Do you tend to be more right brain oriented in the way you think, or left brain? That is, do you think in pictures and images or in more didactic, logical ways? Even those who think in more abstract terms than in pictures can still conjure up an image of something. If I say, I can see in my mind's eye the foam flying as a huge wave crashes into the rocks at Depoe Bay, you can probably see one too -- maybe not at Depoe Bay but someplace in your experience.
When Jesus took the bread and the cup at the Last Supper and said, "Do this in remembrance of me," how do you think he meant that? He was a Jewish man speaking to Jewish people. It is well known among students of how people think that there is a difference between Western, or Greek ways of thinking, and Eastern or Semitic ways of thinking. Its the difference between Aristotelian logic and prophetic imagery.
When Jesus said, "remember me," I don't think he was saying, "remember the main points in my sermon on the mount." Or, "be sure you can boil down each parable to a single proposition." He probably meant, remember me as a person -- what I did, how I acted, how I felt, and how I related to people. Remember what I was really like -- who I was.
How can we do this? We can think in pictures, and pictures are created by stories. Can you see him at age 12, sitting in the Temple area, talking to learned teachers who were amazed at his understanding and his answers? Here is a sharp, perceptive person. Or can you see him kneeling at the tomb of Lazarus and weeping? Here is deep grief and sorrow. Can you see him looking out over a huge crowd of people, most of them too poor to bring a lunch with them, and saying, "give them something to eat?" Here is compassion.
On my computer I have hundreds of photos, organized into folders. Some for family, others for relatives, and so on. One of my favorites contains pictures of golf courses I have played. I use it as a screen saver and the pictures play across the computer reminding me of beautiful places where I have enjoyed a good walk -- if not a good game. Frances has a more often used place for pictures that remind us of our grandchildren and others -- the refrigerator door.
In our minds, we need to have a folder of Jesus pictures. I'm sure that you already have one, but it can strengthened. How? By reading the Gospels and when you come to a story, stop and picture it in your mind. Don't try to intellectualize it so much as to simply notice the action, the interchange of words, the reactions of people to Jesus, how he related to them, and how he might have sounded as he spoke. Let the story come alive in your mind and you will develop a reservoir of pictures that will remind you of him.
To be sure, the cross and all that he went through on our behalf is primary. As we see him hanging there, we hear his words, "this is my body, give for you; this is my blood shed for you; do this in remembrance of me."
