W I J L


You have heard of WWJD - that classic Protestant question: "What Would Jesus Do?" the answer to which is supposed to solve every problem in life, from whether to buy Skippy or Jiff peanut butter, to whether you go to Church or the ballgame next Sunday. What kind of car would Jesus drive? Somehow I imagine a Subaru... really it is only a matter of time until we see a TV commercial with a Jesus-like (think clothing, hair, beard, starry gaze in eyes) driving a Subaru over the hill and through the woods, until at the very end you see a caption: "What Would Jesus Drive?" (fade into the Subaru logo)

Well, anyway... silliness aside...

Here's the Orthodox version: W I J L (What Is Jesus Like?) Obsessed as we Orthodox are with ontology, existentialism - the meaning of everything points back to the existence... the ontology of a thing being pre-eminent in our lives... Well, it turns out things have taken a turn that direction in our latest blogs and discussions.

What Is Jesus Like?

Every problem we confront in humanity has its solution in the answer to this very problem, does it not?

Anyway, as I posted earlier, James has an interesting blog where he takes exception to something St. Athanasios said. I take exception to that in my post below, and I rather think I do so quite succinctly.

However, apparently there is more to the issue. Steve (neighbor down the street... really... he's EVERYONE'S neighbor!) writes the following: "how does this address whether or not Christ ever had a cold?"

So, let me continue my reasoning along those lines...

14) {1 to 13 are below} Since Christ is no less human now than he was prior to his Crucifixion and Resurrection, He is no less (and no more) capable of having a cold than He was back then.

15) Therefore it is just as likely that He catch a cold now as it was that he caught a cold back the. (Perhaps even more so since his body is 2000 years old? but I digress)

16) I have never read in the Gospels that he had a cold, but that isn't proof he didn't, since I have also never read in the Gospels that he defecated or took a pee, and we believe that He was biologically human, and therefore from time to time heeded the call of nature.

17) What I will say, however, is that it seem "out of character" - When God became Man it was no ordinary event. He healed people everywhere he went. How could he even have an opportunity to get sick? People just walked past and were healed just from touching the hem of His garment. I guess, I'm a skeptic. I don't think He ever got sick, nor that he would have gotten sick. Notice I don't say "could have" I say "would have" - of course He is human, so He "could have" gotten sick. But He was also God. So it was always a matter of His choice whether he got sick or not.

18) I do believe he experienced hunger and pain. He certainly experienced hunger when he fasted in the wilderness. He may have even been "famished" - even delirious. But He never lost consciousness as a result of fasting too much, but I imagine he may have been close. But sick. No, Jesus didn't Do That.

19) We don't "need" for him to have experienced sickness first hand, in order to believe He empathizes with us when we are sick, and in order to believe he can and will heal us.

Regards,
Basil