The Human Jesus


Some people practice the catholic religion by saying every prayer that they're supposed to at the exact times that they are supposed to be prayed. Some Catholics may read the Bible cover to cover on a regular basis. While I think that everyone's approach to faith is different and each individual person has to right to decide how they wish to interpret the life of Jesus, as long as it is in accordance to the interpretation of the Church, I do not think that most Catholics understand Jesus as a human person. There are many questions that I believe many self-proclaimed Catholics never even stop to ask themselves.
Questions like:

What did He believe?
Why did they want to keep His memory alive and follow Him?
What can we learn about faith and the meaning of life?
Why were so many attracted to Him?



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I believe that so many people chose to follow Jesus because of His humanity rather then His divinity. What I mean by that is that people didn't follow Jesus because they thought He was some sort of god, for the Old Testament Jews saw God or Yahweh as One to be feared. I don't think that a Jew would approach a wrathful god. Rather, the Jews saw Jesus as one of their own with origins they could relate to, being from Nazareth, a region that most Jews had at least heard of. Not only was Jesus from an area that the Jews knew but, being a carpenter he was a working class man, one of the people, rather than a wealthy land-owner or polititian. In Luke's gospel, Jesus is portrayed as a man who wants to help but does not want to be showy. He cures many but never "performs miracles;" He feeds multitudes but when they come to hear from Him He simply "passes among them." Jesus showed a tremndous amount of fotitude as well. In Luke's gospel Jesus is not seen with the wealthly or even the average people, but He is seen with the tax collecters and prostitutes instead. When the Scribes and Pharisees ask Him why He is fraternizing with those types of people He replies that doctors do not aid the healthy; doctors aid the sick. Another reason why people liked to be around Jesus so much was that He was a fun guy to be around. Put simply, Jesus was a partier. Many of the stories we get about Jesus teaching happen when Jesus is at a party, wedding, banquent, or feast. Along with Jesus's simple way of life, His message on how one should live their life was simple as well. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself."(Matt 22:37-39) This simple teaching along with His other teachings, especially those given on the sermon on the mount(Matthew) and plain(Luke), I think are the closest we can get to what Jesus thought the meaning of life, or rather how one's life is to be lived. Jesus was human, just like the rest of us. He had free will and the ability to choose not to die for us,but He instead chose to sacrifice Himself for our sake and for the sake of those who killed Him. Not only is Jesus God, but He was also an incredible man, and that is why I think the memory of His life and works has survived and even thrived to this day.


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