JESUS' JOURNEY TO THE JORDAN RIVER

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary was and remains a human being, just like his parents, just like his brothers and sisters, and just like us.  In fact, Jesus' teachings demonstrates a humanity that is derived from his experience as a human and an observer of humanity during the time in which he lived. 

If Christianity is to experience a Copernican revolution, it must be oriented to the fact that Jesus is purely and simply one of us, a human being, nothing more and nothing less.  It is important to set aside the notion of Jesus as the Christ or as a messiah in order to see the man for who he truly is, a human. 

It is important for us to embrace the fact that Jesus came into the world just like us, a baby brought about by a sexual relationship between his parents Joseph and Mary, and that he left this world just like we will and everyone else before us has, he died.  Jesus is solely a human.   

Saying this  may strike one as an attempt to denigrate Jesus, to lower his importance, to dethrone him, as it were, from the right hand of God the Father. 

On the contrary, my saying this is to protect his integrity as a human, as one of us;  to guard his human-ness, his humanity against the religious excesses of making him into something he wasn't and isn't, as a means to underscore his unique understanding of the human condition and highlight the teachings he offered the people of his day and the people of every age on how to get through the chaos we create and continue to perpetuate.  

It is essential to protect Jesus human' nature against the divination that came into being after his death which has largely dispensed with or relinquished his teachings, the very heart and soul of his gospel message.  It is through the life of Jesus that we understand what it is to be human and the potential goodness embedded in being the human God created us and intends us to be.

Having already addressed Jesus' crucifixion, the story of his resurrection, and introducing the concept of original grace into the conversation in my last three posts, it is important to take a fresh look at Jesus' life and more importantly to review his life's work and ministry with fresh, unbiased eyes.

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Jesus' personal history is spotty at best.  The only linear history we have of Jesus' life comes from the Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Luke, and Matthew. There are no other outside sources close to the time Jesus lived in Palestine that can be used to corroborate their stories or refute them, even though they disagree with each other over specific events and the descriptions of their occurrences.   

What these three gospels agree on is that Jesus' ministry begins at his baptism by John the Baptizer in the Jordan River after which he experienced a vision in which he saw the Spirit of God descending "like" a dove and hearing the words, "You are my beloved, my son, in whom I am well-please."  That experience is the agreed starting point of Jesus' story.  

That Jesus may have been born in Bethlehem, that his family may have spent time in Egypt, and that he was taken to the Temple when he was twelve are possibilities.  The stories surrounding such events, however, are speculative or have been given interpretive meanings.  We must set such speculative interpretations aside because they immediately depict Jesus as someone other than a normal human being. 

Given the polytheistic mindset of people living around the Mediterranean in the first century of the Common Era, the divine nature of Jesus was considered possible, if not plausible.  One only has to study the various opinions and debates about Jesus' nature in the three centuries that followed his time on earth to understand the weird compromised conclusion of the Council of Nicea that Jesus was both "True Man" and "True God."  

The purpose of this post is to set aside speculations and the compromising position Jesus was put in by various Church councils.  Even in our modern and secular mindset, we know that a divine nature ascribed to Jesus would outweigh his human nature.  Even should no one believe in this dualistic nature of ascribed to Jesus, they would understand that divinity is weightier than a human.  We only have to look at the Gospel of John and the Epistles to establish that fact.   In this and the posts that will follow, we will look at Jesus' story from the perspective of his being nothing more and nothing less than one of us, a human being.

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The question that is never satisfactorily answered in the Synoptic Gospels is why Jesus took it upon himself to seek baptism by John in the Jordan River.  The answer these gospels default to is the usual one of his doing something in order to fulfill the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament.  If one gives that proposition serious consideration, it becomes clear that it is a very weak explanation for why Jesus did or didn't do anything.  The gospel writers read back into Jesus' life experiences a prophetic identity that  negates any human explanation why Jesus did what he did or didn't do at times.  This is not to say that Jesus wasn't influenced by the prophets, but rather to say he didn't do things simply to "fulfill" a prophetic identity or purpose.

If we remove the explanations of Jesus fulfilling the scriptures, we are left to seek a human reason that would have prompted Jesus to go to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  Then the obvious answer is he was doing what everyone else was doing by going to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  Like everyone else trekking to the Jordan, he was seeking a life changing experience that would prepare him for the emergence of God's kingdom on earth that John was proclaiming.  That Jesus was heeding John's call to repent reveals how Jesus viewed himself prior to doing so.  

The reason why Jesus came to the Jordan River was because he saw himself as a sinner in need of repentance in order to prepare himself for this coming kingdom.  This of course flies in the face of a theology premised on Jesus being sinless, as some of the epistles claim.  Given the premise of why others were trekking to the Jordan, however, one can sufficiently conclude that Jesus was taking a journey to Jordan for the same reasons others were doing so.

