How Do You See Jesus of Nazareth

The Jesus that I've come to know requires little from us. First we need to ask ourselves who is He, why did He create me and why does He love me? These difficult answers do not come to us overnight, and will require communication (prayer), on our part. As evident in the gospel at the Temple, Jesus demonstrated by the overturned money changers that worshiping God is never to become commercialized, its much more than that. We've all heard it before, grow your attendance and the revenue grows with it. Almost like a business, and all about power and numbers. The truth is the Kingdom of God, is all about love of God and neighbor and self.

The fact is that things were in need of change then, as well as now, as Mike Slaughter in his book Renegade Gospel so correctly stated: "Following in the way of the cross will mean a radical reordering of our priorities."
Change, not because any religion dictates this action, but the following of  Christ and your new found love for Him will be the reason for its mandate. It is the mystery of God at work, for the working out of your salvation.

Some will focus on the whip. I say of those that do, it is more a telling of how they are perceiving Jesus based on their own physical and mental condition at the time. This is not repeat not the Jesus that I have come to know. We all need reminders from time to time. Jesus came not to force us to love Him, but to enable us to see Him so clearly that we cannot help but Love Him hopefully, for all eternity.

Many years ago, I came to know my Savior, who revealed Himself to me in Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

He is not the tyrant as some need Him to be, but a nonjudgmental loving God who cannot help but find you to be the apple of His eye. We are called to become like Him.

Certainly, those who choose Him and desire to be His followers, are committed even unto death. We live in troubled times, as they have always been, but one thing is certain, He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow.