The Real Mystery of Jesus, perhaps?

Christians understand why Jesus had to die, it was God’s plan. The human reasons were all about how He didn’t satisfy human perceptions of/on Him. He wasn’t the conquering hero. He didn’t go along with the religious leaders of the day. He challenged religious, political, and social status quo. In the perceived social hierarchy, He was trying to create a level playing field for all. And, unfortunately, the list can go on for a while. Even more unfortunately, He died for those reasons!
The real mystery, as to be discussed here, has little to do with understanding God’s reasons, but trying to understand how it all happened 2000 years ago and, today, the same human reasons are attempting to kill, and are killing, human spirit every day, everywhere.
On a very small scale, relatively speaking, I’ve experienced this personally. Every time I challenge the status quo, try to create a level playing field, challenge someone else’s notion of how things should be, I experience the side-affects/effects of “put down heaven.” “Put down heaven” is that place in which people, mysteriously, find great enjoyment in trying to kill someone’s human spirit by putting them down. There is obvious glee in playing this game. Many people consider themselves heroic if they can feel like they’ve killed someone else’s spirit.
As I said, my experience is on a very small scale. Sure, some think they’re dropping atom bombs of disrespect on me, but it’s really not anything to worry about. Then, why am I talking about it, let alone wasting a blog on it? Because I spend a lot of time with people whose lives are deeply affected, and effected, by this insane activity. I am tired of seeing people unnecessarily attacked for no other reason than, “They don’t agree with us, so, we must destroy.”
Suppose, ala HG Wells’ “War of the Worlds,” that Martians planted pearls of happiness, instead of Martians to conquer the world, within reach of every human being, and those pearls became evident to us at 12 noon tomorrow. As soon as everyone realized that everyone had happiness, no one would turn it down and life as we know it would change for everyone.
Well, that is essentially what Jesus did 2000 years ago. He died to conquer the worst in us, to give us a second chance, and to plant hope in every person so that it would grow and change “life as we know it.”
But here were in the year 2010 and it hasn’t taken hold. People want to damage, discount, hurt, and destroy other people’s happiness. Many would like to think they’ve created endless ways to do this, but have really only found a million or more variations of the same basic ways to smash happiness that have been around forever.
I know, I’m guilty, just like the rest of you. I’m exceedingly tired of it, and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to pursue, share, and empower happiness as much as possible. Why is this so hard to do? If it’s important enough to do countless things to one another in order to steal, damage, and destroy happiness, why can’t we grasp the simple notion that if we worked as hard to make people happy our lives would be happier than we could ever imagine?
Jesus didn’t die so He could be a “get out of jail free” type of Messiah. He died because humanity could not grasp the simply concept of shared happiness. He rose from the dead to show that God’s love is more powerful than the worst we have to offer. It’s within reach for each and every one of us. It’s not just an altar call, or prayer of salvation, or any other thing like those. It’s deciding to live beyond our human nature and follow Jesus by living lives that recognize the human connection, the human desire for happiness, and the human ability to achieve happiness that can be shared with, and by, all. That’s why early followers were simply known as “followers of The Way.” The Way was a way of life that was full of joy and nearly impossible to resist.
Whatever reason you need to find to strive for happiness, take hold of it and run with it. You’ll never be alone, and you will find happiness, even in the midst of its opposite! May God bless you and may God’s love shine on, in, and through you! I mean it!