Jesus didn't see himself as sinless or possessing some immunity from sinning or the effects of sin.  

We followers of Jesus need to stop there and let that understanding of Jesus sink in.  We don't need to speculate as to what kind of sins he might have committed that led him to the Jordan.  We only need to know that he felt sinful and in need of repentance in order to do so.  Why else would Jesus publicly seek and display repentance of his sinfulness to those who were also gathered at the Jordan to be baptized?  Jesus was there as a contrite penitent, offering himself for service in God's kingdom for whatever role God would prepare him for in that emerging kingdom.  What we can assume is that Jesus had no idea what this event would lead to.

While one can only speculate what was going through Jesus' mind when he entered the Jordan River to be baptized, we are told that upon emerging from that experience he saw his relationship with God in a totally new light.  He has a vision that changed his perception of God; a vision that begins to change his perception of the world, a vision in which he hears God's call to be the child God intended him to be.  He hears the voice of God calling him his beloved, his son, in whom God is very pleased with.  In Mark's and Matthew's Gospels, it is clear that only Jesus hears this voice.  Luke leaves it open as to whether others heard it.  

Given what happens next, we know that this experience was disturbing and overwhelming for him; so much so, that it would drive him into the wilderness.  Jesus had to flee the environment he was in, to be alone in order to ponder a question that would haunt him throughout his ministry, "Who am I?" 

In my next post we will take a look into Jesus' journey into the wilderness and his struggle with that question.

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm 

  

  

ORIGINAL GRACE

If Christianity is to experience a Copernican revolution, it must start by looking at the beginning of the human story as recorded in its scriptures. Christianity is largely centered on the idea that humanity is drowning in sin as a result of our first parents disobeying God's command to avoid eating from the tree of knowledge in order to be like God, knowing both good and evil.  

Both the Creation and the Fall from Grace myths are important in understanding human anguish as a byproduct of a pursuit to become gods unto ourselves; that is, to be more than who we are which has resulted in our proclivity towards selfishness, to be less than what God intended us to be.  Selfishness is the essence of sin, which is the cause of our perpetuating the collective state of anguish traced throughout human history.  The Fall from Grace myth, however, can only be understood against the backdrop of God's original grace, the creative and redemptive principle seen throughout the human story described in Scriptures.  

Grace is what brought us into being and it is to grace we will return, as the well-known hymn "Amazing grace" proclaims.  Grace is the alpha and omega of creation, the signet ring of God.  

None of us asked to be alive, yet alone asked to be alive at this particular time and place. None of us had a personal say in our being.  We may think our parents did, but then again, they didn't have any say in their being and so on throughout the generations leading up to us.  That we exist is simply a matter of grace.  The conditions under which we exist or were brought into this world, however, is or can be an entirely different matter.

It is from the writings of the apostle Paul and later from Augustine and others that the doctrine of original sin has been garnered; that sin has been passed down to us like some spiritual genetic code inherited from our parents going back to the time of our mythical first parents, Adam and Eve. The doctrine of original sin has dictated that unless we are saved from our sins, we will be eternally doomed because of them.  It is the premise, the backdrop, upon which Jesus' story is largely understood; that his sole purpose for existence was to pay the price of our sins so that those who "believe" in this version of his story will be saved from eternal damnation and be rewarded with a blissful life throughout eternity.

As demonstrated in the last two posts, there is another way of understanding Jesus' story.  What makes Jesus such a remarkable person is his insight into human nature at a time and in a place experiencing great anguish.  He did not see sin as something that dooms us to eternal damnation but rather he saw sin as something being perpetuated in the here and now, a rock we heap on others and ourselves which immobilizes us from participating in the God's creative and restoring grace.  

Sin does not doom us to eternal damnation.  Sin distorts the present, turning it into a living hell of our own making, a rock we heap upon ourselves and others;  a rock that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for ourselves and others to crawl out from under.   It begs the question Jesus was trying to get people to ask themselves in his own day,  "Why do we insist on beating ourselves and each other up?" "Why do we insist on throwing stones?"

Perhaps the most damaging teaching found within Christianity is the doctrine of original sin.  It prevents those who desire to follow Jesus to freely and fully do so.  It has turned Jesus into a paragon of perfection that none of us are able to emulate or fully follow, because none of us are or can be the true God and true Man Jesus is defined as being in our ancient creeds and alluded to as being in some of the epistles of the New Testament.  The doctrine of original sin has turned Jesus into a god to be worshiped instead of a son of God, a very human brother, who taught that we, like him, are children of God, his siblings created by the same grace that brought him into being and the grace that enables us to accomplish what he has done. 

