Valerie Rae Hanneman
Psalm 149:4 a “For the LORD takes delight in His people;”NIV
My six year old son’s eyes were brimming with laughter and mischief as he looked up at me. “Knock, knock,” he said. “Who’s there?” I dutifully answered. “Banana!” “Banana who?” “Knock, knock!” he said again. Again I said, “Who’s there?” “Banana!” he giggled. With a smile I said, “Banana who?” We went through this cycle about 4 more times when finally he answered “Orange!” “Orange who?” I asked. “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again?” He and I started laughing. I was not laughing because I had not heard that joke before. I had. His older sister had told it to me, his older cousins had told it to me. When I was younger, my brothers and sisters told it to me - and I doubt that it was new when I told it to my mother. I laughed because my son was being playful with me. I laughed because he was comfortable enough to tell me a silly joke. I laughed because he is my son and I positively adore him.
Close your eyes and picture Jesus in your mind. Hold onto that picture for a moment.
How do you think Jesus reacted when John said, “Knock, knock!” Do you think He said, “John, ‘orange you glad I didn’t say banana’ was old when Noah’s sons told it to him in the ark!” Or when Peter snuck up behind Him, covered His eyes with his hands and said, in a falsetto voice, “Guess who!” did Jesus say, “Peter, I knew it was you before time began! You can’t fool Me!” I don’t think He did. I think that His eyes lit up and He said to John, “Who’s there?” I think He laughed at Peter’s game and said, “Mom, is that you? We need to talk about hand lotion!”
Are you still holding onto the picture of Jesus in your head? Is it one of the traditional looks for Him? Maybe the one where He is looking into heaven, or the one where He is holding a little lamb, or the one where He is knocking on the door? I love those pictures of Him. He looks so serene, so very much like God within man. My favorite picture of Jesus shows Him walking in front of His disciples, with His arms spread wide, His head thrown back, and He is laughing. From the position of His feet and the dust - you can tell that He has been twirling around. For me this picture shows the joy that Jesus took in just being with His creation. It is a picture of the Man within God. I have a number of pictures that are like that - pictures that show the very human side of Jesus.
When the disciples told Jesus silly jokes or played silly games with Him, Jesus took joy in them for the same reason that I take joy in my son. He was thrilled that His creation - His disciples were being playful with Him. He loved it that His disciples were comfortable enough with Him to play games with Him. He laughed because they were His and He positively adored them.
As He positively adores us.
There is no doubt that Jesus came to this earth to die for our sins. That was His purpose. And He spent the last three years of His mortal life proving that He is the Messiah that had been promised from before time. That was His work. His purpose here was serious, His work here was serious but that doesn’t mean that He was serious all the time. Jesus also came to be in joyful relationship with us and He had fun while He was physically with us. He told jokes (He knew the best ones!), He played kick-the-can with His disciples. He chased them. He played that game I ALWAYS fall for - where you touch somebody on the chest saying, “What’s that?” then chuck them in the nose when they look down. He hugged them, He laughed with them, He listened to them talk. He came to be their Savior and He came to be their friend.
Jesus is your savior - is He your friend? Are you comfortable with Him? Can you tell Him anything and everything? When you pray are you talking to your friend who loves you above all else - or are you talking to a distant God. I have a good friend who went through a bad spell of time. She was very angry about it - she figured that because she was a Christian God should be doing a better job of taking care of her. Bottom line is that she was mad at God. She would tell me how mad she was, but when I asked her if she had told God how mad she was at Him, her eyes got round. “You don’t talk to God like that! You don’t complain to Him - and you wouldn’t dare tell Him that you are mad at Him? He is GOD!” “Listen, little sister,” I said to her, “do you think He doesn’t know that you are mad? You said it yourself - He is God! Did you ever think that if you just told Him how mad you were - yelled at Him like you have yelled here - that you would feel better about this - and maybe give Him a chance to show you what is going on?” She couldn’t do it though. She could not tell the One Who loved her enough to die for her, whose only desire was to be in a love relationship with her - that she was mad about what she was going through. I guess that she was afraid to offend Him.
I have another friend who prays in a set pattern. I think he called it the A.C.T.S. pattern. Each one of the letters stands for a certain section of prayer. Every time he prays he prays in that pattern. I wonder if he has a mental checklist and he checks off every letter. I wonder if he thinks God has that same checklist that He is checking off to make sure the prayer covered all the letters. As far as I know, my friend doesn’t have a checklist of points when he talks to me - it would be a kind of weird friendship if he did. I wonder how much more my friend would have if he chucked the checklist and just talked to his Friend, Jesus.
Jesus is my God and LORD. His death to pay my sin-price, His resurrection to defeat death on my behalf, His promise that I will be with Him forever are the foundation upon which I have built my life. I love, worship, praise and honor the God within man. Jesus is my friend. I go to Him and am always welcomed. I tell Him about my day - my victories and my defeats. I tell Him about the funny thing that my kids did - and how my kids are driving me crazy. I tell Him about how I reached out to others - and how others hurt me. I tell Him about what I think He thinks is important and I tell Him about what I think is important. I love, worship, praise and honor the Man within God.
I know that you treat Jesus as your God. Do you treat Him as your friend? He wants you too.
Knock, Knock, LORD! (Who’s there?) Orange! (Orange who?) Orange You glad that I skipped most of that joke so I could get to what is important? I love You, Jesus. You are my God and You are my best Friend. There is no aspect of God or friend that I have needed that I have not found completed in You.
Posted by Valerie at June 17, 2005 07:56 PM