Jan 22, 2017

 

Follower of Jesus (9)

“The most important one” answered Jesus,

“is this: ‘Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is one Lord.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart

And with all your soul and with all your mind

And with all your strength.’

And the second is this:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no commandment greater than these.” (8)

                     Mark 12:29-31

 

‘Love your neighbor AS yourself.’

 

I want to continue to look at that peculiar phraseology of the commandment reiterated by Jesus: “Love your neighbor AS yourself.” (Accent mine)

This interpretation was suggested to me by Cynthia Bourgeault in her book “Wisdom Jesus”, and startled me with its profound implications. This interpretation stems from the ancient Wisdom school of Christianity, that places the words of Jesus in a more intimate setting than the classic witness setting as it is usually stated. It puts into a simple framework what I have been groping for over the past many years, giving full meaning to the term non-dualism. The implications are enormous, and my past thinking and my many blogs have all expressed the meaning of this term phrased in this direction, without explicitly using those phrases. We can see how this expression fulfils the words of Jesus at his last supper discourse: “I have given them the glory that You gave me that they may be one as we are one – I in them and You in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (John 17:22-23)

These two phrases now join together to form a single thought: we ARE one creation, one in Jesus as Jesus is one with the Father; we are to love one another as one. That is, there is no separation between you and I, both being joined as one in Jesus. That is truly a mind-boggling thought! According to Jesus, who commands us to act as if we were one being, it is possible to achieve, and is the ultimate goal of humanity. When we achieve that goal, we will reach heaven here on earth, just as Jesus promised us when he said “the kingdom of God is within.” (Luke 17:21).

Now we can talk about how the follower of Jesus is to act. It is extremely difficult to achieve that level of soul-immersion into the reality of God. Thomas Merton discusses his awakening (no other term can be used for that level of sense of God) in his autobiographic book The Seven Story Mountain, when on a street corner in Louisville Ky. he suddenly and overwhelmingly became aware of the souls of the crowds of people moving down the street. He felt lost and confused by the immensity of love that was pouring out of and through him at that moment, as he became aware not only of those people but of all the people in the world. He realized fully the love of God for all, and that all are fully engulfed in the love of God.

Perhaps you and I cannot presently achieve that level of openness to the love of God, but Jesus said that it is possible and it is expected that we start to frame our minds and hearts in such a manner to strive towards that awareness. Jesus put it distinctly: “There is no commandment greater than these.” All of the teachings of Jesus are only an explanation of these two great commandments: Love God and Love your fellow humans as a single unit, for all are only one, with no separation between us, Jesus is one with the Father, we are one with Jesus, and therefore we are all, the Father, Jesus, and you and I are one.

Meditation

Oh Living Wisdom, I am continually amazed and astounded as you open insights for me into your very being as time marches on. The exciting merging of so much that You have revealed to me over the years as my life heads towards its climax is joyful and brings me much happiness. I rest joyfully at this time, for Your love has been overwhelming and complete, as always. You have permitted me to taste only a portion of that potential and I am still overwhelmed with joy. I bow before You in gratitude, and eagerly await ever expansion of that joy in Your Love.

 

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