Today is Good Friday and instead of going to church I am sitting at home blogging. If someone asks me now why I am not in church mourning the death of Christ, I would say that Christ died once 2000 years ago and that was enough, I don't have any plans to finish him off every year, year after year. Besides, I feel him alive within me, so what is there to mourn? Shouldn't I be jubilant and celebrate?
Come to think of it, I haven't even understood why his death is being remembered. It is said that Christ died to save us from damnation. Really? What damnation? At whose hands? Surely not at the hands of an all-loving, benevolent Divine Being who has nothing but love for us. Would any parent send their child to eternal damnation? If we as humans can be accomodating of our children's misdeeds, would not God be too?
It is also said that Christ took all our sins on Himself. But how? How is it possible that we sin and he gets punished? Does that mean then we can merrily go on sinning since he has already paid the price in a one-time horrifying instalment? Somehow this sin-transference theory does not hold much water with me.
Then it is said that he died and was resurrected on the third day. Cool. I don't have any problems with that. But if that's the case, he is still alive, right? Having conquered death. Then why are we putting him up on the Cross in elaborate ceremonies and mummifying him in black robes and burying him in vaults? Hmmm....
Jesus was a human being just like any one of us, but what took him out of the ordinary into the realm of the sublime was that he was able to realise his divine nature. For me the purpose of Jesus' life was to show to us that we too are capable of that. He walked on Earth to show us that we are all Christs-in-the-making. Every instant in which I am aware of my divine nature and connected to the divine being, I am being Christ. But all those moments where I lose that connection and wallow in darkness, I am being merely human, that is my sin. And so in my life Jesus dies and is born again every day. Every day is a Good Friday and Christ is resurrected and Easter comes as soon as I realise that I have forgotten my soul and it has gone into mourning. The only evil is to be in that state of darkness, disconnected from the divine source and the only good is getting back into Christ-consciousness. We do not honour Christ by remembering Him on Good Friday or Easter or during Sunday services, we honour Him by being Him.
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Today
3 years ago
My dear, yes, Jesus dies and is born every day in us. Wouldn’t it be great if he were to remain manifested in us, day after day. But that demands struggle. Tremendous struggle. His character is great because he chose to carry the cross and pain with him. He carried the sins and pains of others because he wasn’t separate from others. He became one with all and with that divinity. When you discuss the biblical story you look at him as separate from yourself but then when you examine him within yourself in your last para, you see him as one with yourself. So there lies the dichotomy. His love was so great that the pains and sins of others became his and so he carried them along. Christ in the body died but not the spirit. He remains in us. And so he asks from us. Carry the cross as he did. Feel for the sufferings and sins of others as he did. Love them all. You are one with all. Let your love encompass all. Pain as well as pleasure. Let the spirit of Christ glow in you.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thoughts J. I am not so sure of seeking the divine with me. But I can sure recognise it in some others.
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