Jesus Narrative

“It must have been a Thursday. Or maybe a Friday – no it was definitely a Thursday because I wanted to stay home and watch some T.V. show that night.” The voice of Pastor Matthew Simmons echoed through a half-full congregation as the Sunday morning stragglers leisurely shuffled their feet through the small Ohio church aisles. “Some of you have known me for a while now but today I want to tell you about something that happened to me when I was younger. I want to tell you about the day I met Jesus.”
Blank stares emerged from the congregation as heads turned down to smartphones to silently pass the time as they awaited the commencement prayer so they could rush over to the nearest restaurant to beat the lunch crowd. After all, Simmons’ congregation …show more content…
He smiled, asked the congregation if they were alive out there and continued on. “As a self-proclaimed scholar of both the Old and New Testament, I felt it my duty, nay my right, to inform this lady that Jesus was probably not the man who came to visit her every night before bedtime. I mean, did I believe He could have? Sure, I guess so. But did I believe He actually talked to her face to face, like the way a parent speaks with their child or two old friends when they have not seen each other in some time? No. And therein lied the problem. But in my defense, she wasn’t exactly with it. I thought it more likely that even if she did talk to somebody, it was probably a worker in the home, not the Prince of Peace.” The congregation smiled. Noticing the intrigue, Simmons proceeded. “With the gusto of an overly zealous revivalist preacher, I passively grinned and replied to the lady, ‘Oh yeah? Can I ask you something?’ She replied with a subtle, ‘Sure.’ I continued, ‘What does He look like? And how long is His hair? Because, you know, I don’t think Jesus was white like European tradition has made Him out to be.’ The lady noticed the disbelief placated as sarcasm in my voice and just as quickly as she had opened up about her experience she shut down, eyes set to a distant and void …show more content…
‘You know, He is nice. I can tell He wants to talk to me. He wants to listen to what I have to say. He never seems like He is in a rush. You know when you are talking to someone and you are so excited to tell them about your day, but you can tell, even if they are a close friend, that they have somewhere else they would rather be? It’s like, even though they want to listen to you, it’s almost as if they can’t.’ ‘Yeah.’ I replied. ‘I get what you mean.’ The man continued, ‘It is different with Him, you know, He just listens, and talks, and He really cares. You know, when I first met Him, He told me He had been waiting a long time to talk to me like this. He said He wished He could have done it sooner, when I was younger, but the noisiness of life makes it hard for us to notice when He is around. He asks me about my day, about my kids. Nobody talks to me like that. I mean, everybody is nice here but no one really talks to me like He does.’ ‘What about your wife? I mean, uh do you still have a wife?’ Immediately I regretted asking that.” Said Simmons. “But the man replied, ‘Well, she is gone now, has been for some time, so I ask Him about her every time we talk and He says she is doing great. Last time we talked He said He wished He could speak to