Jesonian … August 11th, 2018

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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Astonished.

It is the word that Saint Matthew selected, in his Gospel, to describe the reaction of the audience which heard Jesus of Nazareth share the Sermon on the Mount.

Some synonyms for astonished:

• Shocked
• Confounded
• Bewildered
• Astounded
• Flabbergasted
• Startled
• Stunned
• Dumbfounded
• Blow your mind

Astonished is a word that combines impressed and alarmed.

It is the way Matthew perceived the mood of the hearers.

He added that they felt that Jesus had more “authority” than the scribes. As you probably know, the scribes were not the Pharisees. The scribes were the local ministers in charge of writing and reading the Law of Moses.

The style they imparted in sharing those ancient words was: read, said, dead. When the scribes read, they said what was exactly there–as dead as they possibly could, so as not to add too much flavor.

So as you can see, it was not a roaring accolade, to say that Jesus exceeded the knowledge or enthusiasm of the scribes.

The importance to the verse is that the people departing that day were “astonished.” What do people do when they’re astonished?

On the way home, as the afterglow disappears, they begin to pick at the corners of great ideas until they disassemble them, convincing themselves that these principles are implausible.

How do we know this is true?

Most of them do not follow Jesus down the hill, but instead, go to their homes, where they justify their disbelief.

Meanwhile, Jesus, who has just delivered the most radical, truthful and practical message ever heard on Earth, descends the hill, and is greeted by one leper, who asks for healing–who had probably missed the sermon.

After twenty-two years of traveling with my dear friend Janet Clazzy, to thousands of churches, I will tell you this:

It is very possible to stir up a congregation, and even their local shepherd, to the point of astonishment.

You can raise dead spirits that haven’t been alive since Grandma and Grandpa sat in the pews.

You can get people to clap, think, react, smile, and even do their best impersonation of loving one another. But you can’t go home with them.

And home is where they rationalize all their present actions–to avoid the horror of repentance.

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Yappy Your Year… January 1, 2014

Jonathots Daily Blog

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Too much yapping. At least, I think so.

I like talking, but do you really think we need shows filled with it?

Talk shows. Dozens and dozens of them, which eventually denigrate to prejudicial statements made by people filling time, pretending they aren’t gossiping.

I’m a little tired of pundits, too. (Except I do like the rhyme, “redundant pundit…”)

Yes, the repetition of stolen ideas is not only a thievery of material, but also steals creativity from the heart of the American people.

Would you allow me to point out that another intolerable portion of yappiness is TV preachers? At a time in my life when I am seeking greater and greater humanity, they bestow either the drivel of psycho-babble or the onslaught of unexplained divinity.

And equally as frustrating is the new wave of agnosticism and atheism being promoted as an evolution in intelligence of an emerging “people consciousness.” Listen folks, it takes no energy to be an unbeliever. I suppose that’s why this lazy generation selects it so voraciously.

Oh, my dear God … I am weary beyond words of “Ducks” who seek a “Dynasty” by quacking out Bible verses, while simultaneously I have to listen to all that the gay have to say.

Am I odd? Am I so self-possessed that I must scream aloud that I don’t really care who’s zooming who, but rather, whether we are progressing in our talents while learning to drench them in humility?

I hate polls. The reason I hate polls is because the questions asked by the pollster can be twisted to bring desired results for his or her organization. And honestly, most people don’t have the common sense to listen to a question and admit, “What in the hell do I know?”

That goes for Tweets, too. We used to believe in this country that some forethought, emotion, concern, courtesy and gentleness should precede the next thing spoken. But when you have a I-Phone in front of you and you can pour out your vile reaction immediately, why take time for reflection?

It’s 2014, so it’s the Democrat’s turn to whine about how “things aren’t fair,” and the Republican’s hour to criticize everything that’s going on. Just ten years ago, the circumstances were flipped. The Republicans were the whiners and the Democrats were the attackers.

Is anyone bored yet? To me it’s similar to going to see The Sixth Sense movie for the second go-round. It was interesting the first time, but after you’ve viewed it, you know the guy’s dead from the beginning.

And when we’re talking about our “Yappy Your Year,” may I request that we discourage, ignore and possibly eliminate alarmed folks?

Case in point: would you just tell me that it’s going to rain and there will be thunder, instead of describing all the atrocities that Mother Nature could be perpetrating on my house this evening?

Would you instruct me to eat more vegetables without warning me how my present physical condition flirts with disaster and death?

And could you put a bill through Congress without having to promote that you are the savior of the world for coming up with the idea?

Which brings me to the final piece of yappiness–the only one I can really do anything about:

Me.

