Yes, my boy, you are right. Mary, the Magdalene, was always smiling, or even laughing. She had a sunny disposition, always cheerful, a light for us who so often quarreled among us.
In this respect, she was very similar to Jesus. He, too, was usually of good humor, rarely he lost it.
When you evoke the old movies about Jesus, where the Master walks with serious face, speaking sermons in a slow and small voice, all pathetic, this was not Jesus. Jesus was different. Jesus was life!
Remember the book you read, where Jesus is painted how he rolled and wallowed around with the children in play... this comes much nearer to truth. When the Master entered one of the villages he visited frequently, such as Bethany, at once someone screamed — “Jesus is coming!” — and the children let fall their toys and dashed toward him to greet and accompany him. They knew that he always found time for them, and playing with him was the most hilarious thing. Yes, Jesus was very popular among the children, more so than among the adults, because the little people instinctively felt the great Love his soul harbored, and they sought it and were attracted to it, they felt safe and harbored near him. Not always so the adults. To be an adult, frequently does not mean a great progress, but rather the loss of simplicity and naturalness.
Adults lose so often their time with pondering on the past and worrying about the future. So much time does this activity consume that they forget to live the moment, that moment that is the only thing that is there for them to live. Because they cannot live in the future or in past, one already happened, the other one perchance will be, but the only thing that is there for man to live, is each single moment, each instant of present, and nothing else. This well lived present will become good memories...
Instinctively, children do exactly this. They live the moment, they “get lost" in their activity, and reality blurs with the illusion of their game, because the real is only that which right now exists. The rest will be, perhaps, or has already happened, but it is not there now.
You have to learn to copy a little bit children’s mentality...
Now, as to the Argentinean woman's letter that you received, where she complains about the abuse that women suffer in the New Testament of the Bible, she is completely right.
In biblical times, women suffered much greater abuse than today in the western world. And the biblical story reflects this mentality. It is also necessary to say that nowhere in any gospel Jesus is said to have treated bad any woman, on the contrary. Well, perhaps there are two passages that may lend themselves to see Jesus as a macho: First, the scene at the wedding of Cana, where Jesus responds grossly to his mother:
The supply of wine gave out, and Jesus’ mother told him, "They have no more wine." "Is that your concern, or mine, Mother?" replied Jesus. "My time has not come yet."
Jesus already commented on this topic elsewhere, and I just repeat that those were not his words, as the whole situation at the wedding is seasoned with a good pinch of fantasy.
In addition, the other example is the treatment that Jesus presumably gave to the Syrophoenician woman, calling the heathens "dogs." — the Gentiles and not women... but this passage has been clarified by Jesus, too.
Where we really can find words that today offend many women, are Paul's epistles. Poor Paul, now they paint him as a confirmed bachelor, whose relationship with women was "very complicated," to say it softly. There is a grain of truth in this, but it does not do justice to Paul. However, of this topic we will speak later, when we will have come to the history of the early church.
It is true; there are still countries, where women are forced to cover their head with a veil in order to attend a religious service. Had a woman presented herself this way before Jesus, would he have asked her, “What is the matter with you, woman? Are you scared of me because you hide your face?" And he would have hugged her, raising her veil and kissing her forehead....
No, sir, where formalism and rite govern what is called religion, things go bad.
Religion is joy, happiness, and freedom. So then, enjoy, be happy, and feel free, because there is a Father who watches over you, and who is guiding you to a splendid future...
A small portion of that, which children still have and so many adults have lost, is necessary, so that you may find much happiness here on earth. Moreover, do not forget to live: the moment, because you cannot live anything else.
We will meet soon again. So long.
May your day be full with blessings.
Judas
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