Have you ever been introduced to the different "faces" of Jesus that we see in each of the four Gospels?  I went digging through my old "paper files" to find an article that I had saved years ago.  I was worried that it had become a casualty of the paperwork purges in my career moves since then.  I was excited to find it because Virgina Smith, the author, does such a nice job of capturing this concept.

Mark's Gospel provides us with an intense Jesus who appears almost harried as He moves from synagogue to home and then on to the next town.  The Faith Connection this week uses the word urgent to describe Mark's Jesus.  Be sure to read it for additional perspective on Jesus' face as drawn by Mark.  

Smith titles the portraits of Jesus based on what is seen in each of  the Gospels.  Besides the very human Jesus in Mark she describes Him in Matthew as the new Moses - the teacher.  In Luke she references what is a very popular view of a compassionate and forgiving Jesus.  Finally, she references John's noble, majestic, divine Jesus.  She concludes her article by asking, "Which portrait do we choose?"  I encourage you to set some time aside to read the full article and answer her question for yourself.  Click here to access a pdf file:

The Four Faces of Jesus by Virginia Smith
 

Now, back to this week's Gospel.  In this passage we catch a glimpse of a day in the life...  Picture ancient Israel with a crowd outside of Simon and Andrew's house.  People with all kinds of afflictions have heard that this Jesus heals.  Their hopes for a healthy future cause a need for some crowd control.  I can see Simon and Andrew handling the crowd like the "bouncers" we might see outside a club.  Inside the house Simon's mother-in-law, recently healed, works feverishly to feed the "hungry mob."  Eventually, Jesus escapes the crowd and heads off to a deserted place to pray.  

At some point the "bouncers" pursue and find Him.  Note their words.  "Everyone is looking for you."  In other words, they weren't done with you yet.  "They still need you!"  STOP and think about this.  Mark presents a Jesus who is literally chased around the countryside.  And Jesus keeps moving as a man on a mission.  

Is your relationship with Jesus like this?  Are you seeking a healer, someone to fix your ailments or problems?  It's not that you shouldn't seek Him out of need.  But ask yourself, "Am I limiting my relationship with Christ because of my limited perspective of who He is?"  I  know that I  am!  

"I AM!"  Wow, that's what God said to Moses at the burning bush.  "I AM!"  That is also how Jesus describes himself seven different times in John's Gospel.  The more I think about it the more "portraits" I come up with.  I don't think there is a limit to how God looks.   He is the Alpha and the Omega.  In fact, do you think we might be giving Jesus a good  laugh every once in a while as we discover these things?  Oh, there's another portrait:  

The Laughing Jesus  

This one hangs above our piano in the living room.  It is a constant reminder for me that Jesus is...

...now you go and look for Him yourself!

Blessings,
Joe