"Go and do likewise" is the essence and at the heart of Jesus' gospel message.  Why?  Because it will liberate us from the rocks we heap upon ourselves and one another.  It will help restore us to God's original intent and allow us to rewrite our stories, our collective history, in the light of God's original grace.   It is through Jesus' teachings and the examples that we, with the help of God, can save humanity from self-destruction, a paradigm premised on acting from the perspective of grace and the potential it holds rather than a perspective that defines this life as doomed to abject failure and sinfulness.  

In case we think humility is best accomplished by acknowledging our sinful nature, the totality of scripture suggests the opposite; that humility is a byproduct of recognizing our existence as dependent on and a result of God's grace. 

Original grace needs to replace the doomed perspective of original sin which perpetuates the idea that hope for renewal and restoration can only be realized in a "next" life.  Like this life, the next life is in God's hands, but the conditions of this life weigh heavily in our hands because we are responsible for them and by God's grace we can do something about them.  God works through and with whatever we offer God.  We can within the framework of God's grace work toward realizing God's ever-present grace in the life we are now living into by following Jesus' example and embrace God's original grace that creation proclaims.  In grace, we can make this a better world for ourselves and our posterity.

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm 

 

 

JESUS AND RESURRECTION

The story of Jesus' resurrection is a direct outcome of Jesus' crucifixion.  There would be no resurrection without the crucifixion story in which Jesus forgives those who crucified him and by extension the whole  of humanity ("forgive them for they do not know what they are doing"); ergo, the first creed of the Christianity is somewhat erroneously expressed by Paul as, "Christ died for all."  Paul should have said, "Christ forgave all."  Jesus "dying" for all is about sacrifice.  Jesus "forgiving" all is about mercy and is life-giving, which forms the basis of Jesus' resurrection.  

As mentioned in my last post, Jesus was not all that keen on sacrifice, but he was on mercy.  Jesus subscribed to the idea that God did not want sacrifice, but rather acts of mercy, which are acts of grace, and grace does not come with a price tag attached to it.  Resurrection is an experience that results from mercy; being concerned and making room for the other - emptying one's self to make room for the SELF we share and the BEING-NESS of God we express.  

No one can explain the resurrection story of Jesus in factual terms. It really is beyond comprehension and while the Gospels try to make it a tangible historical event (occurring at a certain time and place), after two thousand years the story of Jesus' resurrection takes on a mythic hue that conveys a universal truth about the grace and mercy of God.  What makes the incredible resurrection of Jesus credible is that resurrection is something we can experience in the here and now.  People who engage in kenosis, the letting go of self as mercy (not sacrifice) to make room for the other; to be compassionate and loving as Jesus was compassionate and loving find themselves being resurrected while resurrecting others.  

The stories in the Gospel in which Jesus raised someone considered dead is about Jesus demonstrating mercy.  Jesus has mercy on the mother in Nain whose son had died and raises him.  Jesus has mercy on Jarius whose daughter was perceived to be dead and raises her up.  In John's Gospel, Jesus has mercy on Mary and Martha and raises their brother Lazarus from the dead.  Every healing story of Jesus involves resurrection, someone released from some form of death-like imprisonment, blindness, lameness, convulsive disorders, madness (possession), leprosy or social isolation and is raised to new life as an act of mercy (loving-kindness) and grace.  

Jesus' parables about the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan are resurrection stories based on mercy and grace (not sacrifice).  There was no ritual price being paid.

Jesus ended his life by fully living into his sonship of God by demonstrating the ultimate act of mercy in forgiving those who were torturing him to death.  Jesus did not fight death in order to live, rather in mercy he laid down his life in a final act of mercy, so that others might live and do likewise.  Having done so, God raised Jesus up to a new life, a new type of life; one that we cannot comprehend   To be honest, Jesus' compassion, mercy, and grace is a tough act to follow, but there are those who do - those who put their own self-interests aside in order to redeem and save others.   This requires an inner strength, a resolve that understands the fulfillment of one's life-journey is ultimately connected to the life-journey of all of God's children - all of God's creation. 

The truth of Jesus' resurrection is not revealed in its being treated as a factual event which occurred some two thousand years ago, but rather that Jesus' resurrection involves an ongoing process in which all are involved and expressed in terms of the Risen and the Rising Christ. The resurrection story of Jesus serves as a reset of creation's compass, a re-orientation to the original intent of God's creative purpose.  As such, the stories of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection were recorded to serve as humanity's North Star; that what is true about and for Jesus is true about and for us; that in Jesus' story we are reintroduced to who we are and the purpose of each life is being lived into. 

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm