Jesus Life-Giver

Recently it seems like all the books I’ve been reading, and all pastors and theologians I follow on Substack have been talking about getting back to the essence of what Jesus taught and LIVING IT.

Jim Wallis, who has a long list of credentials as a teacher, preacher, justice advocate, policy advisor in Washington, founder of Sojourners and author of many books, including The False White Gospel, wrote this just last Wednesday:

In the 1930s, there were German Christians who were more German than Christian. They supported the rise of the Third Reich and even saluted the Führer during their church services. Today in the United States, there are Christians who are more American than Christian, and more white than Christian. Chants of “USA” are more central to them than the proclamation that Jesus is Lord.

We are in a perilous moment— the crisis of democracy we face is a test of faith that we must confront. Returning to the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be the last line of defense against the tyranny that threatens us. 

In the Spirit of this, Lent seems a good time to get back to the basics of who Jesus was and what Jesus taught.

Traditionally Jesus has been hailed as the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God, Prince of Peace, Lamb… I could go on, but Savior has been a big one, right? How many songs and hymns are there that talk about Jesus our Savior? How many prayers have been made to Jesus for salvation – save me Jesus? How many times have you heard the words (not here, of course) “saved by the blood of Jesus” or “washed in the blood of Jesus”? How many of you were at one point convinced you needed to give your life to Jesus, your Lord and Savior in order to be accepted by God and make it to heaven?

So, Cynthia Borgeault, in her book Wisdom Jesus, points out something very interesting. First, remember that the New Testament was written in Greek, but Jesus and his followers spoke what Aramaic. Borgeault tells us that there was no word in Aramaic for “salvation.” Instead, the word that has been translated as “salvation” (Jesus is our salvation, our Savior), is much closer to Life-Giver. Jesus was the Life-Giver, one who enlivened others, who brought people alive, so to speak. In modern terms, Jesus was the Enlightened One.

For me this makes a huge difference! For centuries Christianity has been overly focused on Jesus the Savior, the one who supposedly died for our sins so that we didn’t have to spend eternity in hell. We have had salvation rammed down our throats because we were supposedly lowly, sinful, miserable human beings who needed someone to save us from ourselves and redeem our eternal souls. Jesus our Savior satisfied God’s need for justice (after Adam and Eve ate that darn apple) and finally brought us back into right relationship with God. None of this has ever made any sense to me! And there are many theological paths to dispute all this, but I hadn’t heard this particular explanation until now, and I really like it. Jesus was experienced as Life-Giver.

To me that looks like one who seeks justice, frees people from oppression, lets people know they are loved, sacred, and worthy, treats everyone equally, lives with compassion, forgiveness, mercy, and grace, and loves unconditionally.

Did Jesus have to like everybody to do this? Did Jesus have to agree with everyone all the time to do this? No. And neither do we.

So, let me be clear. Jesus was not intending to be the only Life-Giver. His intent was to teach all people to be Life-Givers. His hope was to raise people’s consciousness to a new level, to increase their awareness and understanding of a God of love, to show people a more whole, sacred, and holistic way to live so we might all know freedom, joy and love deep within. Jesus wanted to help bring others to enlightenment.

Jesus was a Wisdom teacher in a long line of Wisdom teachers. The goal of the wisdom teacher was transformation of the human being. The writers of Ecclesiastes, Job and Proverbs were all Wisdom teachers. Borgeault states, “The hallmark of these wisdom teachers was their use of pithy sayings, puzzles, and parables… they spoke to people in the language that people spoke, the languages of story rather than law.” Sounds a lot like Jesus to me.

Jesus was also a mystic. Mystics are people who have frequent first-hand experiences of the Divine. I think we’ve all had mystical experiences (whether we know it or not). And I think we can work to cultivate an openness to mystical experiences, but mystics tend to live there a lot more than we do. Sometimes this means they speak of things that seem radical to us, if not impossible to us. Jesus tried to bring it down to a human level with his parables and stories, but there was still a depth to his teachings and actions that suggested he was living a connection to the Divine that regular people had a hard time grasping. We remember in scripture that he often commented that people didn’t understand, didn’t have “eyes to see or ears to hear.”

Paul, at times seemed to understand that Jesus functioned at a higher level of consciousness and connectedness and that his desire was the transformation and wholeness of humanity.

In Philippians 2, Paul was writing a joyous message to the community of Christ followers that he had established in Philippi. Given that Paul was pleased with the community, it is interesting that he entreats them, if they care anything about Paul, to be united in their convictions and in a common mind, specifically the mind of Christ. Maybe he was hoping to avoid in Philippi what was happening in Corinth. The churches in Corinth were a reality TV show before we had TV. They were fighting amongst themselves, taking sides according to who baptized them. People were suing each other, sleeping with each other’s spouses. The wealthy and elite were demanding to receive Communion first, and others were getting drunk at Communion!

So, Paul praises the churches in Philippi and says don’t stop! For the sake of all that is holy, don’t stop being Life-Givers, putting on the mind of Christ. Or in the words of The Inclusive Bible, “Your attitude must be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”

In case that word Christ gets confusing, let me try and simplify it. Fr. Richard Rohr says that “Christ is a good and simple metaphor for absolute wholeness, complete incarnation and the integrity of creation. Jesus is the archetypal human just like us who showed us what the Full Human might look like if we could fully live into it.” “Christ” was a code word for a higher level of consciousness, enlightenment, non-duality, oneness.

This title, or defining word, Christ (applied to Jesus only after his death and resurrection), says that Jesus achieved a level of spiritual wholeness that is our birthright as humans if we don’t let all the temptations and trappings of the world and our egos get in the way.

To follow Jesus as a wisdom teacher, guide and Life-Giver, means being honest with ourselves about where we fall short of being Life-Givers ourselves. When and where can we choose to put on the mind of Christ – a higher consciousness, the way of love - and work toward better relationships in our families, schools, workplaces and churches? We may not be perfect, but the spiritual path is about continually striving to be better.

The next five messages will talk more specifically about the wisdom Jesus came to impart, and challenge us to self-examination and walking the talk.

Lenten Blessings,

Kaye