We are all the resurrection
Well, in all the anger over some scholars and scientists stating that there is a high likelihood that they have found the body of Yeshua and his family, I am called to think of what it might mean if it is indeed true.
The central core of Yeshua's ministry was that we were to feed each other, both literally and figuratively. One finds this from the start of his ministry with the woman at the well, to the miracle of the fishes, the surmon on the mount, to his last supper when he says do this (eat together feed each other) in memory of me. For me, it means the most believably accurate resurrection story, the one free of mything, is the one where the disciples are fed by a stranger on the beach and it hits them ... he is risen.
In this it means, we are all the resurrection when we feed each other body and soul. In the same light we are the risen Martin King when we stand for the rights of each other, the risen Martin King and the risen Yeshua, feeding each other's soul. We are the risen John F. Kennedy when we turn from war towards peace, the risen Kennedy and the risen Yeshua, feeding each other's souls. We are the risen Mother Teresa, when we tend to the forgotten sick, the risen Mother Teresa and the risen Yeshua feeding each other's bodies and souls.
In finding a body, his body, we strip away the idol, which we so easily place the burden of our faith upon. We cannot have a physical idol to bear our sins, and our virtues. We must repent - turn around and look at our actions and life, in order to atone - to mitigate the damage from our simply being and consuming, and forgive - forgive those who cannot atone for that which they must take to live. The responsibility for living the teachings of Yeshua falls upon our shoulders to be the risen Christ.
posted by Lorcan @ 12:54 PM
7 Comments:
Sorry to leave a completely off topic comment, but...oh, hi, this is Bonnie the kayaker who writes Frogma and once in a blue moon turns up with a whistle at Dempseys...ok, now that that's clear, there's an opinion poll that's being run that I'm trying to get all my voting friend to boat on...
no, wait, all my boating friends to vote on...
seriously, though, only takes a second, it's part of the PlaNYC2030 initiative, and the question is Question: What would you like New York City to do with its waterfront?
Answers: 1. Parks, with views and promenades. 2. Housing 3. Cultural destinations
4. Recreation opportunities, with boating, swimming, fishing, etc. 5. Maintain manufacturing.
Here's the poll. If you like, could you maybe spread the word among your curragh friends? Sorry didn't leave this on the curragh blog, that looked pretty dormant, sorry didn't email, don't think I have your email...hope this isn't too annoying!
OH, shoot!
I was hoping this was a comment on the post, since I like it so much but haven't figured out what to say.
Anyway, I'll probably try again later, cause this is a bad time to try to get my thoughts together :)
I've been thinking about this post and also about my own take on the tomb. My personal take is that all of these are pretty common names in a pretty restricted namepool. So, maybe so, maybe no as to the genuine "yes, this is it." I really don't think that that's proveable.
But then again, I also don't think that it much matters. For me, Joshua the son of Joseph and Mary said some pretty neat stuff. Then again, so did Rabbi Hillel, about a hundred years earlier. There's good stuff in there about radical love and forgiveness. But I don't need to believe him a god to believe that he had some good things to say...
I'm still thinking about what you have to say on the nature of resurrection.
I haven't actually heard much about the supposed discoveries of bodies (reminds me though, of years ago when I worked at a co-op, one of my coworkers, a witch, tells me that on easter one year he ran through the store saying "they found the body! easter has been cancelled!" - which I always thought was amusing)
But I agree with PF - I can't see how it matters. Some of the words of Yeshua in the Gospels are so moving, and so true - compare that to some "look at what I can do! I'm god!" trick and the latter is laughable (don't mean to be disrespectful, just bein' me)
For me the ressurection is much what thee describe here - not a return of a phsyical body, but a realization that that spirit wasn't dependent on the body (or even mind) of Yeshua - it is with all of us, if we choose to be it.
My dog just wagged his tail really hard in his sleep - I've never seen a dog do that before, it's so cool! He must be having a good dream!
Anyway, back to this, where was I?
I was struck by this really hard when I attended a UCC easter service the day after attending my first real passover seder. I didn't really understand the whole scene, but I thought it was cool at the seder that we all put a bit of wine in the cup for Elijah (?) - the herald of the messiah.
The next day was the first time I heard a christian preacher say not that he took some wine, but that he took the Elijah cup - with a bit from each of them - and said "do this in memory of me" - it was so clear to me in that moment that the point is that WE are the Messiah. every one of us.
And I think some people think that's boring, or maybe are terrified of that being it (sort of like all those various moments in our lives that make us realize that we're grown ups now - not like voting, but like the passing of our parents - like, Oh, wow, I'm the grownup, and I thought somehow that the people before me knew what they were doing perfectly, but I sure don't!)
Like, if the Messiah is someone else, someone who can walk on water, raise the dead, come BACK from the dead, then we can just sort of coast and say thanks every now and then, but if it's US, that's scary, cause we know how imperfect we are. And we know how hard it can be to move beyond our egos and selfishness to live into that spirit.
It's terrifying,
and it's way cool.
love,
Pam
When I think of the disciples gathering, I remember the wake we held for my uncle, Billy Joe. Now, Billy Joe was a free spirit who loved his job - salvage and rescue diving. He also loved to fly and died one day in a plane crash when he went into an unrecoverable spin and dive. He died believing he'd managed once more to be one step faster than death.
When we gathered for his wake, it was hard to believe he was gone, so much so that when a small child asked in that piercing voice children have, "Is THAT Billy Joe?", we all turned to look. All of us, because it didn't seem possible he could be gone.
When I took my granny diving last year, to look at the fish swimming right up to us, we both found ourselves thinking of Billy Joe, how much he enjoyed diving, some of the stories about him. There, off the coast of Hawaii, I could practically see him, grinning like a daredevil, wanting to go see whether those *were* jellyfish, closer to shore... And it was a comforting thought, that in a way, he's still there, in our hearts and in our stories, even if he can't still be out there, river diving.
I think that different people have the ability to teach us different aspects - Uncle Billy taught me to appreciate the adventures that the world would throw me, and to live with exuberance. My granny teaches me to make a stand, to say "this is wrong and should change" when I see what oughtn't be going on. And so on and so forth. And that's where I find a great deal of Spirit working. There's a little, yes, in those I know only through the words they've left, but I'm more interested in the Living Spirit that continues to teach and to lead, through many people, not just one.
Wonderful thoughts - and a great interpretation. I'm always looking for ways to find meaning in things like that. Thank you.
Like, if the Messiah is someone else, someone who can walk on water, raise the dead, come BACK from the dead, then we can just sort of coast and say thanks every now and then, but if it's US, that's scary, cause we know how imperfect we are. And we know how hard it can be to move beyond our egos and selfishness to live into that spirit.
I have to admit that that was my first thought, too, Pam. I guess that sounds uncharitable. I sort of think of it as a bigger and scarier version of those What Would Jesus Do? trinkets: Material distractions from the bigger picture.
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