Jesus
showed us that the heart can be purified through the love of God.
When we
look at history, it shows us that cultures move in waves. They rise and they fall.
When
cultures fall, which is often the result of wrong living; people are looking
for answers outside themselves instead of into their own lives.
In the yoga
traditions we read, that whenever the spiritual life, truth and righteousness
of nations have been neglected or forgotten, God incarnates in the form of a
person to re-light the flame of spirituality in the hearts men.
In the
Bhagavad Gita we read:
Whenever
goodness grows weak,
When
evil increases,
I make
myself a body.
In every
age I come back
To
deliver the holy,
To
destroy the sin of the sinner, and
Establish
righteousness.
God came
to earth in the form of Krishna, Buddha and Jesus.
Each of
them had a distinct message for humanity.
Jesus
came at a critical time in history. It was a time, when the world was in need
for spiritual hope and regeneration.
His
message was not to form diverse churches, by each church claiming him as their
own.
His was
a universal message of unity, and brotherly love, of forgiveness, compassion,
renunciation, equality, and supreme love for God.
His
message is one of the grandest ever given.
He
reminded us that it is written in the scriptures, “know ye not that ye are
gods”, children of the most high.
St. John
expressed the spirit of Christ’s teaching when he said:
“But as many as receive him (the Christ Consciousness,
or God’s intelligence that is present in all of creation and was manifested in
Jesus), to them gave he powers to become the sons of God.”
John
1:12
This is
a message of hope for all, the down trodden, the poor and the sick, it is a
message for all of humanity.
Jesus
himself spoke of the omnipresent Christ Consciousness when he said,
“Are not
two sparrows sold for a farthing or penny? And one of them shall not fall from
the ground without (the sight of) your father.
Mathew 10:29
This
shows us, that God’s consciousness or Spirit is everywhere. His body represents
the entire cosmos.
We can
feel His omnipresent consciousness in our hearts as this great spiritual vibration;
we call love, a love that embraces everything in creation.
We can
also experience the Christ Consciousness; God’s creative, intelligent in
creation.
Jesus
was one with Christ Consciousness and when we experience this creative,
intelligent force in our lives, we are one in Christ.
We may
ask, how can we feel this consciousness?
Our
whole being will be filled with love and light. Jesus said:” I am the light of
the world”. When we are one with his light, we are one with Christ.
From
Jesus we learn that the purpose of religion is to expand human consciousness
and unite it with the omnipresent Christ Consciousness in all of creation.
We do
this in a social way by cultivating divine love for all of God’s expression,
including plants, the birds in the air, animals and man.
Only
when we think and feel our connection to the all, will we act in accordance
with the law of God. This is what is meant by expressing the wholeness of life.
Wholeness
embraces harmony, it leads to an expression of freely giving and receiving; not
only gifts, but also the giving of ourselves.
Jesus
said:
Who
soever does this to the least of my brethren, does this to me also.
Matthew
25-40
In a
transcendental way we let our attention flow with Christ Consciousness in
meditation.
In deep
communion with the Christ we will be led to the realization of the Oneness in
God. In union with God, in samadhi (absorption), we too can proclaim, “the Father and I are
one”.
Jesus as
a living example, he showed us how to be perfect as our Father in heaven is
perfect.
‘Be ye
therefore perfect’…
Matthew 5:48
Jesus’
message clearly states, that it is not the believing in the person of Jesus, as
many Christian teachers claim that bring us into Oneness with God, but it is by
living our lives in accordance with the example he set before us.
He himself
became the way, the truth and the eternal life.
John 14:16
Yet, we
must clearly remember that it is always the same Supreme Spirit or Supreme
Consciousness that embodies itself, in its manifestation, as it chooses
different bodies for its expression.
Referring
to Jesus,
St. Paul
wrote: “For in Him dwelleth the fullness of God.”
Paul’s letter to the Colossians
So to
worship Christ, is to worship God which was the emphasis of Christ’s living
testimony according to Paul. But Jesus’ teachings were all about God and not
about himself.
“I have come to do the work of him who has
sent me”.
From a
historical perspective, we know little about Jesus’ life.
According
to scriptural writings, He was born in the humble environment of a stable,
He grew
up in or near Nazareth,
He was
baptized by John, a dedicated Jew who preached the proclamation of God’s coming
judgement,
He never
traveled more than 90 miles from his birthplace, although there seem to be several
accounts, that Jesus did travel the Orient from his young age to the time he
started his ministry.
He owned
nothing, asked for nothing in return for his good deeds,
Attended
no college, marshaled no army, and instead of producing books,
He did
his only writing in the sand.
He died
at the age of 33.
Yet his birth
is kept around the world.
Who then
was he?
WHAT DID
HE DO?
We are told
he went about doing good.
He moved
among society helping people in despair, healing the sick and counseling those
in crises.
He loved
everyone unconditionally.
He did
not judge.
He
showed us how to live a life of excellence.
The
Gospel accounts are filled with praise for his action.
The
pages of Mark are crowded with miracles. Yet Jesus never used miracles to
convince people to believe in him.
He
performed all his extraordinary deeds quietly as a demonstration of the power
of faith.
This
shows us, that what is needed is NOT faith in Jesus, but what is needed is the
faith that Jesus had.
(Jesus
said that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell this mountain to
be cast into the sea and it must obey you)
Luke
17:6
PEOPLE
SAID OF HIM:
“Never
Spoke a Man Thus”.
