Lenten Series: Jesus' Life is Art

I have just started reading "The Parables of PEANUTS" by Robert L. Short.  It talks about how Charles Schulz used the comic strip as a medium to share his Christian faith.

A few pages in, I was struck by the following lines:
"Art, on the other hand, can also entertain us, but it goes further.  It leads us through its dream back to a reality that perhaps we had not seen before or to a reality that we now see in a different light."

If you think about it, Jesus was an actor who immersed Himself completely into the role He was playing.  From the very beginning, He knew exactly what He was getting into.  He knew the script, how the story was going to play out.  He knew there was going to be a terrible passion ... before there can be salvation for men and resurrection; the Sorrowful Mysteries before the Glorious Mysteries.  And He played His role perfectly and faithfully.

Sunday's 2nd Reading:
Philippians 2:6-11
"Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human   in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Jesus did not teach God's word in direct terms with a list of Do's and Don'ts.  He spoke in parables and He showed us through the life He lived and how He interacted with every person He brushed with.

"... sermons should not be preached  in churches but in the street, in the midst of life, of the reality, of the daily life, weekday life." (Kierkegaard)

From Sunday's 1st Reading:

Isaiah 50:4-7

"The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear ..."

He did not have to scream who He was.  It was apparent in how He lived.

From Sunday's Gospel:
Luke 23:1-49 (or Luke 22:14-23:56)
Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.”

"The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.” When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts;"

Walking through the dream of Jesus' life by contemplating the Gospels enables us to see the reality of our lives and to perceive it in a much different light.  Like any pure and true art form, Jesus' life moves us to change and to action.  The challenge is to live it consistently daily as He did.