As I arrived back in Nazareth, I was still in a somewhat depressed mood. Mary, John, and Joshua were waiting for me, as there was a vacant chair between them. They greeted me warmly, as usual. Mary opened our discussion, “Well, my time traveler friend, are you still moping about your election in your current 21st-century home?”
I asked her, “What makes you think I’m moping?”
“Because you look like it – your smile is gone.”
Mary shook her head, not to say it was not true, but that she didn’t like it. John said, “I’m afraid many did. Of course, you know that it means ‘the Chosen One’ or the ‘Anointed One’; worst of all, they saw Jesus as the ‘Messiah’ who would lead the Jews out from under the yoke of Rome. I think the Jewish people were so hungry to have a leader who could free us from the Romans, and they liked the giftedness of Jesus that they insisted that he was the special one – the Messiah. Jesus insisted that he was only the Son of Man; he wanted every human to realize they could be connected, loving, and gifted. He repeatedly said that he, perhaps, was gifted in a way that allowed him to accept and love himself and others in a life-giving way, but he was not Yahweh nor the one and only son of Yahweh or the one we call our Father. Don, do the followers of Jesus in your home century know this and know that they are gifted in the same way Jesus was?”
I hated to tell John the terrible news that the vast majority of those who called themselves Christians were not in touch with the fact that they were gifted with the ability to love as Jesus did. They continued to hold on to the notion that Jesus was, and is, God – and one of the three persons in a small God. Three – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- Jesus was and is on a completely different plane of existence from them. Mary shook her head, and John looked dismayed and said, “Do they, at least, realize that they have the giftedness in them that Jesus displayed in his earthly life?”
“Only the very holy ones whom they call ‘Saints.’ These saints are usually very conforming men and women who slavishly follow what they were told were Jesus’s commandments. I often heard ‘Christians’ say that the really ‘holy’ ones should just join a religious order of men and/or women and not bother the rest of us. So, many have done that and become very enlightened folks and do a great deal for one another and for other humans, Christian or not. I thought of joining one of those groups, but I wanted to be like my idol, Father Chisholm, who went to another country to tell them about Jesus.” I added, “And John, you stated in your own Gospel that Jesus was the Messiah, didn’t you?”
John seemed a bit taken aback: “You know that my writings were not published in my lifetime, and it is possible that someone edited them so that they conformed to what was becoming the common belief of followers of Jesus. That makes me sad.”
John continued, “I would like to return to the formal names people here in Judea called my friend and mentor, Jesus. Jesus repeatedly said that all of God’s children, old and young, black, brown, white, or whatever, were the same in God’s eyes. He detested the fact that too many societies formed special castes for different groups - and claimed to know God in a way that no one else could, and so they were the Chosen People to the exclusion of everyone else. He disliked that many passed this ‘specialness’ on to the next generation. A person could be chosen as a leader, like a king, but he should see himself as a servant of the people, not someone superior or able to order people around. He said that if everyone learned about and followed his ideas and created groups of folks who would help, cooperate, and love one another, then we would not need police and lawmakers.” John took a deep breath and slumped back into his chair.
I said, “Well, John, we in the 21st century have not made it much further. Too many so-called Christians are eating the menus as Mary said Jesus called those who did not live as they professed to do.” I paused and added, “But I believe there is an evolution of consciousness, which makes me hopeful.” … I then disappeared.
Please open your heart and mind and enjoy the banquet of life. Comment on this blog or help me find hope in our 21st election.
No comments:
Post a Comment