Back Stories (Part II)

The face was almost as familiar as his own, and, depending on the light shining through the stained glass window, the eyes often seemed to be looking right at him. Ever since he could remember, the image of Jesus in the window behind the altar was a part of his childhood theological marination.  When lessons were read, sermons preached, or hymns sung he would return to the image in the window.  Mistakenly, he felt he knew Jesus. What he knew was a work of art. What he knew was glass.

Many years later, the boy attended classes about the figure in the window. Reading the four accounts of his life in the company of others, as well as countless works written since, the boy began to know more of the back-story.

Who was he really? . . . Who wasn't he? . . . What did he say? . . . What did he do? . . . What happened to him? . . . What have people made of him throughout history?

The figure from the window became something more. Over time, Jesus became three-dimensional. While some tried to steer him away from the mysteries surrounding him, or arguing away theological incongruities, the boy felt they were part of the back-story. 

To use an image from The Wizard of Oz, the boy needed to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. He felt he needed to push asside the cloth of Church tradition and veneration, parents’ admonishments, and Sunday school lesson plans, and see the person for himself.

Looking behind the curtain, getting to know jesus' back-story, did not turn water into wine, but it did turn glass into flesh and blood and that has made all the difference.