Not A Savior But A Transformer – Don Hanley’s blog #42

Before I managed to get into a vivid dream with Mary and John, I thought of the many titles that had been given to Jesus that I imagined they disliked. I want to check this out with them, and the opportunity came that night . . .

They were in the beautiful flower garden in front of Mary’s house. They greeted me with their radiant smiles. John immediately went into the house to fetch a chair. I took my baby steps to ‘my’ chair. Even in my dream, I was feeling all my 91 years.

“It looks like you are hurting a bit, my friend,” Mary said with real concern. “I’m sure if I lived about two dozen more years, I’d feel like that too. It is good to see you.”

As soon as John sat down, I said, “Well, John, are you ready to hear some of the labels laid on Jesus over the years?” He nodded, and I continued, “I and some others find many just too ostentatious for us; these have been running around for years and even centuries.

Here are some of the names of churches in my old hometown: HOLY SAVIOR, CHRIST THE KING, HOLY FAMILY—that one includes you, Joseph, and Jesus.  Some other titles: MY LORD, THE CHOSEN ONE or just THE CHOSEN, MASTER, OUR LORD, SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, or JESUS THE CHRIST, and there are more, but I cannot think of them at the moment. I think the only one Jesus would like might be PRINCE OF PEACE.

I glanced over at Mary, and she had tears running down her cheeks and murmured, “All of them are awful; even the last one should be the man of peace or the teacher of peace.”

John said, “I didn’t hear, SON OF MAN. After all, that was the only title he said would be okay - after Jesus - the name Mary and Joseph gave him. These titles, it seems to me, symbolize how drastically wrong these so-called Christians thought of Jesus’s message."

"Again, he wanted all humans to realize how gifted each human person is and that everyone is, by birth, empowered to be loving, creative, imaginative, hopeful, and gifted in a special way. They should not fear God but always allow his energy to radiate with and through them. And we cannot just say it; we must live it – just BE it. It is easy to say, ‘I love Jesus,’ but not so easy to become like him, open our hearts, love our true selves, and BE ONE with others."

He paused and thoughtfully added, “I’ve been thinking of that phrase, ‘He died for our sins.’ Aramaic and Greek means, “He lived and died so that we would strive to be as humanly alive and loving as possible. Sin, in our language, means to be missing the mark or being incomplete; it does not mean committing acts like cursing, committing adultery, or dishonoring our parents. It means failing to be in touch with our God-given power and abilities to connect with others and be one with all creation. His very life, as well as his teaching, was a condemnation of the way the Romans and some Jewish leaders treated their underlings and especially their conquered peoples. Jesus's basic message of love would have been completely lost if he somehow managed to destroy the Roman soldiers rather than let them crucify him, would it not? He never revealed any indication that he had the power to do such a thing, anyway.”

John’s words sank into me like a sword, and after several deep breaths, I said, “You know I have been studying his words on love for many years, and I have tried to live them. When preparing to be ordained a priest, I was expected to write something memorable on a calling card. Most of my classmates, I think, took passages from the Scripture or some other religious book, but I made up a saying I still like, ‘No matter what great things a man may do in life unless he becomes a loving person, his life is a failure.’ You know, Mary and John, I’m not sure I have managed to become a loving person.”

I must have looked quizzical as John said, “Don, why do you look so puzzled? And for the first time, it seemed right that I should vanish, and I did - but please . . .

Open and nurture your heart, study his menu, and do not eat it, but BE it.    

 And do find one of my books and read it -- go to Amazon, and start with Love By Its First Name