Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by JEL
If you were the casting director of a new TV show or movie and needed to find that perfect someone to provide the voice of Jesus, whom would you choose? Remember that Jesus’ age is around 30 in the Four Gospels so your pick can neither be too young nor too old. Perhaps some up-and-coming indie actor with a heathly mix of charisman and gravitas?
Nah. Lil Wayne!
Cable channel Adult Swim is creating a new animated series called “Freakniks” about the “Black Spring Break” in Atlanta in the late 90s. And yes, Lil Wayne has been tapped to voice Jesus. I wonder if any of His lines will match those found in What He Said…
Tags: Adult Swim, Freakniks, Jesus, Lil Wayne
Posted in Four Gospels, In The News, Irreverant | No Comments »
Friday, December 25th, 2009 by JEL
So today is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I’m guessing all He wants for His birthday is for all of us to heed these words:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” – John 15:12
In return, here is the Christmas present we all should accept over the Wii:
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” – John 14:27
Tags: Christmas, Jesus, peace
Posted in Christmas, Words of Christ | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 by JEL
Maybe it’s the spirit of the Christmas season, but people around the globe are seeing the face of Jesus in strange places. A woman in Methuen, MA saw the image of Christ on the bottom of her iron, while Lisa Swinton in Australia discovered His image on a banana peel. They had differing reactions: the iron is being kept in a safe place, but the banana was eaten and the peel thrown away.
Wherever you encounter Jesus, we hope you remember His message of peace and goodwill to all. The world could use a heaping helping of both these days.
Tags: Christmas, face of Jesus, Jesus
Posted in Christmas, In The News, Irreverant | No Comments »
Monday, December 21st, 2009 by JEL
In the Gospel of Luke (1:26-33) there is an account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary. Given that we’re only four days away from Christmas, I thought it might be nice to share it here:
Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
For those of you trying to picture this scene in your head, archaeologists might be able to lend a hand. They have just discovered the first dwelling in Nazareth dated to the time of Jesus. They describe Nazareth as an “out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres (1.6 hectares). It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from Roman invaders.”
Tags: Gabriel, Jesus, Mary, Nazareth
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, In The News | No Comments »
Friday, December 18th, 2009 by JEL
Back in high school, one of my best friends did a history report on the Shroud of Turin. He was a smart guy and a good presenter and I remember a very lively debate among my classmates. This was before the radiocarbon dating done in 1988 that showed the linen fibers were from 1260-1390, so there was a lot less science and a great deal more mystery involved.
Archaeologists have recently discovered another shroud in Jerusalem that was from Jesus’ time and compared its weave with that of the Turin shroud. Turns out they are very different. The Turin shroud is woven in a complex twill pattern (not seen in that region until medieval times) while the “new” shroud is made from a simple weave.
The National Geographic covers the story of the new shroud and the leper it covered. Fascinating discovery.
Tags: Jerusalem, Jesus, leprosy, shroud of Turin
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 by JEL
As consumers across the land are making their list and checking it twice (or is Santa the only one who does that?), I wonder how many Christian presents make the final cut. Christian products are sold to a tune of $4.6 billion each year, and it only stands to reason that a large percentage of that figure is derived during the Christmas season.
In reading this article, there is a fine line between respectable wares tied to a Christian theme and “Jesus Junk” that strains to find some connection to the latest fads and trends. I feel pretty comfortable that What He Said does not cross that line.
Tags: Christian products, Jesus, What He Said
Posted in Christmas, In The News | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 by JEL
With holiday shopping in full swing, I’m sure a lot of us have been staring at bumpers lately. Stuck in traffic, looking for a parking space at the mall, the red lights that never seem to go green. I saw some mildly amusing ones over the weekend which got me to thinking about my all-time favorite:
“Jesus Saves, Espo Scores on the Rebound”
Those of you not around or hockey-conscious during the Bruins’ heydays of the early 70s can catch up here.
Tags: Jesus, Phil Esposito
Posted in Irreverant | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by JEL
As December 25 quickly approaches, I, like many of you, am up to my eyeballs in shopping lists, tree tinsel, and back-order stress. Yes, Christmas is coming. I think many people forget, while deep in Xbox vs. Wii debates, that Christmas = Jesus’ birthday.
Should we really break out the candles on the 25th?
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John never mention the 25th as the birth date of Christ in their Gospels. So where did it come from? This article provides an answer.
Tags: Christmas, December 25, Four Gospels, Jesus
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 by PJM
Now that we are in the Christmas season, I have been spending some time in the margins of What He Said. The Gospels of Mark and John begin when Jesus is an adult, but Matthew and Luke both give accounts of Christ’s birth. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting about some aspects of the two birth stories that interest me.
The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus, as told by Matthew. Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Jacob who was the son of Matthan who was the son of Eleazar… But, Luke (in Chapter 3) tells us that Jesus is the son of Joseph who was the son of Heli who was the son of Matthat who was the son of Levi… What’s going on? Was Joseph the son of Jacob or Heli?
I’ve read that Jesus’ ancestry in Matthew is through Joseph and His ancestry in Luke is actually though Mary. When Luke says that Joseph was the son of Heli, he really means “son-in-law.”
This seems to be consistent with another difference in the two accounts of Christ’s birth story. Matthew has an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph (whose ancestors he has just listed). The angel explains to Joseph the circumstances of Mary’s motherhood and tells Joseph to name the child Jesus. But, Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to reveal the mystery of her being with child and tells her to name the child Jesus. So, it makes sense to me that Luke would trace the genealogy of Christ through Mary.
I would love it if a more astute Biblical scholar would step in to let us know if my thinking is off-base.
Tags: Bible, Christmas, Four Gospels, Genealogy, Jesus, Joseph, Mary
Posted in Christmas, Four Gospels, The Bible | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 4th, 2009 by JEL
The title of this post is taken from the title of Hanna Rosin’s fascinating article in this month’s issue of The Atlantic. It covers the ever-growing “prosperity gospel”: the belief that God will provide material wealth for those of great faith. Rosin describes the movement and documents cases of believers (like many non-believers) buying houses they could never afford in the first place because they felt God would provide for them.
The prosperity gospel is much larger than you might think:
- 50 of the largest 260 churches in the US preach the prosperity gospel.
- A Pew Research study found that 66% of Pentecostals and 43% of “other Christians” (half of the total respondents) believe that “wealth will be granted to the faithful.”
- The same survey shows that 73% of religious Latinos agreed with the statement, “God will grant financial success to all believers who have enough faith.”
It’s weird. When I read what Jesus said (made much easier by What He Said), all I see are commands to give until it hurts. And then give some more.
Tags: Christianity, financial crisis, Jesus, prosperity gospel
Posted in In The News, Words of Christ | No Comments »
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