What if Jesus were next to me

In a wonderful blog post by a blogger I admire, a sermon that put forth the idea of how would we behave if Jesus were sitting next to us was brought up. The author brought many good points which were particularly relevant given that it was Thanksgiving and thus signified the start of cut throat Christmas shopping. When I first thought about Jesus sitting next to me, I cringed. I realized I would curse far less, hopefully help my fellow human more, tell those I love that I loved them no matter how I loved them, and generally, really try to live up to loving my neighbor as I loved myself.

After further thought, I hoped to love my neighbor better than I love myself. I want my neighbor to never know a day of sadness or doubt. I want my neighbor to have strength of conviction and I would hope to encourage my neighbor everyday to make the most of gifts bestowed upon her or him. My love for myself is conditional I hope my love for my neighbor to be less so. People will anger us or hurt us but we really should never stop loving anyone at least on general human level.

I thought about it some more and then I became excited. Think about it Jesus is next to you. You could ask Jesus, so "How is your father doing? Does he need anything?... No, not Joseph the other one but since you bring it up how is Joseph?" I wonder if I would hug more people if Jesus were next to me. I wonder if I would tell Jesus I was scared or worried or whatever. I wonder if Jesus would confide in me. I think Jesus would be laid back and unassuming yet resolute in action and belief. Like the author of the blog, I come from a tradition of a benevolent, teaching God who like a loving parent felt sorrow when or if punitive measures had to be taken. Maybe I would not hug others more but hopefully I would hug Jesus. I think Jesus might be hopeful but at times sad at what we have become. I would hope I could be a friend to Jesus, help him move, invite him over for dinner, help him paint, etc. To paraphrase Prince, not because he needed it but because those are things that being a friend are about. I would hope that if Jesus were next to me, I would make the main thing in my life love and to quote another friend "...keep the main thing the main thing".

Funny thing is that Jesus, given all that he is and can do, might be next to me now. Funny thing is that most of the time I think about love but unfortunately, I also think about sorrow and loss of love. I wonder how much I would really change if Jesus were next to me even if I knew it. The doubt that I would change makes me sad and brings home the idea that I really should love me and my neighbor just a little bit more.