Reflecting back on another term at Ridley, 1 of the things that I've been studying a bit is Christology (basically meaning 'study of Christ'). Who is Jesus Christ? Was he really both fully human and fully divine at the same time? As part of the reading I was doing I came across the following gem written sometime in the 2nd century a.d. by a guy called Valentinus:
He was continent, enduring all things. Jesus digested divivity: he ate and drank in a special way without excreting his solids. He had such a great capacity for continence that the nourishment within him was not corrupted, for he did not experience corruption.
Jesus in person managed to eat in a special way so that he never had to poo! Does it say something about my level of intellect and the maturity of my sense of humour that this has amused me so much, and stuck with me more than pretty much anything else of all the interesting and challenging things I've read and studied in my time here?!!
I actually read this while sat enjoying a pint of Guiness and some great live Irish music played by some very friendly and down to earth guys from Dublin in a Dublin city centre pub during a brief visit over to my in-laws in October. There was something oddly appropriate about sitting reading stuff about who Jesus is, his divinity and his humanity, in a place like that. As we all prepare for Christmas we're preparing for a time that is meant to be all about remembering that God really did become fully human in the person of Jesus Christ; and as I believe he showed during his time on earth in person, I believe that sitting in that Dublin pub with real down to earth people is the sort of place we'd find Jesus if he were present in the flesh today. And yes I do believe that as well as being fully divine he was fully human, with EVERYTHING that that entails!
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2 comments:
There's an episode of Stressed Eric which I can remember, where it shows a picture of his sewer next to his 'perfect' neighbours'. Their poos flushed down in uniform size and equidistant from each other, each wrapped in a little ribbon. Sometyimes I think this is how we regard Jesus, in a very strange kind of way.
Humm, intresting idea
Base of a sermon?
Youth Group study?
Perhaps a Theological text?
What ever you do with it, I think it helps us to see Jesus as fully God uet fully human by considering such things, I hope we get to read this book you talk about!
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