Did Jesus Lead a Balanced Life?

Thanks for this. I appreciate it greatly. I was thinking just recently that we may be addicted to adrenalin/endorphins as a culture. We feel good when we are busy because our bodies are drugging us. If we slow down, we can actually appreciate what it is that we are doing. We can encounter our deeds at a certain depth that may actually serve us better than “feeling good.”

I remember no better feeling than sitting on the front porch of a friend’s house after putting in a new fence. We sat. We appreciated. We enjoyed one another and the work but only because we took the time to do so.

Amen! Thank you for your words of wisdom. Your post is like the theological version of Womenomics. Beautiful.

Christine, a lovely post…I have discussed some of this at length in “God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus” (Westminster John Knox) and “Healing Worship” (Pilgrim) as well as three books on ministerial spiritulity, “Feed the Fire” (Pilgrim), “Four Seasons of Ministry” (Alban) and upcoming “Tending to the Holy” (Alban)....take a look at Mark 6:30-46 where Mark frames Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand with contemplative moments and a time for lunch and retreat…and he had compassion on them…could this be an antidote to compassion fatigue for pastors, active laypersons, social activists, and parents.

I think Jesus TRIED to live a balanced life.

However, if someone mentioned to me that my daughter Anna had quit her job and was going on a 40 day fast, I think I’d be worried. Or if I heard that Anna was frequently spending 6-8 hours alone in the mountains at night praying, I’d wonder. And if people told me that Anna thought she had a healing ministry and she was casting out demons and praying for mobs of several thousand people frequently I’d worry. I’d be concerned if she left home, wasn’t working and had no permanent residence, sleeping at friends houses for three years. And of course, if Anna told me she spent about an hour talking to Moses, that would be the last straw. I’d say, that’s it, you are dangerously unbalanced. No more praying all night, no more 40 day fasts, no more wandering around the countryside homeless and casting demons out of strangers. Of course that’s exactly what His mother and brothers did. They traveled to one of his meetings and wanted to talk some sense into Him, but He refused to meet with them. (Matthew 12:46). His emotions were a little ragged at times. It said that “zeal for my Father’s house has consumed me”. So, was Jesus life balanced? Depends on how you define balance. It may not look like what we think balance should look like. However, I think your insights about the rhythms of prayer, community and celebration are key. I think within the mission He was given, He lived a whole and joyful life.

Rick,
I appreciate your comments. You are right about the fact that we get concerned when someone wants to go on extended times of retreat and pray. We worry even more if they think of living their whole lives in a way that is counter cultural. But it seems to me that followers of Christ have always been called to live in counter cultural ways – even in the rhythm of their lives. Yes there were times when Jesus got consumed by zeal for his Father’s house too but most of the time he does seem to have lived most of the time to an easy rhythm. In Matthew 11: 28, 29 he talks about living by the unforced rhythms of grace. that sounds pretty good to me

Christine
The question you ask is almost impossible to answer.

If we make any claims about “balance” then we assume a POV that has all the angles, and this is never the case for humans. Any claim at balance is at best relative and provisional.

However, we often sense in our hearts that someone has a bigger vision than ours, and we call them “balanced”. But they are only more balanced than us.

Any discussion of balance needs to take physics into account, which tells us that there are no straight lines in nature, only oscillations where at any given time, all is out of balance. The “middle” axis of a “Sine” wave (arf arf) is just an abstraction, energy – life – is in constant motion to and fro. You may have touched on this in your book.

Jesus lives and breathes in and through us. I think we, along with Jesus during his time on earth, experiance balance as the simple human self-awareness that the breath you just took was all about that living spirit. Living with sin, but without sinning as Jesus did, is the most precise definition of balance I can think of. That means with every miraculous breathe of life inhaled with brokeness and openess, we are able to speak and act with God our Father’s truth, as Jesus did.

I love the language of this post as it is with a peaceful Christ centered heart that we in turn center our actions. The quiet reflection on the back porch, or whatever your Gethsemene is, does not mean leave your cross on the ground for someone else to pick up, but it does mean that if what you do next is Spirit filled, the fruits of your faith will be multiplied on both earth and heaven.

Scripture, old and new, focuses more on strength than centeredness as a core value. We like our routines, our jobs, our worship, (some with little house on the prarie churches, some with big box churches), not to be too busy or too interupted, which perhaps is a precise definintion of a humanistic centered life. But Jesus gathered his strength through prayer and worship, and LIVED/SHARED his message wherever he was led by his heavenly Father. Every mall, every port, every beach, every synagogue big and small, every workplace and adjacent watering hole, and accross racial borders. So, I think we can ”...do all things through Christ who strengthens…” us, but only if we believe it is from that balanced, prayerful, quiet, God given breath we just took.

John
”...if what you do next is Spirit filled, the fruits of your faith will be multiplied on both earth and heaven.” So restful – so true!

We can be so full of our own ideas about religion/mission/faith – but it is HIM we need to be filled with! He is the centre. If He is where we are – we are balanced!

“Was Jesus a good role model?”, asked by one of our confirmands, has provided a similar surprising,engaged and rich exploration, both with our confirmands and within our group of adult confirmation leaders.

Christine, I am reading your post with an African view and I love your thoughts on taking it slow. I grew up in a rural farming district of Cape-Town, South-Africa. Now I am living in Johannesburg, the economic capital of Africa. I relate a lot to your thoughts on the ancient Hebrew rhythm Jesus lived by. Whether it was balanced in a Western way of living life, I am not so sure. Growing up in Africa you learn to live by a certain rhythm. Anyone who ever heard African bongo drums playing together will know that it is more a chaotic creative rhythm, than a structured, balanced rhythm. I wonder if this way of creating sound and energy might be closer to the ancient rhythm Jesus lived by.

But Fourie, the African rhythmic sense is a sophisticated creative form. It is full of structure, and the polyrhythmic balance is very advanced compared to the European sense.

Europe majored on harmonic progress and in so doing lost touch with its own folk rhythms. The “first world” is having to learn from the african diaspora (via jazz and afro-latin rhythm) to get in touch with what was lost by being so cerebral after the Enlightenment.

Good comment Nic. Your last paragraph gives flesh and bone to what I try to say. By comparing the African Vibe to Clinical Western Structure has a bit to do with Modern vs Ancient. Post-modern spirituality tends to have more connections with Pre-modern than modern, although it is never this simple as I make it out to be and as your comment rightly points out. The chaotic creativity I talk about compared to a more structured, clinical approach is very evident when one compare local church music in a township to the worship service of your average modern western liturgy. Which one is more balanced? Depends from where you stand (or dance…)

finding the balance is key. seems to be the importance of observing a sabbath as well. great post.

I’m just enjoying the thoughtful questions and comments about how Jesus actually lived.

I think that once we take him off that pedestal, (he didn’t want to be on it anyway—”As you do unto the least of these, you do also unto me.”) we can really begin to identify with him. I think that’s where we can pick up the real lessons of his life.

As to whether he led a balanced life or not, I think he lived according to the Truth God put on his heart, and he tried to live in the moment everyday.

So the concept of “a balanced life” would have been meaningless to him—culturally, if not spiritually anyway.

Christine, you’re invited to check out my site . . . I’d certainly like to add a link to Emergent Village, if that’s okay. Take a peek, let me know what you think.

jesus was just like one of us but in a deferent way living his life one day ta the time and by faith ,I’m sure he rested when was needed,and he took the time with his people.sure he was a hard worker,what ever came his way he took the time to take the right desicsion.prayed about it before he done anything,I say prayer was is first attention before he act on anything.I think he was a easy going guy loved every one and eccept them just the way they where no question ask.