, and, in what they love. (137)
Jesus is, as
Eldredge says, “the missing essence of our existence” (200). “We need Jesus
like we need oxygen,” writes the author, letting his life be impregnated by the
dynamic strength of God. If we are willing,
we can actually find Jesus incarnated everywhere,
in an open friendship or a corrective word, in our most faithful high school
students, in spontaneous acts of kindness, in my brother and my grandmothers, Eldredge,
Joel, Andrew, Peter, Nancy, Paul, and the apostle John. How could I introduce
Jesus to the young adults living in the South West area? (Ms. Dinorah hammers on the bathroom door in holy anger, wondering why her
students have abandoned her in the classroom.) “Jesus is your pill, el cigarro, a faithful lover, the means for
us to gain access to The Trinity, a most
heroic, fear-provoking gang, a friend we can trust with our lives…” I bet Jesus
would tenderly whisper in my ear: “too many complicated words,” as he’d simply show
up among them, shake their hands, and say “hello.”
Note
*It is important that you experience the word Creation as you naturally would. Feel free to adjust, generate,
expand, negate, interact with the term according to what the moment most
requires.
Bibliography
Eldredge, John. Beautiful Outlaw: Exploring the Playful,
Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus. New York ,
Boston , Nashville
Schökel, Luis Alonso. La biblia de nuestro pueblo. Bilbao ; Quezon
City
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