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Sunday
Message FRESH
EYES ON JESUS I live a few blocks away from a big high school, and in the afternoon, dozens of students walk by my apartment building on their way home. I can't believe how young they all seem. I don't remember anyone ever looking that young, when I was in school. It's the same when I drive by a college campus. The other day I was in Westwood, where more than 36,000 students study at UCLA. I could not believe the young, fresh faces that passed me on the street. Everyone seemed way too young to be in university. It's interesting, that the older I get, the younger everyone else seems! Even old people don't look as old as they used to. The more I become a golden oldie myself, the more it completely blurs the notion of age. As I prepared for today's lesson, I reflected upon how very young Jesus was, when he began his ministry. Think about it, he was thirty, just like the characters in the TV sitcom, "Friends." Can you imagine Chandler or Ross, or even Joey, devoting the full focus of their attention to fulfilling a spiritual mission? Instead, they are all concerned with relationships, getting jobs, and hanging out at the Central Perk, drinking gallons of coffee. I watched a re-run of "Friends," and asked myself: Could any of these 30-something characters fulfill the role that Jesus played? If any of them, suddenly got it into his head that he was the Messiah, could I suspend disbelief long enough to buy into that story line? And yet, Jesus was a very young man, just like them! of course, human life-span was different 2000 years ago. But not that different! My old, religious indoctrination has influenced me to conceive of a much older, wiser, more grounded Jesus, walking around with a lot of "gravitas," and pretty much devoid of humor or playfulness. After all, being the Messiah, is serious business! My old church offered me plenty of images of Jesus suffering, and emphasized that my salvation comes through a sacrificial shedding of His blood. That does not make for a lot of laughs! On the contrary, those representations were deliberately imparted to sober me up. They were intended to help me avoid eternal brimstone and damnation, and to escape the fires of Hell that were apparently being stoked for my sinful nature. I have been in Unity for close to forty years, but I am still influenced by the images of Jesus that were presented to me in my childhood. Although I have shed a lot of the earlier, so-called, "Christian" brainwashing, I still have to deal with the Jesus story line as it was presented to me in church, by well meaning people, who thought they had all the right answers. Along with this holy propaganda, I was cautioned not to reject or question any of it, or get ready for a really HOT time later on. Today, I want to offer, Fresh Eyes on Jesus! There are some people who have chosen to completely de-emphasize the ministry of Jesus, because the dogma and doctrines of Christianity about Him left them confused and perplexed. For some, it is easier to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and move on to a new, more life-affirming belief system. I tried to do that when I left Catholicism and became a practicing Buddhist. I deliberately shifted focus, and said goodbye and good riddance to Christianity. Can you imagine my complete surprise, to discover that even after three years of devoted practice of Buddhist teachings, I missed having Jesus in my life. That is why I was so thrilled to discover Unity. I realized that I could have both a clearer understanding of the universal spiritual Laws and Principles, which govern life, and embrace a metaphysical understanding of the role of Jesus, as Wayshower and Waymaker into my own life!! This realization came to me more than three decades ago, but I still find myself dismantling some of the old baggage about Jesus Christ, implanted in my mind from my youth. Let me be clear: My appreciation for the role that Jesus plays in my own life is no longer defined by church doctrine, as it was presented to me. I guess have become a cafeteria Christian, putting on my tray what appeals and makes sense to me. I am not concerned if anyone else in the world shares my personal understanding. And, this being Unity, I remind you, also, to take what you like and leave the rest. Jesus was born into a culture that believed and fervently prayed someday, God would send a "deliverer," a Messiah to save his chosen people. From their earliest history, the Jews had experienced trials and tribulations, going from bad to worse. At the time of Jesus' birth, most people were hoping that the Messiah would come quickly, to deliver them from the yoke of Roman occupation, and thereby restore Israel to its spiritual glory. The people were supported in this anticipation by the ancient scriptures. The foretold that.... just as things seemed they could not get any worse...God would send help to His chosen people. The "Messiah" is an idea and hope that runs through every page of the Scriptures, announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his mission. And the Messiah was and still is, the core of the heart of every