Yes, I need to shut up more.

• Even in my blogs, I’m pursuing brevity, dreaming of achieving wit.
• On stage, more concise.
• And unless I’m asked for it, I vow this year to not offer advice to anyone.

I’m too yappy–and words that do not edify eventually find a way to destroy.

So Happy New Year to you, my friends! And remember–talk is never cheap.

It is costly … often leaving our character bankrupt.

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Four births and born again … July 1st, 2012

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Perhaps inspired by the impending arrival of my grandson, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about being born. Honestly, each one of us needs a lot more than the earth to “make womb” for us. I think Jesus was right–we DO need to be born again. Otherwise, we have a nagging suspicion that plagues us throughout our lives–that we are merely pantomiming the wishes of our culture, passing through the Xerox machine of a genetic code. For a moment, forget about heaven. Earth-life has to be a lot more than just me trying to struggle, in quiet desperation, with some sort of destiny that has already been pre-determined.

After careful deliberation, I realized that each one of us needs four births to finally be born again. I saw it in my own life–or maybe better phrased, I see it in my own life.

I need an emotional birthing. I need to be able to say, “I am not alarmed by what I feel.” Otherwise, I will commit the first true sin of all human beings–I will learn to lie about my emotions. I will become comfortable masking my intentions in an attempt to make everything I do seem clean in the sight of others.

I have so many examples of this in my life, I barely know where to start. I once was alarmed that I got married too early. I was alarmed that I had no college education. I was a little alarmed that fame eluded me. I was alarmed that I didn’t seem to have the moxie and will-power to shed my excess pounds. I guess one day I got tired of being alarmed, and decided to instead be forthcoming and speak my heart aloud. Upon hearing my inadequacies floating in the air, they didn’t seem quite so alarming, and some of them seemed downright funny. I experienced an emotional birth.

Likewise, it took me a while to understand spirituality. I thought it was having a conviction about God or the Bible. Then one day I realized that the way to be born spiritually is to say to yourself, “I am not ashamed to believe.” It’s one thing to stand in a congregation of devotees and declare your faith and an entirely different matter to walk amongst the mockers and those who deem themselves to be logical and still continue to hold fast to a hope.

I have been around people who think I am stupid because I insist that I have a relationship with an unseen Father. One day I just stopped caring, and instead, reveled in the reassurance. It was the day I was birthed spiritually–and now I can say I am not ashamed to believe.

For many years I thought it was a sign of maturity to grab onto an idea and not relinquish it, even when new information began to contradict the original thought. When did stubbornness become a kissing cousin of intelligence?  Even in politics, they are so afraid of vacillation that they will follow policies which have historically proven to be erred, and in the present format are also weighed in the balances and found wanting.

One day I decided to rebirth my mind. I did so with a very simple phrase: “I am not afraid to change my thinking.” There are things that I now hold true that I did not agree with ten years ago. Matter of fact, you probably can go back into my jonathots and find contradictions. I don’t care. I refuse to have my brain encased in either dogma or concrete. I have received a mental birth because I am not afraid to change my thinking.

My most recent birth has occurred in the physical realm. Last summer I nearly gave up on the whole idea of being totally healthy, and even questioned any capability on my part to lose weight. It seemed that I had so many genetic markers against me, and a metabolism that hadn’t moved since the Kennedy administration. I felt justified to be discouraged. I felt as if I had lost out in the genetic lottery and it was only righteous for me to succumb to my circumstances. If I had continued that line of thinking, I not only would have failed to be birthed with a new body, but also would have been on the pathway to quietly terminating myself.

Something happened. Something previously immovable inside of me shifted slightly. All I know is that I have experienced a physical birth, and … “I am no longer aggravated to go through the physical steps to become more healthy.” Rather than a chore, it has become a game. Instead of being my curse, it has transformed into my cause. I am trying many things and experimenting with the vigor of Thomas Edison attempting to light up his bulb. I have been born physically.

• I am not alarmed by what I feel–it is a birthing of heart.
• I am not ashamed to believe–spirit born.
• I am not afraid to change my thinking–mind renewed.And I am not aggravated to become more healthy–body rejuvenated.

The culmination of these four births is placing me in a status–or at least an emerging awareness–of being born again, which is the ultimate proclamation:

• I am alive as me.

Sometimes it’s not enough to have a mother. You need a father, too. And sometimes a mother and father aren’t enough without sisters and brothers. And often, a mother, father, sisters and brothers can still leave you incomplete–until you allow yourself to be born again.

Four births–heart, spirit, mind and strength–lending themselves to the glorious proclamation:

I have been born again.

   

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