His ways are ancient, marking paths thousands of years old. I have not walked where Jesus walked. I have not been in the Galilee region, or in the city of Jerusalem. I have not been to Israel or the middle east. We may not literally go there, as pilgrims to a place. But we can find ourselves following after Him.
The first step is to encounter Jesus, called the Christ. To do so will require digging into history, religion, ancient cultures and traditions, biblical texts and spiritual experiences.
We will begin with Jesus, as He comes to us in the bible. We will call this a primary map.
The gospels tell the story of Jesus' adult ministry, arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. Two of the four gospels include infancy stories. The Gospel of John develops a more cosmic identity, giving Jesus the status of divine creator. Jesus is light. Jesus is God incarnate.
IN the gospels Jesus teaches and heals people. Jesus feeds the hungry and raises the dead to life. He restores sight to the blind. He calls disciples, students to come after him, learn and imitate his ways. Jesus teaches them how to pray, how to share, how to serve others. Jesus tells parables, stories that interpret human experience from an alternative view. Jesus favors small things, weak things, poor things. Jesus sees the value in a single sparrow, in the artistry of a flower, in the subtle power of a single seed. Jesus recognizes injustices, systems of evil and oppression that threaten life. He confronts and seeks to dismantle those systems.
Jesus is baptized and practices the Jewish Passover. He observes Sabbath, even while breaking or changing the rules that governed human behavior on it. He upholds the sanctity of marriage and the goodness of children, even while he eats with prostitutes and invites condemned criminals into paradise.
Coming next...the gospel of Matthew. Rabbi Jesus and the way of poverty, humility, and peace.
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