Jew. He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world! But not everyone was reading from the same script. One reason is that the Jewish Scriptures, the Old Testament, make about 300 prophecies of a suffering, servant Messiah, but make about 500 prophecies of the triumphant King. Some rabbis talked about two Messiahs, but for most Jews, the "triumphant one" is the Messiah they were expecting. For some people, the Servant could not be the Messiah, precisely because he is depicted as suffering. The Jewish Messiah for them is a triumphant military and political figure, whose coming marks the end of the era of mortality. In Psalm 22, we read of the agony and suffering of the Servant Messiah: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced. But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, �Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!� By contrast, the Prophecies of Zechariah and Isaiah, (Is. 2 & Zech. 14) spoke of the other Messiah, the "Son of David," a triumphant king, who will lead Israel to the ultimate victory, and bring the Messianic era of bliss, where Jerusalem would be the capital of the world, and all the nations will come to offer their respects and goods to the Lord and to Israel. Christianity, radically reworked all of this material to combine the two figures into one: A suffering Messiah who dies, and a victorious Messiah, who resurrects... and brings eternal life in Heaven, to those who believe in Him. In Greek, the term Messiah is translated as "the Christ." Charles Fillmore, cofounder of Unity, writes in The Revealing Word:Christ is the perfect idea of God for man. Jesus is the perfect expression of the divine idea Man. Jesus Christ is a union of the two, the idea and the expression, or in other words, He is the perfect man demonstrated. I believe that Jesus was a student of the scriptures, and that he fully embraced all the prophecies about the coming Kingdom. I also believe that early in His life, he committed Himself to expressing and fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies that inspired His people. Although He was so incredibly young, he was completely devoted to that mission, and stayed on course, even though He realized that it would not be a cake-walk. What sustained Him was the sure conviction that His mission was completely dependent on letting Spirit do the work, and that He did not have to do it alone. The three years He spent living and revealing the Christ Principle in human expression, were far from easy, and things got even harder as He went along. But I believe that Jesus was so willingly to fulfill the Messianic expectations of His people, that he never wavered from His mission. Even though Orthodox Christianity does not focus on playful moments, sharing stories and having fun with His Disciples, it�s all there if you know how to read between the lines. For chrissakes, His first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding party! Jesus' commentaries on Jewish life were full of irony and humor. Ask yourself, why you have never found these funny before? Have you ever noticed anyone laughing the scores of times these words have been read in church: I tell you, it's easier for a camel to squeeze through a needle's eye, than for a wealthy person to get into God's domain. �Who among you would hand a son a stone, when its bread he's asking for? Again, who would hand him a snake when it's fish he's asking for?� Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, with never a thought for the great plank in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, "let me take the speck out of your eye", when all the time there is that plank in your own? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's. Today, on Palm Sunday, the Christian church observes the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem at the time of the Passover feast, which was a joyous celebration of freedom from bondage. In stripping away layers of Christian theology that have been mixed into the dialogues of Jesus in the scriptures, let's put Fresh Eyes on Jesus. He was not of a somber, apocalyptic mind set, and spoke most characteristically of God's rule as close, or already present, but unobserved. He was full of encouragement and joy, even as he knew what awaited Him as the suffering aspect of the Messianic prophecy. Jesus was a young man on a mission. He remembered who he was, why He came, and who sent Him. In Jesus, the prophecies of a Messiah which had comforted and inspired Israel were fulfilled: God, finally enthroned in human consciousness, as a living Presence. the Creative, Sustaining Power in the Universe. Jesus knew the joy of God's Presence within Him, and He invites us to have that very same jubilant realization. Our mission is to experience life from that same optimistic perspective, and then to show up at the leading edge of our own experience, so that we do the same things that Jesus did, and even greater things than these. Stay awake: Tis the season to go all somber and orthodox about Jesus. Instead. Put fresh eyes on Jesus and let's follow His example with ABUNDANT JOY! To
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