Jesus: King above all kings, the friend whom I know

[Post first started on May 18th, Thursday, 6p.m.
Last edited: May 29th, Monday, 11:15p.m]

Specially dedicated to the girl who's building her treasures in heaven - LJL. Because of your faithful prayers, you have helped me receive the greatest gift of all.

Now, this prodigal sister-in-christ is with you, in looking to the day when we will rejoice that we have given up on all we could have put our hopes on; the day when all our tears will be wiped away. May we always be in the passion of our Lord and to always grow in sisterly love.

Received an e-mail from Dave with this header "Talking about Jesus":

--- Start of email
Dear frens,

Any ideas on what an 'evangelical' Jesus look like? hehehe.... :D

Wud appreciate any input from u all cos I dun have much time to prepare for this XXX outing just before the XXXX da vinci code forum...

Cheers
Dave

[Start of forwarded email]
[Someone] says:
Hello brothers

Thanks for agreeing to share your tradition's perspective on Jesus at the XXX meeting this Saturday afternoon. Here as some suggested guidelines you may wish to use to frame your presentation, just to make sure we have some focus:

- Who is Jesus according to your tradition?
- What was/is his ministry?
- How do we interact him? What is expected of us as a result of this interaction?
- Strengths & weaknesses of your tradition's view of/approach to Jesus?

Key point is to discuss the tradition's view of Jesus, rather than the features of the tradition itself, as far as this is possible - although there'll be some overlaps.

If you can plan a 15 minutes presentation with about 5 minutes to interact on whatever questions people might have, that would be ideal. Haven't thought about the order of presentation, but might be nice to have it in some broad "chronological" order:

Catholic (C)
Evangelical (Dave)
Pentecostal/Charismatic (L)
"New Perspective"/NT Wright (A)

Well... let me know if you've any other suggestions anyhow.

May you be edified and enthralled with our Saviour as you make your preparations.
[End of forwarded mail]
---- End of email

Although it will be edifying to search the scriptures to consolidate all I know about the biblical Jesus (and I hope to do so,) I must say this e-mail led me to (on this commemorative 101st post) reflect on the Jesus I know (Sorry Dave! I'm no help here) - not just through the scriptures (which should rightfully be THE source), but the Jesus whom I had talked with, whined to, trusted and who had shown Himself to me to be King, Prince of Peace, my Comforter and Friend.

My first remembered encounter with Him was at the age of 8 when I was enrolled into a Catholic school. I must have been presented with the sinless, holy God cause I remembered my prayer on reaching home in the afternoon was, "God, I don't think I need Jesus. If you will write off all the bad things I did before, from today, I promise You that I will be a totally good girl and not do a single naughty thing." (I could just hear Jesus laugh at this childish thought, but boy was I determined!) My resolution promptly left my conscious memory when retiring to bed that night, I counted off all the naughty things I had done and they numbered around 20.

Over time, observation of the conduct of His people made me convinced about the hypocrisy of this religion and I remember swearing at one particular Christian that I'd rather believe in cannibalism than in this God he/she believes in. His/her dire warning led to my final suave throwback of "To hell be the consequences" (How prophetic my words could be huh?) before I marched off, my head lifted high.

The slight blip in my antenna (which I had thought was a disappointing but small incident) was when LJL became a Christian in Sec 4. Although I did not voice it then, I questioned her judgement in my heart and wondered if she walks through life with her eyes close. Don't you know what the Christians are like? You want to be one of them??? Okaaaaaay, it's YOUR life. Many times we would discuss the issue of God and most times, I would out-argue her (U know I did, LJL. :p ) I was smug in my belief that I'll always be free of this wretched religion, but LJL's faith and prayers to the true and loving God, who did not wish anyone to perish, but come to the way to Him, held the more amazing way and gift for me.

Fast forward to my internship, where I met my mentor, a gentle Christian who is overseeing my project work. With quiet humour, he never failed to put me at ease although I was then still shy and awkward. Somehow respect for his quiet wisdom silenced my doubts when he calmly invited me to his church. I remembered those early Sunday mornings, before the first rays of sunlight, when I would "sneak" out of my house to attend his home church at the sleepy hour of 8a.m where we would go for roti prata at around 10:30 after service. I remember this particular sermon where I had felt the beginning of a choice, "Choose Me, or the pleasures of the world? Choose the cross or the broad and easy way? Choose Truth or the life of comfortable ease?" Circumstances were just too easy and gratification too instant for me and I defaulted to the way against Him. In my last unwilling visit to his home church, he gave me a book "The Gift for all people" by Max Lucado, a simple narration that illustrates God's gift which I promptly left in a corner after a quick scan. I've no idea where he is now, but if I see him again, I'd like to see the quiet smile on his face when he realises that I am now God's people.
--- To be continued....