“Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.” The old spiritual gets right to the point. Having a week to relax and reflect led me to ask, what difference does it make, anyway? Why waste my time and that of my readers trying to cut through all the layers of tradition in an attempt to discover the real Jesus? Albert Schweitzer and others have already done a masterful job of revealing the historical Jesus, so what am I hoping to add?
I am quite convinced that as our species evolves, unique and original ideas become increasingly rare. Contemporary humans are more and more left to variations on themes that have already been composed, while the genuinely new discoveries are as likely as not corporate. Therefore, I must accept that I have nothing new to offer, only my personal insight.
What intrigues me about Jesus is that he was able to communicate a promise: We can live in harmony with our Creator and in so doing know true happiness. I cannot think of anyone who does not want to be happy. The quest for happiness appears to be common to all people. The evidence is overwhelming, however, that very few of us ever achieve genuine happiness. My guess is that this is because we don’t know what true happiness actually is, and because we don’t we chronically fall short of the mark by pursuing mirages of what we think happiness should be.
Was Jesus a happy man? I don’t know. I like to think that he was. If he knew the formula for authentic happiness, this would help to explain the strong, charismatic attraction that drew others to him. It also helps to refocus our attention on what he had to say rather than all the things that have been said for him since. It may still be possible to realize peace on Earth and goodwill to all humankind if we choose to discover in the Christ serious happiness.
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