Dear friends,
I just wanted to wish all of you here on HP a very happy Easter – especially those of you who are Christians, as of course, for us Easter is much much more than some days off work and stuffing ourselves with Hot Cross buns and chocolate eggs! It is the very pinnacle of Jesus’ mission – it’s the whole point of his life and was his supreme moment of triumph and proof.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus and his great love and sacrifice for mankind during these past few days. I always try to read all four of the Gospel accounts of the events leading up to his crucifixion, then the resurrection and ascension at this time of the year.
Jesus’ birth and his death were all in accord with prophecy. He knew what was ahead of him and he accepted it as something he had to go through in order to show others his complete dominion and authority over ever single material so-called “law”, including death.
He said:” Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”(John 10: 17 & 18)
He needn’t have suffered – he chose to:
“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matt 26: 53 & 54)
Mary Baker Eddy wrote:
Jesus could have withdrawn himself from his enemies. He had power to lay down a human sense of life for his spiritual identity in the likeness of the divine; but he allowed men to attempt the destruction of the mortal body in order that he might furnish the proof of immortal life. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 51)
Was it just for Jesus to suffer? No; but it was inevitable, for not otherwise could he show us the way and the power of Truth. S&H 40
It was not to appease the wrath of God, but to show the allness of Love and the nothingness of hate, sin, and death, that Jesus suffered. He lived that we also might live. He suffered, to show mortals the awful price paid by sin, and how to avoid paying it. He atoned for the terrible unreality of a supposed existence apart from God. He suffered because of the shocking human idolatry that presupposes Life, substance, Soul, and intelligence in matter,--which is the antipode of God, and yet governs mankind. The glorious truth of being--namely, that God is the only Mind, Life, substance, Soul--needs no reconciliation with God, for it is one with Him now and forever.
Jesus came announcing Truth, and saying not only "the kingdom of God is at hand," but "the kingdom of God is within you." (No and Yes 33)
Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death. (Science & Health p. 45)
The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical affection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. The truth had been lived among men; but until they saw that it enabled their Master to triumph over the grave, his own disciples could not admit such an event to be possible. (Science and Health p. 24)
Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught. His resurrection was also their resurrection. It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities. (S&H p 34)
It was those disciples who went out to further his work. Jesus was only teaching and healing among the hills of Galilee for a short three years, but after his resurrection and ascension, the disciples and Paul, who started off persecuting the Christians and then had his remarkable experience on the road to Damascus, were so fired up with what they had seen and experienced, that they just couldn’t help sharing this wonderful good news and Christianity reached as far as Britain to the West and
RE: Some thoughts on Easter
Have a lovely break Judy, and Happy Easter to you too.
Sharonx
RE: Some thoughts on Easter
ORIGINAL: Principled
Jesus came announcing Truth, and saying not only "the kingdom of God is at hand," but "the kingdom of God is within you." (No and Yes 33)
Happy Easter to you, too, Judy, and to all on HP.
I know that many people disbelieve in the whole idea of a bodily resurrection and ascension and come up with all sorts of theories to explain it away
As you know, I'm not an orthodox Christian, but believe in the actual bodily Resurrection (after a real death) and Ascension also, of Jesus.
When Christianity - not your kind but normal orthodoxy - became irrational, and then science came along which was materialistic, some questioned these concepts. What a pity however that some who are spiritual but not Christian, such as within the New Age, have been taken in by this materialism and also attempt at times to explain away the Resurrection and Ascension- that nah, it's impossible, it's too much to accept, I can't accept that glory and wonder, so I'll look for a mundane explanation...
Personally I see Jesus as not being unique, except in the sense that we are all unique, and also that he was a pioneer. But that what he did, other men and women can do ... all that he did. IMHO we can all Ascend in one lifetime or another, and we can move toward that daily. This is the Ascension not as some wishy-washy concept for people such as, frankly, I find in books published over the last few years, but a real transcendance of the mortal, human state by real and practical men and women.
IMO two thousand years ago Jesus set an example; and we are now on the cusp of an era during which many will emulate that deed. Otherwise what are we if not Sons and Daughters of God? - something called 'souls' that God stamped out on a production line and tossed in the direction of each new conception, half to go to heaven and half to hell? ;)No, methinks Easter, and our contemplation of Jesus' feat, is also a contemplation upon our own innate illimitable potential.
Venetian
RE: Some thoughts on Easter
IMO two thousand years ago Jesus set an example; and we are now on the cusp of an era during which many will emulate that deed. Otherwise what are we if not Sons and Daughters of God? - something called 'souls' that God stamped out on a production line and tossed in the direction of each new conception, half to go to heaven and half to hell? No, methinks Easter, and our contemplation of Jesus' feat, is also a contemplation upon our own innate illimitable potential.
Hi Venetian - I couldn't have put it better! Super post - thanks.
Love and peace,
Judy
Hi everyone,
I've decided to "resurrect" (oops - sorry, awful pun! :o) this thread to share a link to this lovely article by a friend of mine who used to feel depressed by the crucifixion:
[url]My Easter prayer: to model Jesus' life of love[/url]
Like a very miniscule echo of the Savior’s experience I rose from gloomy sympathy to renewed gladness at his life of love both before and after his crucifixion and, indeed, his loving self-sacrifice during it. I realized I could celebrate Easter as the evidence of love that is indestructible and limitless: the Christly love seen in Jesus. Such love not only gave solace to the sick but reestablished health; not only comforted the grieving but restored lost loved ones to life; not only made plain the wrongness of misguided thought and action but also helped people right such wrong behaviour and rid themselves of it.
That’s how I have thought about Easter ever since. I see the crucifixion as an absolutely pivotal gift of self-sacrifice, but I always see it in the context of a boundless life of love, culminating in the resurrection and subsequent ascension of Jesus. Mary Baker Eddy writes of Jesus, “Through the magnitude of his human life, he demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished error.”
Happy Easter everyone - he is risen!
Love and peace,
Judy
I think its sad that the Easter message tends to be fogotten by many in this Christian country of ours. Many see Easter as simply a break from work and an excuse to get drunk. I always find the time between GF and ED is special (although I appreciate by its timing it is symbolic).
On the subject of Jesus, I hate to hear His name used as a expression of frustration, or worse!. Happy Easter to all.
I think its sad that the Easter message tends to be fogotten by many in this Christian country of ours. Many see Easter as simply a break from work and an excuse to get drunk.
I think that many people do remember the meaning of spiritual holidays, but unfortunately the louder minority (I'd like to think they are a minority) are the ones who take the focus away from the deeper meaning... whether it be Christmas, St. Patricks Day, Easter, or other festivals on other paths one may follow.
Happy Easter!
Lisa x
Thanks Windy and Lisa and Easter blessings for both of you too!
Lisa, I just love your Osho signature - that's so what I understand and believe!
Love and peace,
Judy
I wanted to wish all Christians on HP a blessed Easter this year too!
Love and peace,
Judy
Happy Easter to all.. Hope you are all enjoying the extra long weekend. It's just a shame the weather is not so good. xx