Jesus Mortal |
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little drummer boy In 1958, a song that would later be a hit as “The Little Drummer Boy” sent a poor child and his drum as an invader from Luke’s nativity story into Matthew’s. In the song, the little drummer boy has nothing fit for a king, like the three wise men do, but he plays his drum, and Baby Jesus smiles. The magi with their royal presents are from Matthew. He wanted people to think of Jesus as a mighty king at his birth, revealed in the heavens, honored by the wise, and feared by the powerful. In Matthew, there’s no manger, no lowly beasts, no shepherds, and surely no sappy little drummer boy. That beloved down-home stuff is all from Luke. There’s no little drummer boy in Luke, either, but if there were a little drummer boy in the new testament, that’s where it would be. Matthew has just about always been the most popular gospel, but Luke’s humble image of Jesus’ birth has won out over Matthew’s story about powerful men honoring or fearing Jesus. In the song, the little drummer boy and the magi are together. Impossible, of course, because they’re from different realities. But there they are together. The magi have their royal gifts, but a penniless child beats them at the gifting contest through the zen gift of his drum. The humble heart filled with love is more to Christ’s liking than the regal adulation found in Matthew. Of course, the song lyrics don’t read literally as a contest between competing images of Jesus. Matthew’s and Luke’s nativity stories are routinely smooshed together into one combo story. But Luke has won the contest of popular opinion, and the drummer boy character is the result. To see how well Luke has taken over the Christmas story, consider a hypothetical opposite character to the little drummer boy. Imagine a powerful character suitable to Matthew’s nativity story, but put in a song with shepherds from Luke’s gospel. How could this powerful character match or exceed the humble shepherds as they honor the babe in the manger? He’d have to do something humble, and his superiority would be in humbling himself even farther than the shepherds do. They’re already lowly, after all. But that’s not the opposite of little drummer boy. To be the opposite, the powerful character would have to do some mighty deed for Jesus or bring some priceless gift. Maybe you could invent a hit song about a powerful man doing some mighty deed for baby Jesus, something the shepherds couldn’t do, but it wouldn’t resonate. Luke’s tenderness has won out over Matthew’s aggrandizement, and Jesus would be happy with that outcome.
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contents table of contents you're already looking at it introduction for the inquisitive reader biographical overview who he was and wasn't
afterlife not Jesus' concern animal sacrifice bloodless religion apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire? baptism sin wash for Jesus and others beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel bible scripture old and new bishop the unjesus body focus on the physical Buddha Jesus' close kin charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages divorce women's status dreams convenient literary device Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism exorcist Jesus and demons failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure faith from trust to blind belief father Jesus on titles of honor Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience god how Jesus became god golden rule key to Jesus' success gospels competing accounts heaven from sky to spiritual home hell revenge fantasy humanism Jesus' legacy inerrant Christian treatment of scripture Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus Jewish guilt Christian libel John's gospel the un-gospel John the baptist, see John the washer John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor Judaism libeled religion of Jesus kingdom of god what Jesus promised Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way logos jesus as the word of god C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew logos Jesus as the divine word LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading Mormon, see Joseph Smith Moses Jewish lawgiver Muhammad a prophet who got it right mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation oppression origin of Jesus' compassion The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill Paul revealer of the revealer private and public public Jesus and secret Christ relativism the secret power of the golden rule sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure sheol dark pit of death show Jesus' deeds as put-ons slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus Socrates secular Jesus son of god on close terms with the man upstairs soul, see body synoptics three gospels that agree temple center of Jewish religion trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre vision, see dreams Yahweh, see LORD Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man
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