Sometimes I forget how nice Jesus is.  I get all wrapped up in the Christianity that the world portrays, and I fail to remember the enormous love Jesus has for each of us.   I was watching the Book of Matthew on DVD last night, and I was struck by the actor’s portrayal of Christ.  The Jesus in the film was not the Jesus of white-bread America.  To begin, this guy was brown—he bore no resemblance to the European Jesus.  And he was funny.  I laughed out loud during his Sermon on the Mount (the mother of all sermons).  He told jokes, cracked up his audience.  He was an amazing storyteller.  He kissed people, ruffled their hair, and fed them. He sat with them, healed them, and accepted them.  He loved them, and every interaction showed that love.  He was the Christ that is mentioned in the title of this blog. But the Christ portrayed in the DVD isn’t often the one portrayed in real life.  We who claim to know Jesus and to follow him don’t love everyone that we should.  We don’t ruffle the hair and kiss the heads of our enemies.  We don’t sit and laugh with those we disagree with. We don’t always feed the hungry without judging why they are so. We don’t accept those who don’t live as we think they should.  And that’s too bad—because if we loved as Jesus did (and does), our lives would be so much richer and peaceful.  We would really be doing God’s work, and things would improve for everyone.  And that kingdom that Jesus is always talking about would come to fruition. 

It’s good to remember how nice Jesus is, because it reminds me how I should be.