Pleasant Jesus

Rarely do we see icons of Jesus smiling - let alone laughing out loud! But in the Gospel of Judas, Jesus laughs a lot (sometimes causing great offence). Do you think Jesus had a sense of humour or was he serious, 24/7?

Perhaps some of Jesus' humour is lost to us because of the unimaginative and altogether "serious", "pious" ways in which we read the texts; perhaps because of cultural differences too (see Matt 7:3 and Mark 8:22-26).

When Jesus told a story, do you think he was animated - with intonations and all, or did he tell it in a droog, lifeless, unimaginative way?

Crowds were drawn to Jesus because of his healing gifts - but also because of his teachings. Last Sunday's Gospel Story tells us - with beautiful, deliberate exaggeration (just for effect nogal), that "the whole world [had] gone after him!" (John 12:19b) so he must have had "Madiba Magic" or "Obama Magic" or "Tutu Magic" or "Dalai Lama Magic"! Whatever he had, people were drawn to him - they loved him and probably hated him with passion.

As we enter into the pain and promises of Holy Week, Good Friday and onto Easter, look at the pleasant face of Jesus in Isobel de Gruchy's icon:

Look at the smile and kindness of Jesus' eyes
His open face, in the shape of a heart, you could say
His hair parted, like a Temple veil, revealing more of God to us
Look at the gentle way in which Jesus holds

and points to the Scriptures
Jesus doesn't make an idol of the Scriptures either
(they are pointers to the Way - and to the ways of Love)

In the Icon, they are off-centre

Jesus and his loving gaze are what's central

And that loving gaze is centred upon You!

You

You are central and not incidental to the Story of God.

You

God's full-of-goodness,

slow-to-anger, abounding-in-steadfast-love

Eyes and Heart are upon You