Jesus People

on Seattle U’s campus. He says his prayer is just sitting there and calling on all of his witnesses to join him. All of his dear ones, his friends, the ancestors, “anybody and everybody” he says, “they are available there for me, for us, always- and Jesus” (he slips in) “especially Jesus”. He  speaks about this with a quiet joy, a gentle kindness. His words and images fills me to wonder what it must be like to join him on that little porch, with the others. It’s a call to prayer, a soft and irresistible pull in me that has stayed with me for months, now. And I still feel, from right here, a leaning into what it must be like on that patio with Pat and all his loving ones, and his “especially Jesus”…

It feels like a call to prayer, the Call of Jesus.

It was pretty tricky for me to consider God as human, growing up with that silky, picture-perfect, dreamy-eyed Jesus framed on the Sunday school wall. Or to see and hear the buzz of high schoolers in my day who were in an altered state, it seemed, emotional high on Jesus. I wanted nothing to do with these Jesus people But my Jesuit friend reminded me that the Prince of Peace had “smelled some sheep.” The one, after 33 years of waiting, who felt and knew love and then set out with his few short adult years to teach, heal, and forgive with it and call us all to do the same. That’s the Jesus I could get to know.

Jesus was tempted, chose the poor as his friends, inspired followers, got angry, was threatened and betrayed, faced his arrest and, like many radical and rebellious Jews of his day, was punished and put to death by the Romans.

So, if Jesus never became a fine politician, a great artist, a brilliant genius, what made him so extraordinary? It was his love - his faith, hope and light that he brought into the world. His extraordinary way of being human, a standard described by St Ignatius.  Jesus was fearless in his loving, willing to face scandal, his own reputation, putting his life on the line, and choosing to lose it in order to say yes to the poor.

And oh, how they loved him! He brought them hope: “Blessed are the peacemakers, the pure in heart.” “You are the light of the world, the salt of the earth.” He defended them: “Who will cast the first stone?” He forgave them and reconciled them to their communities. Because of Jesus, the woman stopped bleeding, the blind man could see again, the paralytic could walk. He told them stories. He held their children. He looked into their faces He touched the sores on their skin.  He loved them. He was their friend.

The Call of Jesus is:

-The Call to COMPASSION, to that deep, physical emotion, that dwells in our core and runs through the guts of our bodies with hope and faith;

-The Call to FORGIVENESS, like the father who forgives his prodigal son, who patiently waits for him, welcomes him home, celebrates him with robes and rings;

-The Call to SHARE, like with loaves and fishes, simply giving what we have so that everybody has something (clearly a miracle, still today!);

-The Call to be with the POOR and to be with CHILDREN, the call to serve all vulnerable ones, anyone and everyone;

-The Call to FAITH, to hope and to believe -  that goodness is more powerful than evil, that truth is stronger than falsehood; a FAITH that can heal, a FAITH that this dream of  God’s dream will come into being.

It is a hop that isn’t  a childlike trust or shallow optimism. It is a Hope in the face living inspite of Hope, Hope in the midst of despair hope.

Jesus will initiate, invite, empower you in your hours; maybe point out “Oh! I see it - where you are unfree.” Or ”Oh, I get it. You want to let go of that.” You might feel a nudge, be drawn, or lean in. You might hear Jesus like a whisper in your ear, “Let’s do it together.”