Our families shape our characters and identities. I wonder if the same was true of Jesus. Where did he learn
to have such compassion for people who were rejected by his society as sinners?
Of course the theological answer is that Jesus being God had godlike
compassion. And that is true. But I just wonder how God used Mary and Joseph to contribute to the
character development of Jesus. Jesus surely grew up hearing the story of his virgin
birth. I grew up hearing how I was with a blue skin color like the Indian god Krishna. Extraordinary events in a family are usually told and retold. Jesus' family I am assuming was no exception in that regard. Jesus also most likely grew up experiencing how his mom was shamed by his
society, and accused of being an adulteress. After all the society did not believe in
Mary's story of being impregnated by God. Some Jews from as early as the second
century accused Jesus of being the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier. A
veiled reference to that can be found in John 8:41. Here Jews might just be
saying to Jesus, "We are not like you, illegitimate!" Beside the
social shame that his family suffered, did Mary's taking on the shame for God
and Joseph's boldness in sharing in that
shame shaped Jesus' character. After all it is quite possible that Joseph was accused of getting Mary pregnant before marriage or of condoning
adultery. Roman law of that time treated a man who did not divorce his wife
accused of adultery as a panderer, a pimp.
The society in which Joseph lived one's honor meant everything, and Joseph risked loosing his honor by marrying Mary. Therefore I wonder if Jesus got from his mom his commitment to suffer in service
of God, and from Joseph the ability to share in the shame of others by
identifying with them. The life and the cross of Christ certainly is marked by
both .
No comments:
Post a Comment