Jesus: My Snarky Friend

Jesus is my friend. But what does that really mean? Who is Jesus? He knows me and knows I'm...well,, He knows me. I’ve been thinking recently about how I understand Christ and my relationship to Him, since that’s a thing we’re counseled to ponder [you know, it kinda is eternal life. So that’s a thing. (read John 17:3)].

I like to think of Jesus as my loving, snarky, wise friend. Some would take issue with some of that (snarky, mostly. Who wouldn’t want Jesus to be loving or wise? A few would also dispute His status as a friend, saying I’m elevating myself to some high position that only the uber-worthy should occupy, but that’s not what I intend).

To best go through my idea of Jesus, I selected some of my favorite verses that illustrated the many-faceted approach that I have to Christ and my belief in Him.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:1

I love this. The idea of Jesus being the Word, the truth, the light and the way that we should all follow. It’s a bit ambiguous and funky, but oh, so delightful.

“He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.” Mosiah 16:9

Isn’t that imagery awesome? This pillar of light bursting out of this oozy, black darkness (like Dark Water from the Pirates of Dark Water, or the terrifying evilness from Little Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland). Jesus is always there for us to look to and nothing can stop that. Even if we’re in the lowest, darkest, most dreadful godforsaken place (like the DC clubs that I was dragged to this weekend. Just kidding, they weren’t quite Hell. I think).

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

John 14:27

Christ as the friend that reaches out and knows when we need comfort and peace. A peace that lasts. Sometimes that may require some more pain and suffering initially, but His peace can be with us.

“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

John 15:15

Jesus wants us to be His friends. If we do as God asks and seek to understand what God and Christ do, we can have that title. We are a party to Christ’s friendship. Awesome. I love the intimacy that that suggests. The closeness, which may influence how I view this next passage.

“2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.

4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

7 And he arose, and departed to his house.”

Matt 9:2-7

And there’s my snarky, sassy Jesus. It’s hilarious. I LOVE the way he responds to the doubting Pharisees, it’s a perfect comeback. Essentially, “Yo, you don’t think I can forgive sins? Well, to show you what’s up, I’ll forgive this dude’s sins AND heal his legs.” Miracle happens. Mic drop.

Maybe I like that because my parents are snarky with me and I’m pretty snarky with others (to put it mildly), so I enjoy snark and find it an excellent diffuser and laughter-inducing strategy.

Jesus holding a lamb. Adorable.

“3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

Luke 15:3-7

But the snark works because I feel Christ’s love strongly enough that I know if I am lost, He will come for me. He will drop everything to rescue me. A single, solitary sheep, wandering aimlessly on the fringes. And He’ll do the same for you. He is my (our) Savior.

“28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose…

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?...

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:28, 31, 38-9

Again, the emphasis on Christ’s love and the inability of anything to separate us from it. Nothing, absolutely nothing can prevent Christ from reaching us (thanks, Atonement!). His love is everywhere, unless we reject it. This love helps Christ take our trials and pains and make them for our good, they can come to teach us. Whatever happens, Love will win. Pure, true, Christlike love.

The Power of Pain

Everybody hurts (at least R.E.M. told me so…).

“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?”

 John Keats

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

The Princess Bride

 

Aaron Eckhart asking about the pain.

Start right off with some heavy and light-hearted bits of truth (how Mormon-y was Keats, unbeknownst to himself? Pains and troubles schooling an intelligence into a soul? Wow. That’s something that Joseph Smith could’ve said. Poets—mini prophets indeed). I’ve been a bit more introspective than usual, thinking about the pain that I feel and the sorrow on behalf of my fellow Saints, who are in an extremely difficult situation. I’ve been weighed down with the pains and woes of others this past week and wondered why. Why do I feel this way? How can I make it stop? Then I thought of X-Men and some of the thoughts that I touched on last week, but didn’t really explore. These words came to mind:

“It’s not their pain you’re afraid of — it’s yours. And frightening as it can be their pain will make you stronger if you allow yourself to feel it. Embrace it. It will make you more powerful than you ever imagined. It’s the greatest gift we have that can bear pain without breaking, and it’s born from the most human power: Hope. Please Charles, we need you to hope again.”

Professor Xavier

And these classic Mormon words in times of trial:

“…know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.”

Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

I’ve been down with the idea of God taking our trials and pains and helping us find value in them for awhile. But this was something a bit more. That the Pain itself is of value and gives us something that we would not otherwise have. Accept that more often than not, this is about compassion—feeling the pains of others. We gain strength through the empathy that we gain from bearing the pains (burdens, perhaps?) of others.

We can better know our Savior by trying in our own small way to feel what he felt. By feeling and embracing the pain of others we can better help them and better be an earthly angel, reaching out and touching the lives of those around us. Christ partially gained his power by suffering for ALL that have, do and will walk the face of the earth (literally and metaphorically, to cover our bases). We gain a bit of that pure Love by trying to do the same.

It’s important though, as Xavier says to his younger self, that we keep hope. Faith, hope and Love are all intricately linked, in an often confusing and unclear fashion creating some sort of chicken and the egg scenario. So it’s fitting that we hold on to hope, when we may feel overwhelmed with the woes of our friends and comrades in Christ.

