Foxes Have Holes, Part 2
"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."It's a real brain cracker, just like the Zen Master's koans I mentioned this morning. I think maybe if I could understand this one sentence then the world would come apart and reassemble itself in a brand new way. Maybe I'd finally find the gateway to the Kingdom of God! I know it's around here somewhere but try as I might I've never been able to find the entrance. It must be hidden like the door to a fox den.
I'm like the guy in the story - there he goes - off pondering for the next few weeks - "What did Jesus mean? Why did he say that to me? All I did was tell him I would follow him wherever he goes!"
Labels: Christianity, Meaning of Things
posted by Christopher Newton at 2:54 PM
4 Comments:
I dunno, I guess I always just thought it meant that there was a high cost to following Jesus. That Jesus was telling him that following him wasn't going to be an easy ride- he didn't have any mansion here on earth for his disciples to sleep in at night, they'd be trepsing all over the country side sleeping wherever they could get a spot.
Poor, beautiful Jesus, He lived in two worlds as the Son of Man and the Son of God, human and divine, without a place to sleep. He latter would sleep on the boat in the middle of the storm. As the man, Jesus was mortal and impoverish as all men. As a God he was away from his house in heaven. Jesus seems to focus a lot on this seemingly impossible duality. Is he not so human when he cries: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” yet as he cries out he sheds his mortality and fulfills the prophesy. It is so important that Jesus be man yet sinless, just as it is so important that the Word of God be written language but perfect, a flawless text. It is what the religion is based upon. Christ introduced perfection into an imperfect world; he gave a way to bridge the gap between God and man.
He seems to be saying, if you follow me you will realize that your mortal house is not your home, you will have no place to sleep in the physical realm. Following Jesus as the man would show how all men are strangers and separated from their final destination. But it is he himself as God who is the way to that heavenly house.
Addendum to above:
I also find it interesting how Jesus selects the fox and the bird, two elements of nature, to contrast himself and mankind against. The fox and the bird are not strangers in this world; this is their place, while the Christian man/women are eternally strangers in the world. They are without a bed. I see this as very not Buddhist. But I may be wrong.
(In this passage, Jesus calls himself THE son of man, but since the phrase "son of man" was used to mean "mankind" in much of the Old Testament, I believe there is a hinted, implied meaning that he is also referring to all who follow him.)
I don't know. I think a great deal of what Jesus taught can be compared to words of Buddha. Some would say that Jesus used Buddha as a source of ideas. I tend to think that they both had the same source.
Buddha said:
"Whosoever is free of worries, holding onto truth and the Dharma, will cross the sea of life, will put an end to suffering (Mahaparinibbanasutta 3:66)."
"It is difficult to follow the path of those who have accumulated nothing and live from right nourishment, those whose only refuge is unconditional freedom in recognition of the void of the transient. Their path is like that of birds in the sky. It is difficult to follow the path of those whose appetite is satisfied and are not attached to consumption, those whose only refuge is unconditional freedom in recognition of the void of the transient. Their path is like that of birds in the sky (Dh 7:3-4)."
Jesus said:
"I am telling you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Think of the ravens. They do not plant, harvest, or store grain in barns, and God feeds them. Aren't you worth more than the birds?
Which of you can add a single day to your life by worrying?
And why do you worry about clothing? Think of the way lilies grow. They do not work or spin. But even Solomon in all his splendor was not as magnificent. If God puts beautiful clothes on the grass that is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into a furnace, won't he put clothes on you, faint hearts?
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