Where Is Jesus?

It is Easter morning and a beautiful day. Since Good Friday, I have contemplated what the symbolic meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection might mean to me right now in my own life. Instead of just holding the usual thoughts of "He died for me," I wanted to go beyond, and look deeper into what that death meant symbolically.

Unlike the Christian faith that I was brought up in and still celebrate in many ways, I don't see Jesus' death as punishment for my badness, but rather, as a message and example that as soon as we give up our old ways of judgment and become accepting of one another in love, our old and heavy self will die, allowing new life to unfold. To me, Jesus' death and resurrection demonstrated that the ways of this world are only illusion, that Heaven awaits us at any time. The key factor is judgment, and being willing to let go of that.

Religions teach us to judge (ourselves and others) with the idea that we are not good enough, not whole, and that we have to save everyone from their badness. We indeed are, at many times, lacking wholeness, but it is the judgment that keeps us from that wholeness. It is quite ironic to me that the rules and dictates that tell us we are incomplete without God are also creating many of the obstacles that keep us from realizing our place with God, by telling us we are less. Jesus reminded us that it is through love without judgment that we will instantly be whole. In other words, stop sticking your nose in other people's business and deciding that they are wrong and need saving...simply live in love and that will be all that is needed.

It also occurred to me that Jesus did not need to market or promote his message or draw people in through buildings, temples, lures or gimmicks to get people to see things his way...He simply relied on a message of love and truth. When others judged, he reminded them of their own hypocrisy or shortcomings, but he did not set out to judge others or to make them see things his way....people sought him out because he LIVED his message. He lived in LIGHT, not darkness. He WAS light. Nothing else was needed.

I think of the two Mary's who found the empty tomb and then spotted Jesus, while others could not see him. It made me think, "Where is Jesus now?" We are told that he will come again. In many ways we are seeking him, like the Marys, and in many ways the "tombs" - the churches and places where we expect him to be - are empty, lacking the faith to hold Jesus' great light. We often do not get deep and lasting comfort from visiting those places because they really do not contain Jesus's true light.

And I wonder, "How will Jesus come again?"...I believe that in the same way he was not in the tomb, he will not be in the places that we would conventionally expect him to be in...that we will find him when we are willing to look outside of those places, beyond those thought systems. I am not saying that those who do not look deeper for a greater connection to Jesus do not have him, but I am suggesting that perhaps he is not as present and glorious as he might be. Jesus represents NEW THOUGHT - so I seek to continue in his tradition of thinking in NEW WAYS to find more of him and be more like him. If you choose to look outside the tombs of your mind, opening your thoughts, I believe you might find a greater version of Jesus than you have ever known, and one that will be your own resurrection to your own perfection and true communion with God. I believe Jesus will come again through those individuals who chose to behave more like him and share light and love purely. Will you be one?

Happy Easter...make it your moment to shift into greater light and be more like Jesus...seeking new thoughts of a greater God...embarking on your journey to ONENESS.