Blog Post #2: Who is Jesus to me?

Amanda Orchard Block 5
September 20, 2017

Blog Post #2: Who is Jesus to me? 

Questions: 

1. Prior to this class, what did you already know about Jesus and where did this information come from? 

Because I am not Catholic, I do not have a lot of knowledge of Jesus. However, I did know that he was believed to be the Son of God. Every Christmas Eve, there are two services at my church, one is the Children's service where the children put on a skit of baby Jesus being born and the three kings greeting him and his family. It is a super cute skit where the little girls dress up as angles, the little boys dress up as shepherds, and the babies dress up as little sheep. There is also another service, which is the Lighting of the Candles where it is more for adults and does not consist of any plays. My family has been attending the Children's service for many years. From that skit, I knew that Jesus' mother was Mary and he was the Son of God. 

2. What Insights did you gain about Jesus from this unit? How does this change or confirm what you already thought? Be specific. (Based on presentations and reading)

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, almost all of the presentations were new information to me. I did not know that Jesus is referred to as "The Messiah of God... one of the greatest religious leaders of all time... (and) the Lord of the Universe." I learned that Jesus made an impact on everyone's life. I knew that he was executed, but it is just hard to think of it that way. We know him as "The Messiah of God... one of the greatest religious leaders of all time... (and) the Lord of the Universe." But at that time we had no idea that he would rise again in three days. This practically confirmed what I thought. I didn' knot that he was those things to an extent, but I did know that he was very important. 

3. Do you feel that you see Jesus as more of a spiritual figure, a historical figure, and/or both? Why? 

I see Jesus as more of a spiritual figure mainly because I knew little about him before I came to this school. Also, I feel like people in other religions believe that Jesus did walk the earth, but they do not think that Jesus is the son of God. For Example, I have a friend that is Muslim and she told me that they knew that he was alive but not that he was the son of God. They do not worship him or pray to him in any way because they have their own morals. I feel like Catholics worship Jesus, not that Lutherans don't. But he is seen as more of a spiritual figure in the sense of Catholics because he spread the word of God and of the Catholic Chuch.

4. How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? 

My relationship with Jesus is kind of fiction. I do the school prayers and stuff at school, but never at home. My family only goes to Church on Easter and Christmas. Those are the only days (besides school) where he impacts my life. I don't feel as connected to him as a Lutheran, as I would if I were a Catholic. Also, I grew up listening to country music and one of my favorite artists is Maranda Lambert. She is the artist of one of my all-time favorite song: The House that Built Me. But as I grew up loving her, I got to explore all of her other music; I found one song that I love now and I can turn to whenever things get tough: Jesus, take the weel. She says how she needs Jesus to guide her away from her problems. He impacted me through that song, telling me that he will always be there. 

Works Cited: 

1. Herald, The Gospel. “Seven Last Sayings of Jesus Christ and What They Mean for Us.”Breaking Christian News: World, Business, and More | The Gospel Herald, 6 Jan. 2017, www.gospelherald.com/articles/69256/20170106/the-seven-last-sayings-of-jesus-christ-and-what-they-mean-for-us.htm.

2. Zanzig, Thomas. Jesus of History, Christ of Faith. Saint Mary's Press, 1999.