Some words from an angsty band (Good Charlotte, don’t judge me too harshly. It was one of the first CDs I ever owned personally. I was young and hopeless, OK?) are fitting here:

“Hold on, if you feel like letting go

Hold on, it gets better than you know

Don't stop looking, you're one step closer

Don't stop searching, it's not over

Hold on”

Hold On

We’ve just got to hold on. A Christian rock song (“You Are More” by Tenth Avenue North) also fits well here (as do loads of other songs, I’m sure, these are just the ones that happened to stick out as I was thinking and writing):

“'Cause this is not about what you've done,

But what's been done for you.

This is not about where you've been,

But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,

But what He felt to forgive you,

And what He felt to make you loved.

You are more than the choices that you've made,

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,

You are more than the problems you create,

You've been remade.”

Tenth Avenue North, “You Are More”

A solid reminder that even as we are trying to feel compassion for others—that it’s not about us. The endgame is all about better knowing what Christ felt to forgive us, to really, truly, deeply love us. Where our pain takes us.

So the next time Aaron Eckhart asks you, “What about the pain?” (start this at 8:40 or so to get the question or watch all of it if you’re feeling some cheesy seminary video vibes), maybe you’ll have an answer. Maybe the pain will have helped you become someone better. Or perhaps you were doomed to live long enough to see yourself become the villain…

No. Be someone’s hero and take away their pain (maybe their breath too, while you stand by them forever).

X-Men and the Master of My Fate

 The future: a bleak desolate, place. Mutants and the humans who helped them, united in defeat by an enemy we could not stop. Is this the fate we have set for ourselves? Could we have done nothing to stop it?- Prof. X

Yes, today, I am inspired to write about fate, agency and free will by X-Men. I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past this weekend and it was awesome.  I had pretty high expectations going in, having loved X-Men since I was a kid and the Days of Future Past arc in the ‘90s cartoon was one of my favorites (along with the Dark Phoenix and Shi’ar sagas. Also, I wish I was a mutant). It met and exceeded my expectations. The acting was great (bits of over-the-top drama, but it’s a time-traveling superhero movie, with two awesome casts brought together, so it fit).

Mutants for days (of future past). 

I’ll try to muse on some of the themes weaving in bits of X-Men, but remaining largely spoiler free. But, be warned, there are probably going to be some mild (although mild for me may be huge for someone else, given the amount of back story that I know and sometimes expect others to know, so be prepared) spoilers ahead.

The film follows two timelines, one in the future that is bleak and desolate, as Professor X says in the quote above, the other in the 1970s (which leads to some excellent costume design and music choices). The goal is for Wolverine to go back in time and change the past, so that the future ends up much better than it is/will be (tenses get super jumbled when you throw in time travel…). That’s the basic set-up and should be sufficient, although familiarity with the movie may enhance your reading experience.

Is our fate set? Some members of the Church believe that we established relationships in the pre-mortal life that we then promised to have here (with our parents, siblings, friends, spouses, children, etc.) and may have even covenanted to reach out and help certain people in certain times. Such a worldview would suggest that our fate is set and that what is going to happen, will happen, regardless of our efforts, the end result will be the same.

As you can probably guess, I reject this idea. Again, it strikes me of God being like a chessmaster moving me around like a pawn on the chess board (I think of a scene from the 1981 Clash of the Titans where Zeus moves different monsters and people around on this board, setting up their futures. *shiver* It just doesn’t jive with me).

It also is difficult for me to find hope in such a scenario, where it is unclear whether my actions will change the end outcome. How can I hope and believe that things will work out when it is completely out of my hands? I can’t. Especially for someone that finds themself in a position that they don’t want to be in, desiring to change, it could be soul-crushing to feel helpless to change your future.   

Thankfully, we have the reliable Charles Xavier to once again provide some wisdom and teachings about redemption.

Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they can't be saved.

Xavier in the ‘70s is lost and in a sort of drugged daze, unable to use his powers, trying to drown out the pain that he feels for himself and for others (which eventually he embraces and is what gives him strength. Powerful Christ-figure symbolism and embodiment of baptismal covenants, bearing one another’s burdens, mourning with those that mourn, etc.). So he speaks from the personal experience of being lost and then finding a path. A powerful example of the change that we can all experience in our lives because of Christ and His love for us.

I was especially struck by a sequence in the film where they felt as though everything was hopeless, yet Wolverine pleads with Xavier to still find all of the X-Men. It was interesting because it drove home the point that even if the end result is the same we can each make a difference in the lives of others that is worth making. (Ultimately the film chooses to show that the future can change, but the idea is made more powerful by the emphasis that helping others matters even when that doesn’t change the overall endgame.)

There is hope for change. It is never too late for us to be saved, to find the path that we have lost. The future is fluid and we are made better by feeling the pain of others, by striving to help them through their suffering. Even if their end is tragic and dark, the touch of our lives can do something powerful.

William Ernest Henley’s words from Invictus will close:

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.