We all know the beautiful Old Testament story about David & Jonathan, which raises certain speculations concerning the nature of their relationship. Surprisingly perhaps, it has a link to New Testament and relationship between Jesus - often called "the son of David" - and John, the beloved disciple. Names Jonathan and John both mean the same: "Lord has given".
There is something you should know about John. He was in fact Lazarus! Gospel according to John is the only Gospel telling about Lazarus: "Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick".
His deeply mystical experience made John able to stand at the root of the cross while others ran away and hid, and later he was able to write the most profound gospel and to receive the prophetic revelation. Many scholars today are convinced that the author of the gospel according to John really is John the beloved disciple!
And now we are getting to the point: in relation to other people - on intellectual level - I can easily identify with Paul the apostle on his mission. To preach the gospel and heal the sick is my calling: to declare to glbt-christians the Good News about the liberation in Christ from the burden of legalistic religion, healing the blind, the deaf, the mute, the paralysed, and the leper in them. But in my heart, in my personal relationship with Christ I identify with the beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast at the supper. It is a strong image - known from many paintings and icons - which speaks for itself!
As a gay man there is one more aspect to this image that appeals to me: two men who love each other and show it (and this is not to suggest that Jesus was gay!*). Most naturally I too may meet Christ Jesus this closely at the supper, during Communion Service! And as Christ said to Lazarus-John, "Come out!" and he came out of the grave, he has called me out of the grave, out of the closet!
Jesus Christ is the mystical lover of my soul: "My beloved is mine, and I am his"... (Sol. 3:16). Communion is the expression of God's love towards us, his gift to us. I approach the altar like a prodical son returning home and father in a form of priest meets me there. The Feast follows. It is the wedding of heaven and earth, cosmic union of the Bridegroom and his ecclesia, as well as the mystical marriage of spirit and soul.
* As much as God is both Father and Mother, we are also allowed to think he/she is, in a way, both straight and gay! Godhead of course is above such an earthly dividing, but he/she is the Ultimate Oneness into which all opposites merge and unite.
There is something you should know about John. He was in fact Lazarus! Gospel according to John is the only Gospel telling about Lazarus: "Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick".
His deeply mystical experience made John able to stand at the root of the cross while others ran away and hid, and later he was able to write the most profound gospel and to receive the prophetic revelation. Many scholars today are convinced that the author of the gospel according to John really is John the beloved disciple!
And now we are getting to the point: in relation to other people - on intellectual level - I can easily identify with Paul the apostle on his mission. To preach the gospel and heal the sick is my calling: to declare to glbt-christians the Good News about the liberation in Christ from the burden of legalistic religion, healing the blind, the deaf, the mute, the paralysed, and the leper in them. But in my heart, in my personal relationship with Christ I identify with the beloved disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast at the supper. It is a strong image - known from many paintings and icons - which speaks for itself!
As a gay man there is one more aspect to this image that appeals to me: two men who love each other and show it (and this is not to suggest that Jesus was gay!*). Most naturally I too may meet Christ Jesus this closely at the supper, during Communion Service! And as Christ said to Lazarus-John, "Come out!" and he came out of the grave, he has called me out of the grave, out of the closet! Jesus Christ is the mystical lover of my soul: "My beloved is mine, and I am his"... (Sol. 3:16). Communion is the expression of God's love towards us, his gift to us. I approach the altar like a prodical son returning home and father in a form of priest meets me there. The Feast follows. It is the wedding of heaven and earth, cosmic union of the Bridegroom and his ecclesia, as well as the mystical marriage of spirit and soul.
* As much as God is both Father and Mother, we are also allowed to think he/she is, in a way, both straight and gay! Godhead of course is above such an earthly dividing, but he/she is the Ultimate Oneness into which all opposites merge and unite.
No comments:
Post a Comment