Vom Aufgang der Sonne
ist mein Name groß unter den Völkern
spricht der HERR.
Maleachi 1,11
Hallo liebe Freaks,
ich habe heute ein bisschen in dem Buch "Jesus for President" von Shane Claiborne gelesen und fand ein Stück sehr inspirierend. Erst wollte ich es auf meinen Blog stellen, aber ich dachte, vielleicht ist es ja ein interessanter Input für alle, die das hier noch lesen. Also, hier:
"Looking like Jesus
Remember when ole John the Baptizer sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he was the one they were expecting and he didn't answer with a simple yes? Jesus instead told them to go tell John what they saw him doing. He knew that John could read the trail of crumbs (=die Brotkrümmel-Spur - wie bei Hänsel und Gretel). John knew that when lepers were healed, the blind saw, the dead rose, and the good news was preached to the poor, the one they were awaiting was indeed there.
Wheat does our trail of crumbs look like? If someone asks if we are Christ-followers, can we say, "Tell me what you see"? Is there enough evidence to prove that we are taking after the slaughtered Lamb? What if they ask the poor around us? What if they ask our enemies? Would they say that we love them? Christians haven't always looked like Jesus. Perhaps the greatest barrier to Christ has been Christians who pronounce Jesus so loudly with their lips and deny him so loudly with their lives.
In the South, we have a saying: "You are the spittin' image" of someone. Folks still speculate over how exactly the phrase originated,but I've heard it put like this. It's shorthand for "spirit and image". Spittin' image. (Go ahead and try it out; it won't hurt.) For us, it meant more than just that you look like that person. It goes beyond just appearance to include character and temperament. It means that you remind people of that person. You have their charisma. You do the same thing they did. In the truest sense, Christians are to be the spittin' image of Jesus in the world. We are to be the things he was. We are to preach the things he preached and live the way he lived. We are to follow in the footsteps of our rabbi so closely that we get his dust on us. We are to remind the world of Jesus. The criterion for whether something is a manifestation of the kingdom of God is the person of Jesus. Does it look like him?"
Ich fand das ganz schön konfrontierend. Es ist so (verhältnismäßig) einfach zu sagen "ich bin Christ" (das haben Bush und Hitler ja auch gesagt). Aber sieht man es wirklich? Die Sachen, die ich bisher mache (Fairtrade & Bio kaufen, etc) könnte genau so gut ein Öko-Hippie ohne Gott machen. Ich will euch und vor allem mich diese Woche ermutigen ein "spittin' image" von Jesus zu werden. Vielleicht kann ich ja mal Leute lieben und dienen, die nicht sowieso meine Freunde sind.
Dicken Segen wünscht euch die Sharon aus dem (gar nicht so) fernen Westen! :)