Sermon Transcript for March 4, 2007 A burglar is attempting to break into a house. As he climbs through the window with a flash light held delicately between his teeth, he hears the words “I can see you, and Jesus can see you too.” He falls to the ground, wondering what is going on. He stands up and shines his flash light around the room, but sees nothing. He decides that he must be hearing things, so he continues on, plundering the house. As he continues, he hears the voice again. “I can see you, and Jesus can see you too.” Again, he shines the flash light and cannot find anyone, so he continues. A third time, he hears the voice, “I can see you, and Jesus can see you too.” This time, he shines his flash light on a parrot in a cage. He breathes a huge sigh of relief, until his flash light moves down below the cage, where he sees a huge German shepherd. Then the parrot says, “Sic ‘em Jesus, sic ‘em!” I wonder if you ever feel like Jesus is watching you? I have several Jesus action figures at home, and one of them has eyes that appear to follow you as you move around the room. Yesterday I was looking for some books in my study, and could have sworn that Jesus was watching my every move, and carefully observing which books I was selecting from the shelves. This morning I would like to turn around this notion that Jesus sees us, and I want to ask you what you may consider a “Lenten question”- How do you see Jesus? How do you understand Jesus? How Do you See Jesus? In a community such as ours, we hold such an amazing diversity of perspectives. Since I have been here, I’ve met people who believe that Jesus was a man of history- a prophet, and teacher who lived in the first century, a Jewish peasant, a social revolutionary, a healer, a religious cynic, a great example or model for courageous and ethical living. I have also met people who believe that Jesus is the Christ of faith. He may or may not have existed in history, but either way, he is lord, or savior, or Son of God, or mystic, or the Word, or consciousness, or any other number of metaphors. I have also met people who believe that he definitely did not exist, that he was not a historical figure, that it was purely a fictitious creation of the early disciples. There are also people who hold all sorts of various combinations of those perspectives, as well as people who don’t really think about it much at all, and are not particularly interested in who Jesus was or is, because their lives have led them to embrace different traditions or imagery. Well, as we begin Lent, with this plethora of different perspectives on Jesus, every single one of them is valid. Every single one of them is permissible in this community. So bring your perspective into the mix. Whatever your understanding of Jesus, bring it to us. There is some evidence that Jesus existed historically, but there is also evidence that he might not have. There is enough doubt so as to lead us to only hold lightly to our perspective, whatever it is. And so with this doubt that we carry, I want to ask you how firmly you are attached to your beliefs, whatever your understandings of Jesus, whether it is as a historical figure, or the story around Jesus. How attached are you to your beliefs? How Attached are you to your Beliefs? Over the last few weeks in the news we have seen the claim that the tomb of Jesus has been found. In the tomb, they claim to have found the remains of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and their secret son. I think it is pretty unlikely, but it presents a nice opportunity for us to consider how attached we are to our beliefs. What does even the possibility that they have found Jesus’ remains do to your beliefs? What does it do to the beliefs of those who believe that Jesus did not exist historically? Even the possibility must challenge our attachment to our beliefs and perspectives on Jesus. We must always remain open to the next finding. We must always remain open to the perspective of others and allow them to reshape our beliefs. In the 1970’s there was a Carmelite nun named Phyllis Graham. She had given her life to her religious order. She had spent her life studying the Jesus of history. At a certain point, she came to the very firm conclusion that Jesus had never existed as a historical figure. At the point she decided this, she gave up her order, and wrote a book called The Jesus Hoax. I want to say that it doesn’t have to be that way. It was because she had built her faith around the need for a historical Jesus that it all had crumbled when her own study led her to the conclusion that he hadn’t existed. I want to suggest that you build a belief system with only a light attachment to particularity. Hold lightly to your current perspective because it will no doubt change tomorrow, next week, and next year. You can still be inspired deeply by your beliefs. That’s the beautiful balance that we hold in progressive religion, holding lightly to doctrine, and to particular stories, yet being profoundly inspired by the myth around them. Whether Jesus existed, or whether some people had such a profound experience that they had to capture it with this fictitious character, either way this tradition has lasted, and gone from strength to strength for 2000 years, and continues to inspire us today. That’s the significance, not the particular understanding. Jesus the Axial Sage Whether you believe that Jesus was a historical figure or a myth, it is helpful to understand that this story did not just come out of the sky and land 2000 years ago. The story of Jesus emerged at a particular time in history, and it is helpful to understand the context into which this story emerged. That context was the Axial Age. Axial is another word for pivotal, or transformative, and in the centuries before the life of Jesus, it has been suggested that the world had moved into an Axial Age, where in China, India and Greece, some of the same patterns emerged, even though there was no significant communication between those places. Confucianism and Taoism emerged in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, and rationalism in Greece, and the story of the sage Jesus emerged out of this same axial period. The Axial Age was marked by four features. The first was to question everything. Test everything you hear empirically. The second feature was that it is more important how you behave than what you believe. It’s more important to treat people right than to be right. The third was compassion, a new form of compassion that came from a very deep place within, that understood its connectedness to other. That became the basis for the Golden Rule. The fourth was that these new religious movements emerged at a time of great turmoil and social chaos. The axial message was to find that place deep within of peace and steadfastness, even when everything around is in turmoil. The Axial religions were a movement toward individualism, to self-empowerment and self-knowledge, so you can understand that the stage was set for Jesus. This axial age pattern prevents us from getting too dogmatic, because as Christianity was evolving, so was Confucianism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and many other religions, and they all had essentially the same message. That stops