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| |  | Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of m�agine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.
Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.�
Do you know someone
who might benefit
from our weekly email?
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John's gospel:
the gospel of the senses...
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Our physical senses--the abilities to hear, to see, to smell, to taste, to touch, the ability to hit a curve ball (well, it's harder than you might think)--witness of life and its abundance. And, our five senses allow us to immerse ourselves in the depths of God's creation and to fully experience its wonder. Too, our physical senses have an astonishing ability to conjure up memories, even those presumably lost. A texture of fabric, the rhythm of a song, the return to a space, the notes of a fragrance, a morsel of food: all can recapture--not merely a memory, but, indeed--a moment, replete and rich with its full sensory experience.
An important aside...The Synoptic (i.e. written "from the same point of view") gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke were likely written, in that order, between the years of AD 50 and 65. By contrast, the gospel of John was not written until between AD 80 and 90--as many as forty years after the Synoptics were penned, and perhaps sixty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. John is thought by many to have been the youngest of the twelve apostles--only in his late teens or early twenties when he accompanied Jesus. (Indeed, John's relationship with Jesus appears to have been comparable to a younger brother's relationship with his older brother.) John was likely in his eighties when he authored his gospel, having survived all of his fellow apostles.
By the time then that John put pen to paper, or stylus to parchment, he might have had as many as sixty years to reflect upon and to recapture his moments with Jesus. His unhurried, contemplative writing--lavish with sensual detail--suggests that John could still feel, hear, see, smell, and taste the context of the words and works he witnessed during the public ministry of Jesus. John wrote in his first epistle: "What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life...we proclaim to you also."
Imagine then, over the course of sixty years...
When John would catch the scent of spikenard in a crowd and be whisked away to the evening when Mary, "anointed the feet of Jesus...and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."
Or, when John would hear the water wrung from a towel trickle into a basin, and be carried back to the evening when the Son of Man--"knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end"--and washed the disciples' feet.
Or, when John would return from fishing early in the morning, smell the campfire, and imagine the dawn long before, when he and his fellows had come in from fishing, and "saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and...Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.'"
A long list of thinkers, tracing their origins back to the renowned Greek philosopher, Plato, has tended to denigrate the human body, including the witness of its senses, and the physical universe as inferior to the spiritual world. Although this thinking has sometimes infiltrated Christian ranks over the years, it's ultimately incompatible with Christian teaching--particularly with John's writings.
Because of the incarnation, John worshiped a God who had hands and feet. One who could be touched. Or as Paul, John's contemporary, could say, people can now see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." God not only drew near to humanity; he "emptied Himself...being made in the likeness of men"--forever spoiling Plato's idea that this world is ultimately a bad thing. John remembered a Jesus who fully embraced life and whose life might be embraced by our five senses.
Where else in his gospel can you sense that John's sensual acuity enriched his testimony of Jesus?
What experience might you relate when a sensory experience triggered the remembrance of a forgotten moment?
How might your reason and senses "join in manifold witness," informing your knowledge and awareness of God?
What would it look like to develop your own sensory awareness so that a texture of fabric, the rhythm of a song, the return to a space, the notes of a fragrance, a morsel of food, might recall a moment from scripture, replete and rich with its full sensory experience? |
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Michael Fox
m�agine!
530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241 |
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In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--
as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.
Michael's books include
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.
Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.
Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.
View our archives!
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