| Sunny Side Up April 5, 2006 �2006, Kathleen Gibson Consider the man from Nazareth Jesus Christ is big news these days. Comedians mock him. Newspapers publish lurid cartoons of him. Skeptics label him enemy #1. Others monger public paranoia toward politicians who espouse his moral teachings. Authors like Dan Brown who wrote 'The Da Vinci Code' churn out novels including erroneous 'facts' of his life and subsequent world history. Bought - and believed - by a gullible public, that particular book has topped best-seller lists and will doubtless attract millions to its offspring movie. Ann Rice, renowned author of everything vampire, spurned them to embrace her childhood Catholic faith in Christ - then turned her prolific pen to capturing - with remarkable insight - the essence of his life instead. Mel Gibson's 2004 movie 'The Passion,' an all too realistic portrayal of Jesus' last earthly hours, stirred audience's hearts and stormed ratings, much to critical disgust. Critic, skeptic, follower, mocker; whatever your opinion of Jesus Christ, you must admit one thing - more than any other single person, his life has irrevocably influenced our world and shaped much of our culture. The name, and the man behind it, have ploughed through two millennia of history, blazing a wide swathe of contradicting, frequently volatile thought. Historically, conflict surrounding the religion Jesus began has spawned some of the bloodiest wars the world has known; the most monumental travesties, the deepest global, national, and personal rifts. Followers of Jesus, often working in tandem, have seeded some of our greatest institutions, begun our most productive social movements, been responsible for scores of our noblest achievements, and lifted entire segments of society from the basest kinds of injustice, poverty, and depravity. To remove work inspired by Jesus from our world would empty entire libraries, rob us of a vast repertoire of classical music, render our greatest art galleries barren. Our oldest, most prestigious universities; our finest medical facilities - all gone. Big waves for a boy from little Nazareth, whose skilled hands - doubtless calloused - evidenced years of manual labor. Yet his entire life, according to everything we know from the Bible and history, was a love story. A glowing candle with a brief though brilliant blaze at wick's end. A tragic end - or so it seems at first glance - until his death is trumped, three days later by a victorious resurrection. It would be easy to be intimidated by the avalanche of conflicting public opinion surrounding Christ. If you don't have a theologian's education, a spawning salmon's tenacity, and the Vatican's resources, how, one may ask, is it possible to begin to know the truth? There's a key, and it's neither intellectual prowess nor esoteric experience. Faith alone opens our hearts and eyes to the Man who changes everything; the resurrected Son of God, who said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to God, unless through me." Faith, scripture says, comes by hearing. Listen first to a child. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." This Easter, start there. Respond Home |
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