"Mary honey, that boy done run off again," Joseph said, noticing that Jesus wasn't with them.

"Oh my stars, Joe," Mary exclaimed. "Where could he be?"

They looked around trying to see if he was nearby.

"Call him, Joe!" Mary directed.

"Jes? Jes? Where are you? Jes?" Joseph shouted.

"Call him by all his names," Mary said to Joseph.

"Jesus, Emanuel, Joshua!" Joseph called out, through the crowd. "I'm tellin' you 'Honey'," he said to Mary. "I got one nerve left and that boy is getting on it!"

They were a good ways outside of Jerusalem, and a sea of travelers filled all lanes on the dusty road. The last place that they remembered Jesus being with them was at the temple. It would be a long walk back to town, against the flow of traffic.

You know the story. Joseph and Mary did return to look for Jesus. Have you ever wondered how the story might have continued had they not gone back to the city? I know I have. Would Jesus have mysteriously appeared hundreds of miles later, walking atop the heads of the travelers? And why did Jesus make it so easy for Mary and Joseph by staying at the temple? All parents know that in real life, Jesus would have gone to a store and maybe a park, leaving the worried Mary and Joseph with little option other than calling the police and conducting a massive and expensive search. Whatever… the Bible writer's story isn't as exciting.

What we are told is that Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple, talking. Now you know right here… Jesus was not a typical youngster. Jesus was odd! Talking in the temple, when he could have been running in the streets. But that's what we're told, so we'll go with it.

Mary and Joseph catch up with Jesus and inform him about the trouble that he has put them through. Apparently Jesus is confused over the ruckus that Mary and Joseph are making.

"Why do you worry? Am I not to be about my Father's business?" Jesus says to them.

I'm not sure, but was Jesus' statement a question or an answer? Perhaps it is both. And here you have Jesus' first recorded "coming out" experience.

Jesus "came out" other times too. Sometimes his "coming out" brought him true friends, such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Can't you see them having Jesus over to "chill" at their house? Maybe they joined Jesus on some of his cross-country adventures? Young folks are always thinking up fresh ideas, and Jesus was pretty young, thirty-three when he died.

However, the keepers of the faith were uneasy. Some of them cornered him one day and asked who he was. Jesus "came out" and told them.

Imagine that you and your friends are walking through town. You see a group of people collected on the corner near Main Street. Standing in the middle of the crowd is a tall man whom you know is 'dirt poor', unemployed, homeless and has no formal education. His hair is long and wooly, and he probably has never shaved. Surrounding him are people who too, are homeless, unemployed, and even diseased.

"Oh, it's that uneducated man. Poor fellow, he's crazy," you hear one of your friends say.

Your attention focuses on a few well-dressed, educated men who live in the big houses across the tracks. They are religious men from the wealthy stadiums of prayer. According to their interpretation of scripture, this uneducated homeless man cannot be who he says he is, and they question him. "Tell us, who are you?" they ask. On one hand, they hope to embarrass him with their knowledge and authority, but on the other hand they'd rather him not tell as it might gain him more followers. Jesus answers. "Blasphemy! God himself, coming to us in this form?" they think.

Jesus would come out on several occasions. They'd ask him who his father was, and he'd say it was God in heaven. Or they'd question, "Where do you come from" knowing that he was from Nazareth. Jesus would answer that he was from heaven -- the clear case of a man not running on all cylinders. Think about it. According to what we've been given by the guys who decided what would and wouldn’t be included in the Bible, either Jesus was who he said he was, or he was a very disturbed man! However, that isn't my point. Whatever Jesus was, he came out with information that won him followers, got him killed, and changed the world with the final glitter and fireworks still pending.

Does this sound familiar? Did you ever reveal the truth about yourself, and you were punished for it? When you told that parent, 'Hey dad, I'm…", did he reject you? Did you get fired from your job when the coworkers and boss found out that you were different in some way? Do you spend a lot of energy, concealing who you really are from others?

If you answered 'yes' to any of these, I want you to take a look at Jesus' example.

Why did Jesus come out? He didn't have to do it. He could have gone through life being the exceptional guy from Nazareth.

Jesus believed that he was someone special. Jesus believed that the divine had called him, to bless the world, but also that he was part of the divine from eternity past.

This might seem blasphemous, but so have you been called.

Imagine an all-knowing being not knowing that you will appear onto the scene of life at some point. It doesn't make sense. So if there is such a God -- you were there in eternity past too, if only in his mind.

From this divine mind comes goodness and blessings. True justice, rightness and love originate in this mind. It is this same mind which called Jesus, that has called you. Do you believe this?

Jesus came out to announce the arrival of a New World, even as the old one continued as usual. For millennia God had been viewed at a tyrant, unforgiving and uncaring. In the minds of many, God was an unmerciful judge. Even worse, the religious rulers and teachers said that when God came to rescue the nation from oppression, God would only associate with and save the financially and spiritually rich. Financial poverty, like disease, was thought to be a sign of spiritual defects that God didn't like.

Jesus came out to show and tell what God was really like. He also came out to show what life was like in the society that he was establishing. Jesus' invited men and women learn what God was really like. In so doing, they might be drawn to change their allegiance from this world of fear, jealousy and selfishness to that of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus' coming out had meaning, and impact whether or not the invitation was accepted. This point is crucial.

Jesus knew who he was. He knew that he was not from earth. He knew that his home was in a place of unimaginable glory and power. He had left this home, with the blessing of his parent, to come out and literally change the world. He knew that by coming out, he might not always have secure earthly employment or wealth. He knew that he was called to a higher purpose than attaining these things. Jesus also knew that coming out wouldn't gain him acceptance from the religious authorities. He knew that his coming out fulfilled a more eternal purpose.

How about yourself, do you know who you are? Are you black? Are you disabled? Are you financially blessed? Are you well educated? Do you know why you're here? Maybe you have heard God calling you saying, "You are who you are for a reason, the world needs to know the truth." If so, have you accepted that call? Do you have a story to tell just because you are you? Have you come out, and if not, why?

Copyright note: This story may be freely re-posted over the internet exactly as it appears, including authorship credit, provided *this* paragraph is also included intact. For any other use or form of reproduction or distribution, please obtain the author’s written permission in advance.
Copyright ©1998 by Marcus Stringer
Email: goodguy_Sea@yahoo.com
Website: http://geocities.datacellar.net/westhollywood/3100/.