us from holding too closely to a belief that Christianity is the only true way. We can appreciate the Christian tradition. We can be inspired by Christianity. We can claim it as part of our identity. But we cant claim that it is unique. Something else took place after the time of Jesus, which also keeps us from holding too tightly to particular beliefs: the arrival of Mohammad, about five centuries after Jesus. There is more solid historical evidence for the existence of Mohammad than there is for Jesus. Mohammad was surprised to discover that Christianity was a separate religion from Judaism. He believed that they were one and the same and this was 5 centuries after the story of Jesus emerged. Mohammad’s message was similar to the message in the story of Jesus, and similar to the heart of the Hebrew story, and that is that it doesn’t matter what your beliefs or rituals are, if your heart is not right. You can do all the right things, and say all the right things, believe all the right things, but it doesn’t matter if you are not caring for the poor. It doesn’t matter if externally you look to be just the right religious person, if you are not showing compassion for the least in society. The message was the same across all of those religions, and that is helpful for us to understand. Our Christian tradition grows out of the same roots as Islam, and what a profound message for our world at this time. We have the same basic message, that of compassion and self-empowerment. The Gnostics of the first centuries understood the pivotal change that they were a part of during the Axial Age, so they were encouraging self-knowledge. The Gnostics were the group that spawned the Sufi branch of Islam, as well as the mystical branch of Christianity. They were the basis for the mystical strands of religion that have come ever since, and that we inherit today. Gnosticism is not without blemish as a movement. It fosters a form of dualism that is problematic. But that is a story for another sermon. This mystical strand of religions is the same tradition that Rabbi Rami Shapiro moves in. Rabbi Rami will be here in two weeks and will bring us a new perspective on Jesus. How more exciting could it be than to have someone bring us a fresh perspective on our tradition? I can’t wait to get a sense of his presence, of his understanding of Judaism and Christianity, and how they have come together through the centuries. The essence of axial faith and Gnostic faith was getting to know yourself and in coming to know yourself, to experience divine presence. Living Authentically In the Second Axial Age There is a famous story about a rabbi named Zusya, who went to paradise and stood before God. The question that came was not “why were you not Moses?”; the question was “why were you not Zusya?” The question I want to put to you today is not why are you not more like Jesus, but why are you not more like yourself? Why are you not living more authentically? As you get to know yourself and you begin to understand the masks that we all wear and need to wear, and begin to see the One that sees the self, the Seer, we get an insight into divine presence. What Jesus described as “I am,” or as being “one with the Father,” is the essence of the mystical tradition. We stand at a moment of great opportunity, when we are moving into, or are already in the middle of, a second Axial Age. It probably began at the Enlightenment, when society was liberated to use common sense and to question everything, but we stand now at a moment of great opportunity. If the first Axial Age was about individualism, and about owning individual beliefs and behavior, this Axial Age that we are now a part of is a global consciousness. It is about understanding ourselves as part of an interrelated whole, with a global network of people and things, and the earth, and a growing awareness that God is present in us, in others, the earth, and in life itself. This second Axial Age is a bringing together of the east and the west. It is a stage for us to draw the best from our tradition but to understand that our tradition is no different from the essence of all the other traditions. To find that commonality, and in that commonality will be the basis for greater global harmony, and it begins right here as you get to know yourself. Do not be deceived. We stand at a moment of great opportunity and great excitement. I heard a wonderful story about authenticity from the American writer Langston Hughes. When he was 12 years old, he was taken to an evangelical revival tent meeting by his auntie, who had prepared him for several weeks before it by saying, “When we go to this meeting you will see Jesus, and when you see Jesus, you will receive him into your heart.” So Langston Hughes was very excited, waiting for this day when he would finally see Jesus. The night came, and the impassioned sermon was preached, and the story for that night was the 100 sheep. 99 were saved, and there was one who was lost. The preacher came to the end of his talk and shouted out “Do you see the light! Do you see Jesus?” All these children gathered themselves up and scurried to the front of the tent, and received Jesus in their heart, and all that was left were two young boys, Langston, and another boy named Wesley. The two of them huddled together at the back of the tent, Langston upset because he did not see Jesus anywhere. Wesley, meanwhile was saying, “Come on, we have to go down in front, this is getting embarrassing.” All the adults gathered around them and prayed for their souls. Eventually, Wesley said, “I’m out of here!” and went to the front, turned around, and grinned at Langston. Langston thought, “How ironic, this boy is just pretending to be saved, and there is no Jesus here.“ Langston sat there and withstood the pressure, but eventually ran up to the front and said “Okay, I’m here.” He went home that night and wept in his bed. Now he realized for sure that Jesus did not exist. He had not seen Jesus; he had just gone down to the front and pretended. Langston Hughes went on to live an inspirational life as a wonderful writer, an activist on issues of racism, someone who knew the heart of the story of Jesus so well. One who had already been saved, and went about liberating others. This is all about living authentically, and knowing yourself, and being true to your own perspectives on Jesus. My message this Lent is fourfold: One is to question everything, including everything I say to you. Test everything you hear empirically, against your own common sense, your own integrity. The second is that it is more important how you behave than what you believe. It is more important to treat people right than to be right. Three is compassion. Find that place deep within you that senses its connection with all other things, and practice compassion out of that place. Four is that when we are surrounded by chaos, and everything seems to be in turmoil, find that place deep within you that is peaceful and steadfast. When you find that place, you have glimpsed the God within. Do not be deceived. God is every action that you take, every word that you speak. In your actions of compassion toward people, you are no more and no less than manifesting on God. How marvelous! close window | ^ top | home |