Friday, January 22, 2010

Was Jesus Chill?

I asked Roger if he thought Jesus was chill and he said, yes, if the Son of the God comes to earth, that's inherently chill.

Ok. But Jesus didn't always act chill. For instance, in the garden of Gethsemane, he more or less fell apart and started crying and asking God to take the cup away. On the other hand, when it was time to face Pilate, Jesus was chill.

Jesus had many moments when he stayed chill with people, such as when the Syrophoenician woman was insistent about having her daughter healed. He was chill about healing the Roman centurion's daughter. Chill about feeding the 5,000. Totally chill about saving the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery.

Preaching "love your enemies" is about as chill as it gets. I would call that the ultimate chill statement.

On the hand, he lost it with the Pharisees, and his final week was frenzied--hence the term "the passion." Driving the money lenders from the Temple doesn't seem too chill to me. But David might have slaughtered them all--so perhaps the whip was a chill gesture after all.

What do you think? Was Jesus chill? Roger says that since being chill is the highest of all human achievements, Jesus was a priori chill. But, of course, the other question is, dare I ask, how important is chill?

5 comments:

Bill Samuel said...

What is "chill"

Ted M. Gossard said...

Yes, with Bill I wonder just exactly what you mean? Meekness in reference here? Though since that is a contemporary term it must have a contemporary meaning such as laid back, cool under pressure.

Hystery said...

I was thinking about this and if you were asking is Jesus "cool" then I would say yes. Jesus is way cool. But then what do I mean by "cool"? For some the cool kids are the ones who wear the right clothes and say the right things and make everyone envy and look up to them. But that isn't "cool" for me. I'm a nerd. The cool kids made fun of me or they ignored me. So I made a new definition of "cool." For me the "cool" people are also the dorks and the nerds and the geeks and the weirdos. I love these people, the misfits, the awkward ones, the ones who break the social rules because they are too kind, or too unique, or too smart, or too full of love to fit into our society. It doesn't bother me that sometimes he lost his temper or that he made people profoundly uncomfortable. Jesus was weird. He was a misfit and he loved the misfits... and that is very cool.

Anonymous said...

Time Traveler here, and in 2017 chill is very important. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Time traveler here as well. New to this internet thing. Was jesus cool in high school?