Known to the world as an icon to me he’s just my brother
We had walked in the wood. It was as we paused to go our different ways that the conversation turned to how we identify ourselves religiously. I had been identified recently as ‘Christian’. While my first language of faith is Christian these days I don’t often say, “I am a Christian.”
So I found myself in one of those conversations where I am saying what I have just written, “I don’t tend to say I am Christian however Jesus means a lot to me.”
The friends begin to speak about the theology of Jesus. The kind of conversation that goes like, “ I believe he was an exceptional person but not God.”
I found myself replying with, “I have gone beyond that for when you have a friendship with someone you are not thinking about their role but your connection with them as a friend.”
I began to feel I was talking about a brother who is famous but who I have only known as my brother. It’s the difference between feeling affectionately connected to someone as to be in awe of someone because of who they are.
So Jesus is not some religious celebrity or icon he is like a brother I have known all my life.
g
