Jesus looked around this world that he was growing up in and deeply felt the sheer absence of love. He understood that the hearts of people were existing on nothing. They were starved for love. Fear was literally eating away at their souls and leaving behind the skeletons of people who were content to suffer. They accepted their hunger as God's Will, something that God "blessed". They were existing on a belief that God desired them to be hungry, to live in poverty, to be sick, to be violent, and to be in a state of "holy" war. Their belief that this was how God was loving them kept them from thinking that maybe they didn't have to live this way.
If Jesus were present in the physical form of a body, he would still find us in the same poverty. He would still find us at war, still find people hungry and homeless, still find people suffering from disease, still find people living in violent conditions, still find people unable to get a decent education, and still find people depressed, over-worked, and dependent upon pills in order to get by. He would see that we are more advanced technologically, but barely getting by, and even living in primitive conditions of the heart when it comes to giving and receiving love. He would notice that we may be able to access any kind of information we could possibly need in a matter of seconds, but we are still unable to access God and hear His guidance and how much He loves us in a matter of seconds. And I am positive that Jesus would notice that the world seems to be content with people who still don't have homes or access to clean water. I think Jesus would notice that we've all but stopped noticing our contentment with the way the world is today.
The look and feel of our world-wide problems may seem different in appearance, but their cause still stems from the same cause, a severe lack of love and care for our neighbor. And I feel ashamed and embarrassed that I can tell you how to download pictures from one cell phone to another, but I can't tell you the name of my neighbor who lives just across our driveway. She has told me her name twice. Her mother just passed away from Alzheimers and I went to write her a card and I couldn't address it with a name. We took a tray of fruit over to her, and yet again, we had to ask her name. This is the reality that we face.
Jesus practiced the skill of awareness, of noticing, and the simple art of THINKING about why the world is the way that it is. He used the gift of his heart's common sense and His Father's common sense and figured out that everyone is simply reacting to the world's conditions instead of preventing the conditions we all struggle with. He figured out that unless we truly believed that we could change what is wrong with the world, the world will continue to reflect more and more darkness and less light. When we finally have it figured out that we don't have to settle for poverty, for illiteracy, for homelessness, for hunger, for polluted skies and dirty rivers- when we finally have it figured out that we can live a different way, we will have finally rolled back the stone from the entrance of our entombed hearts and feel the promise of a new light. When we figure out that our world can look and feel like a completely different place to live in, we will have shed the linens of our death-state, break our addiction to the cross and choose to rise higher because we are thinking higher thoughts, we are living in higher realms, and we are thriving in a fully resurrected state. A loving God wants nothing to do with violence, poverty, hunger, and a polluted world. Jesus' death and resurrection means absolutely nothing unless we, as individuals wake up, and then when we begin to help each other wake up, the world will notice that God is always talking to everyone all the time about how to change their individual lives and the collective heart of the world, and we will start to see things changing. We will finally start to experience love in action and the world will literally shift toward peace. It really is possible!
At the heart of our waking up is beginning to feel that we really do trust God. When we can stop clinging to this life that isn't serving us, give it up, we will find a better, brighter life that serves all! We are more willing to listen to God and follow His lead when we feel that God REALLY DOES want us happy and He is always leading us toward greater happiness. When we can look back on our lives and see God always moving us toward greater happiness, we learn to trust much more readily. Little by little, generation by generation, we will finally hear what God has in store for all of us, and it looks nothing like the world does now.
Clare is the perfect example of this. She is "waking up" to her desire for independence. She is wanting to rearrange her room and buy new things for it and express herself by how her room looks and feels. She is realizing that she has a mind and she has certain desires and that she doesn't have to live in her room the way it is now. She has awakened to the fact that she could move her bed, she could paint the walls, and she could get rid of the toddler table she has hung onto for such a long time. She is coming into an awareness of her independence, but she is also going to come up against the reality of interdependence.... that mom and dad pay for certain changes, and the fact that we live in a rectory, owned by a church, all play a part in her independent decisions. This is the struggle we all face. We all struggle with issues of independence vs. interdependence. The idea of being dependent upon anything is hard to swallow, but Jesus assures us that our dependence upon God doesn't lessen our independence. In fact, our dependence upon God empowers us and frees us to be more of who we were created to be, in other words, our happiness finds us! Dependence upon God ensures our happiness! This is the GOOD NEWS! This is what makes the Good News great! There is nothing good about poverty. There is nothing good about war. There is nothing good about oppression, hate, and prejudiced behaviors. There is nothing good about hunger. There is nothing good about my life, if someone else is suffering.
If our little corner of the world is fine, then everything is good! I'm doing ok, so the world must be ok. This is the kind of belief that must be changed and transformed. Jesus knew that we all are born with borders around our heart and mind. Just because wars, death, and deep poverty are happening way across the world, or just down the street, doesn't mean we shouldn't care or try to do something about it. The borders in our thinking become thick, high, and embedded in our minds deeply, but they are never permanent. And this non-permanence is also our GOOD NEWS! We are not stuck in this mess! We really can do something about it! This is the thought that will resurrect the world! This is why we celebrate Easter! Where do we begin? It seems so overwhelming!
Transform your life first. Start with practicing Silent Meditation. Begin a consistent, committed relationship with God through prayer, study, and personal reflection. Ask God to heal your wounds, all of them! Forgive everyone. If you are just reacting to life, start living intentionally. Co-create the life you want. Get out of the abusive marriage. Stop drinking. Leave the job that you absolutely hate! Begin to take care of your body again. Lose the extra weight. Join a small faith group. Get a spiritual director. Evaluate how you spend your time. Put down the cell phone and the laptop more often. Make a list of who you love and why you love them. Let go of relationships that aren't loving, respectful, and worthy of your time. Begin to make your heart-work a priority. Put the health of spiritual life, first, and the rest will fall into place. Work on your inner-world, and your outer world will automatically transform itself. Jesus was an inner-world man! This is where your GOOD NEWS RESTS, inside you, not outside of you.
If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me,
you will find it. Matthew 10: 39
God of Hope,
Help me transform my life.
Help me put my heart first and things second.
Make me alert and aware of where love is absent.
Help me notice why things are the way they are.
Tear down the boarders in my heart and mind.
Forgive my selfish thinking and my lack of
care and concern for the neighbor right next to me.
Transform my life so that it reflects the Good News!
Grow my trust in you, God!
Give me a new vision for my life and the world's life!
Give me the courage to do what I can, when I can, wherever I can.
Resurrect my life! Make my life Great, God! Amen.
Reflect On Your Life
1. Where do you see the GOOD NEWS being reflected in your life? What part of your life is lacking love?
2. Where do the boarders exist in your heart and mind?
3. What can you do beginning tomorrow to transform your life?
