In the Christian Scriptures, Jesus Christ goes through one tortuous episode after another to help those He loves. His story mirrors the horrors of human history, but He saves the world.
The fact that one noble man of peace was the victim of prejudice and harassment; ridiculed, threatened, falsely accused and arrested, wrongly convicted, beaten, tortured and crucified, is credible: So many have been over so many centuries, in so many cultures, as a matter of historical record. We heal by hand but kill wholesale. We are kind in particular but cruel in general. He came to help us turn this around.
Were the tiny slice of creation occupied by humans but a week, yesterday late morning Romans crucified Christians and then became Christians. By mid-day the Christians were ransacked by Vandals from Germany. Dispatching these, they filled their afternoon crucifying "unbelievers" and Muslims. This morning one recent Christian, Adolph Hitler, and his colleagues crucified the Jews. They tried to flee to Israel with Churchill's help but, by late morning were stopped: The Muslim Mufti of Palestine, leader of the Palestinians, sided with Hitler to prevent the Jews from settling there. At noon today, having invaded and taken over Israel, having nowhere else to go, the Jews now crucify Palestinians. At the bottom of the hour Syrians have fired missiles into civilian areas of Israel in retribution.
This isn't an isolated problem. Today we also have Russians crucifying Ukrainians, just as Americans crucified their slaves and the indigenous people in the name of Manifest Destiny. Just as America invaded Mexico to grab and establish Texas as a slave state. Just as China torments Tibet and threatens Taiwan and Japan today. Just as North Korea taunts their southern neighbors with Nuclear missiles.
Is this just human nature?
If it is human nature to justify killing anyone, it makes sense someone might need to come to tell us not to. How odd that we must go back 2,000 years to find someone honored and respected with the wisdom, compassion and authority to say "please don't".
The world finds this message controversial even today, though every parent commands it to their children and every child gets it immediately, though they may not always obey.
Why do we need religion of any kind to tell us killing is wrong? The life that runs through you, runs through me.
But we aren't quite smart enough to figure out how to live this way.
Most of the justification for killing usually involves powerful bullies claiming they are defenseless victims. So the first victim is always the truth. But so often they don't know the truth.
Christ changed that. He said the things of this world weren't worth the trouble. That the divine Truth was vastly more important, and is within each of us as the audible Spirit, the Holy Word or Logos, the true Christ.
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32
We have the most powerful ally of all in our Father and we are all children under the same Almighty Father in the same family.
8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.[c] 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Matthew 23:8-12
We may need to go through what happened to Him, and more, but now we have an ally within, the audible light of Christ, always there.
He gave that gift when He made the world. Here from the beginning, even before, the architect of this creation, the Word of God that God uttered and made all things; the Holy Name, the Inner Cloud of Light, that walked with the cloud of God and Moses. That has always been Christ, as Paul teaches.
10 "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
Christ is in the heart of every human being on earth. Nothing can take He/She/They away. Nothing can lessen Them. No religion can contain Christ. He is found in all forms of spiritual belief and many religions. He is the destination of all religions. We can turn from it, we can ignore it. We can avoid spending proper time with it. But it is there, the priceless and unassailable treasure. The great audible Spirit, the piercing light that fills the body, the mighty wind of Pneuma within. The audible Word of God. The audible Name of God. Because the Lord IS His Name (EX 15:3, JE 33:2). And His Kingdom is WITHIN each of us.
20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:20-21
Christ spoke to Hitler but Hitler didn't listen. Christ speaks to Putin but Putin isn't listening. The moment Putin does, in that very second, the killing ends, and he is just another ignorant, mistaken and foolish family member, another sinner like you and I, and can pick up in humility, obedience and silence whatever work God gives to him.
3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luke 17:3-4
Christ is speaking to each of us. And about each of us.
That is the power that enables each of us to follow what Christ taught us all to do:
Christ said
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[h] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:38-48
How to live like this? By faith. Faith, the very practice of continuous prayer within, worship of the Lord within, in the Spirit. That is the worship God loves, says Jesus:
23 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4: 23-24
That is universal. Whatever God Created contains His Living Spirit. In whatever He touches is His hand.
That must be found, can only be found within. The Kingdom of God is within.
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:21
No one sent from God came to start a new religion. They only came to remind us that we are all members of the same family, have one Father, Christ, who has come many times in many places. Not with a new theology, not to divide us, except to separate us, to clean us from our own pride, prejudice and addictions.
34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”
Luke 17:34-35
He/She/They have come in every age with the news of what has been forgotten. They give us the same teachings that there is One God and God is within every one, within each of us, and this is where we must go to commune with Him and find salvation. The method is always the same. The power of Christ that connects all of us.
Jesus paid a heavy price, as have many Saints throughout time, for our sins, and to bring us this message.
Why must people crucify them over and over again?
Paul wrote:
"To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. "
Hebrews 6:6
Put aside hatred, and love one another as your own brother and sister, indeed, as your own self (and please learn to do that) in the name of Christ, the Holy Name of the Lord, the Spirit of God.
Align with that Spirit within and forget your own self. There is more to you within you. And that makes putting "you" aside much easier. Love, divine Love between you and your Father will raise you from the bound and chained you into freedom. You can experience it any time, with a little effort: Selflessness solves many, many issues. The power of Christ is the power to do this. Crucify your sins in Christ and ascend.
Jesus said:
34 "Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? "
Mark 8: 34-37
Happy Easter 2023!
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