I know for many of you it's holy week and that is not entirely uncommon. But as I sit here eating Matzot for Passover - Jesus is not regularly at the forefront of my meditations.
Or is he?
As I child I grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist church. Not so much as a "value" by my parents, but an important way of life for my widowed maternal grandmother. I spent most of my weekends as a child with her, which meant that I went to church with her. Growing up, she taught me how to say my prayers, how to imagine the angels "Encampeth about my home" every night, how NOT to eat pork, and why Sabbath was always and will always be from Friday Night Sundown to Saturday Night Sundown. There were things that I knew in my heart to be true, but there were many others that I was absolutely sure were not "Christ-like" in church. Regardless, all of these things would come in very handy as I began searching for clues in my adult life as to who exactly this Jesus man really was (or might be!)Many years later, I remember being quite frustrated in my spiritual growth as a Kabbalah student. I don't recall exactly what it was that I was struggling with, but I remember one very powerful message our teacher, Ha' Rav Berg said quoting Rav Ahshlag, (Who was the teacher of his teacher, and the man who foresaw Kabbalah being taught to everyone, Jewish or not, Male or Female) He said;
"The most important lesson we can take away from the Bible is;
"Love They Neighbor As Thyself",
He went on to say,
"The Rest is Commentary"
In that moment, I "got" Jesus.
Jesus didn't go around condemning people, or telling people to that his word was the "Law", that if you didn't follow his word, you were to be damned. He didn't preach hate or intolerance, nor did he claim to know right from wrong. What he did was walk the path of the Creator. He felt the pain of everyone in his path and put others needs before his own. This selflessness was what enabled him to heal the sick, to walk on water, and to turn water into wine - Not to prove to anyone that he was G-d Incarnated.
Every single one of his has the power to become like G-d, to do as Jesus did, if we just follow that one golden rule;
"Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself"
It sounds quite simple doesn't it? It's not.
It's the trick of the ego and Satan to believe that "We've got this down pat". If we did, the world would not be as it is today. OUR LIVES would not be as they are today. If we did have this down pat, there would be no more Cancer, no more sickness, and really - no more death.
Can you imagine?
I beg of you, today, on Easter, Let's not just IMAGINE. Let's BELIEVE and DO!
Let's take steps toward this divine reality. Do something so far out of your comfort zone to help someone, not JUST for THEM, for YOU! For YOUR soul. Feel that awesome power that is within each of us to unleash the "G-D Gene" to connect to the power of Miracles, as Jesus found so easy to do.
And if that's too insane for you to imagine, simply begin by examining your thoughts. When judgement and criticism towards others arise, simple recognize that this dialogue of hate is not your soul speaking, it's not your true essence, or that "G-D Gene" we're speaking of.
Recognize it, shift it, and do something positive.
Every single moment of the day I fight these thoughts. They are "who" we are, how we have been "programmed" in our upbringing. Few of us walking around today have mastered these thoughts, and together as we strive to evolve, we must not beat ourselves up for them, but simply become aware of them and make the effort to change them, to put others before ourselves.
Think about it, if we are busy in our head thinking about nothing but "all the stuff I have to get done" or "how much longer do I have to put up with this?" or "What the hell is she wearing?" or "My Ex-Husband is scum", How are we becoming like G-D? How are we being "Christ-Like"?
Do we think that Jesus dwelled in these thoughts of negativity?
Kabbalah teaches that this ongoing war in our head is the actual "Armageddon" (In Hebrew the word is agogamagog) the bible is talking of. This is the war that we truly have to fight, non-stop, on a moment to moment basis.
Are you ready for battle? Remember our great spiritual leaders, like Moses and Jesus, Like Mohommed and Buddah. That's why they came to this world, to help us evolve.
Happy Easter and Happy Passover to everyone.
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