BY RUSSELL TURNER
MORE CHRIST LIKE
It only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas in 2015, now we are only a few days from Christmas 2016. While we like to hear the story of Christ’s birth and the infant Jesus, I have often thought of him as an adult. From all of the stories in the Bible, he was an incredible man. Often times we see paintings of Jesus as a simple Shepherd caring for his flocks with the emotions of love and caring; while I agree that he had those qualities, he also experienced all of the same emotions that we humans of today wrestle with every day.
Jesus also experienced the emotion of anger. The story of him driving the money changers from the temple was the actions of a man who was extremely angry. I can only guess about the reasons why the people of that day got into a habit of buying and selling inside of the temple (which happened to be one of their most holy and cherished sites). Behavior such as this happens over a period of time, we humans have a bad habit of accepting something if it happens over a lengthy period of time. There are countless laws on our books that are simply being ignored; when someone comes along that takes those laws seriously he or she is often ostracized, the people doing the ostracizing will often justify themselves by saying it has always been done that way. The same was probably said about the actions of Jesus Christ when he resorted to violence to run the con artists out of the temple. Those actions were the start of the chain of events that eventually led to crucifixion and the death of Christ.
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The In-Clique and the Powers-That-Be get very protective of the social order that suits them, and most of them will do whatever it takes to preserve it. Christ was probably called a radical and a trouble maker for his actions in the temple. I have found that going against the status quo always has consequences. If Christ had been like many people he would have taken the easy path, he could have fallen in with the in crowd of that day and ate the good food and slept in a soft bed, but instead he took the rougher road. Ask yourself how many times do we cave in to the pressures of the world and just jump on board because someone tells us that it has always been done that way even though we know better?
Being a believer in Christ and his teaching is more than just singing Christmas carols and exchanging gifts on Christmas Day. The real hard lifting comes by working to be more Christ like. Just like Christ, deep down we know what is right and wrong; we will all be held accountable whether we take a stand or merely go with the flow. Christmas is meant to be a celebration of the baby Jesus; we need to also celebrate the tenacity of his will and strength to stand up against evil even though many people enjoy it. Remember the reason for the season, Merry Christmas.
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