It was not
only what Jesus did, but also what he said that made his contemporary think of
him in a new dimension.
Let us
recall what he said:
Love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with thy entire mind, with all thy strength, and all thy soul.
Love thy
neighbor as thyself.
Luke 10:27
Love
thine enemy. Only someone being in the wholeness of Spirit would make such a
statement. Anyone in ordinary consciousness would never understand that one
could love one’s enemy.
Matthew 5:44
Whatsoever
ye would that men should do unto you, do ye also to them.
Matthew 7:12
Jesus expressed the folly of materialism by stating that:
Jesus’ answer is explicit:
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (We reach Christ consciousness in meditation, where we experience peace that transcends all understanding).
‘And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus’.
Philippians 4:7
If ye abide in my teaching, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free.
John 8:32
If ye abide in me (the consciousness that is in me) and in my words abide in you, ask whatever ye will and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:7
This experience of truth is made possible through transformation or, in the words of Jesus:
Except a man be born again of spirit and water, he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We are born of matter, but we must be born again of the Spirit.
Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews asked Jesus:” How can a man be born a second time”?
Jesus adds another surprise. Anyone seeking to enter God's kingdom must be born again! Nicodemus thinks only of another fleshly birth. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (John 3:4). Jesus is speaking of spiritual re-birth.
Very few people understood Jesus. They do not even understand Him today and this includes many clergies. Jesus spoke from Spirit, this is why He never explained his statements; people see things generally from a material point of view.
(Chit Sanskrit, Consciousness or Spirit is beyond the body. mind and the sense. Its transcendent nature is indicated by such phrases as, ‘the light of lights, the truth of truths’ or the all knowing).
Jesus expressed the folly of materialism by stating that:
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to reach heaven.
He spoke in parables (A parable is a word-picture which uses an image or story to illustrate a truth or lesson) when He addressed the masses.
He spoke of buried treasures.
Here Jesus is comparing the kingdom of heaven to a hidden treasure. He tells the story of man who found a treasure hidden in a field. This discovery made the man happy. He quickly buried it and went home to sell all that he owned so that he can buy the field and get the treasure.
Of the Good Samaritan, (Samaritans and Jews did not get along.)
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side; so too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
Luke 10:25-37
The Story of the Prodigal Son
It is the story of a young man who spends all his inheritance on one huge binge and ended up tending to pigs.
It is mentioned that when he finally came to his senses, he said:” I will go to my father, and will say unto him, Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and be no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me one of thy hired servants”.
But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it on him… For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found again; let us eat and be merry.
People who heard the teachings of Jesus marveled. They were astonished. Were we in the presence of these historical events, we too would be startled and amazed.
Luke 15:11:32
Jesus also counseled people:
He told them not to resist evil and to turn the other cheek.
To love one’s enemies and to bless them that curses us.
Yet the world assumes that friends are to be loved and enemies to be hated.
Why should we not only love our friends but our enemies?
Jesus’ answer is explicit:
So that we may be sons and daughter of the Heavenly Father (raise ordinary consciousness to Christ Consciousness), for He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
The world in material consciousness resents this, feeling that the sun ought to rise only on the just.
We are told that the path and gate that lead to salvation are narrow. The world, wrapped in convention and conformity, assumes it is safer to follow the crowd.
We are told to be as carefree as birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The world assumes that we should be ambitious, take infinite care and build our security.
We are told that the happy people are those who are meek, who weep, and are merciful and pure in heart. The world assumes that it is the reach and powerful who are happy.
We may ask, do we ….today, ….this very moment - understand and live the message that Jesus has taught or, are our hearts still too small for what he was trying to say.
And what was he trying to tell us?
When we look at the parables and the beatitudes, indeed everything he said, it focuses on two important facts about life:
God’s overwhelming love for man and the need for man to receive this love, then, let it flow outward toward his neighbor.
To perceive this love, to feel it in our hearts, is to respond in the only way possible, in profound and total gratitude for the wonders of God’s grace.
We must open our hearts and minds to God’s Love and Grace.
This is the message of Christmas; this is what it is all about.
To love one another, to care for one another, to be of good will, to be at peace with ourselves and with the world.
Let us contemplate these words:
“Let Christ be born again in our hearts and let us carry PEACE AND LOVE the true message of Christmas with us wherever we go”.
May God’s Blessings Guide us on our ways.
Every Day Can Be Like Christmas
Christmas comes and Christmas goes;
From days of joy to those of woes.
We lift our voices in songs of
praise,
And then go back to our former ways.
The truth of Jesus' virgin birth,
Proclaimed upon the entire Earth,
Is eclipsed by materialistic lust,
To gratify our bodies of dust.
Many give to those held near,
And desire gifts from loved ones
dear,
Forgetting the poor who're in sore
need,
While reveling in thoughtless greed.
Jesus came as a light unto the
world,
God's gift much more precious than
pearls,
To open the eyes of those lost and
blind,
To see their ways and leave them
behind.
What great good news He gives to
all,
If only we would heed His call,
To love each other and follow Him,
A new and greater life will begin.
The woes will be replaced with joy,
Goodness granted to each girl and
boy.
When the Prince of Peace reigns in
every heart
Then God's Spirit of Love will never
depart.
Soon will come the answer to Jesus'
prayer,
For a Heaven on Earth, as it is
there,
Where our Father dwells in infinite
bliss,
Let it be, Amen, our prayer is this.
- Jennifer Wenzel -
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