Backstories

Every ‘BREAKING NEWS’ moment we see has a back story…details, a history, of what led up to the event tossed in our faces.  All we see are ‘snapshots’…not the movie.  Few ever check things out, or wonder “what do I not know about event? What are the reporters not telling me?” What we also know is that every writer, producer, editor has a slant…ALL of us have our own slants, our paradigms we operate from.  

I’m a guy with a mind that wanders…and wonders about stuff.  I wonder about all the back stories not written down in scripture.  There is way more we don’t know than what we do know—and even what we know is from the writers and many ‘editors’ perspectives, cultures and paradigms. 

So I wonder about those missing seventeen years in Jesus life?  We have the story about him at twelve staying over at the temple for a Rabbi meetup and getting cross ways with his mom and dad. After that, he is off the grid for these many years.  (A friend warned me to be careful with this—that I could be accused of blasphemy—likely too late.)

Could it be that Jesus and Mary Magdalene went to REI, bought a couple of backpacks, a tent, two CamelBaks—maybe picked up a live camel at the local Avis rental—and then took off up the silk road.  There are reports of a teacher up in Asia around that time.  Is it too much to consider that wherever he went, he went with Mary?

After all, Mary Magdalene is referenced numerous times in the Jesus story—even considering the patriarchal culture of the time. The fact that there were a number of women in his life is notable to me.  And that one of those, Mary Magdalene was around for years to the very end.  Culturally, boys/men usually took a wife in their mid to late teens which would have corresponded with these missing years.  Stay with me though, I’m not saying that He actually married (although some wander further down that road). That the God of the universes would want to experience the companionship of a woman while on earth isn’t shocking to me…to some it may very well sound blasphemous.  Mary is there in major scenes of Jesus’s life, in the upper room, the tomb, at the foot of the cross. Would you prefer to deny Jesus/God that experience?

The multiple sermons I heard of Jesus being abandoned at the cross by everyone is just not true.  Read the scripture. There were three who remained at the foot of his cross, his mom, John, his BFF and Mary.  Oh, does the ‘best friend’ give you problems too?  Would you deny the Creator the beauty of a close friendship bond with a brother as well?  There are clear indictions the other disciples knew Jesus and John were closer. On one occasion when they were trying to get his attention they said, “Ask John to do it”.  Ever thought that when groups go out to evangelize, most often they leave a copy of the Gospel of John—rather than, Matthew, Mark or Luke.  There is an intimacy in John’s gospel not in the other three. 

So in a way, Jesus, like you and I, had favorites—Peter, James and John, and of those, John was the best of friends.  

This human side of God/Jesus is something many can’t get their head around.  Even the last few words from Jesus were not about salvation of the world or religion.  They were intimate words to the three people closest to him—his mom, his lady friend and his best friend.  “John, take care of mom, and mom, he is your son now”.  As I type the sweetness of those final moments, my eyes get misty. 

Remember who was at the tomb first?  From where I sit, none of what I’ve said takes away from the Divinity of who Jesus/God was/is.  That he desired the depth of human connection endears him even more. 

 So whether you buy into the silk road story or not—you know had he stayed around Bethlehem or Nazareth and like Joseph, done carpentry work, someone would have likely spoken of having a chair or two in the kitchen made by Joseph’s boy. It’s fine to speculate.  He certainly did not need to go to seminary.  What is this backstory? 

Ironically, it is God’s humanity that is such a powerful draw. The God who comes to us—becomes one of us—and yet IS the Alpha and Omega.  

It is this ‘human’ intimacy that is desired with each of us.  The story of these special people in his life set the stage—model relationship for us.  

GOD and/or man will be debated until the end of time.  

So for now, move in close.