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This
Sunday, April 1st, is "Palm Sunday" ... and churches will be
celebrating it in various ways depending on the customs and traditions
of their theology. Although I do not celebrate "Palm
Sunday" ... I do believe that it is a good time to look, once
again, at the teachings of the Master Mind Jesus. The passages
below are taken from the Gospel of Mark which was written in Rome about
70 A.D.
"While he was delivering God's word to them, some people arrived
bringing a paralyzed man to him. The four who carried him were
unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they began to open
up the roof over the spot where Jesus was. When they had made a
hole, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, "My son, your
sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting
there asking themselves: "Why does this man talk in that way?
He commits blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God alone?"
Jesus was immediately aware of their reasoning, though they kept it to
themselves, and he said to them: "Why do you harbor these
thoughts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your
sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up, pick up your mat,
and walk again? That you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sins (he said to the paralyzed man),
"I command you: Stand up! Pick up your mat and go
home." The man stood and picked up his mat and went outside
in the sight of everyone. They were awestruck; all gave praise to
God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" -
Mark 2:3-12 - The Holy Bible
We
realize from reading these passages there was already within the
consciousness of man that spiritual healing was a possibility.
Keep in mind, had the people not come to him for healing, Jesus would
not have been able to demonstrate spiritual mind healing. We find
Jesus' first words were, "my son, your sins are forgiven" ...
and in this statement he acknowledges that the healing must first take
place in the consciousness of the man. Thoughts of sin, of course,
are all in our mind ... and they are subjective thoughts. What is
sin to one person, is not necessarily sin to another. And as we
know in the Science of Mind, sin is merely a mistake ... it is a belief
that separates us from God, in our mind.
The scribes, however, were not
spiritually aware enough to understand that God works through the
consciousness of man in order to heal ... in this case the consciousness
of Jesus transcended the consciousness of the paralytic man ... knowing
that he was "of God and in God," and the result was healing.
The scribes believed that only God could heal (forgive sins) ... and
interestingly enough, this is the belief of most Christians today.
And at this point Jesus was not ready to be arrested or perhaps even
worse ... so, he used the less loving and supportive words, "stand
up, pick up your mat and go home." And, according to these
passages ... that is what the man did!
Now this gives us even more insight into the
work of Jesus. Why did he acquiesce to the scribes? Why did
he not stick to his kinder, gentler, words of "my son, your sins
are forgiven"? Mark did not know Jesus except through the teachings
of Peter as he was Peter's interpreter and companion. So, Mark
does not give us any insight into this compromise. Mark was highly
influenced by Paul which is why Mark's writings differ greatly from
other Gospel writers. Obviously, Mark was not aware that he had
written a compromise into the work of Jesus. And from the other
writings regarding the Master Mind Jesus, I find it very difficult to
believe that he would have compromised. His character was not one
of timidity or of one who can be intimidated or manipulated, he was far
too dynamic for that. Mark attempts to convince us that Jesus was
more than the Jewish Messiah ... more than a prophet ... his intention
is to convince us that Jesus is our savior ... and in this, he makes
another mistake. Isaiah had already revealed that there is no
savior but God. And for the reader to be convinced by Mark, we
would have to ignore Jesus' own words where he stated that he was a
prophet. And why should we? ... Mark was not present with Jesus at
any time. I believe that we should be less concerned with the
mythical Jesus and focus instead on the mystical Jesus. And if we
do, then we will gain a greater awareness of how the individual relates
to the Infinite, for it is in our seeking to do what Jesus did ... not
looking to him to save us ... that puts us in tune with the Infinite.
As
we know in the Science of Mind there is only One Power, that Power Is
God ... our word does heal, but only when we have the consciousness of
the realization of God working through our consciousness to heal.
And as we take the teachings of Dr. Holmes to heart, we realize that
Love works through Law. And it is this Love that gives us
the first impulse to be loving and supportive in our healing work,
whether it is for others or for our self. It is important that we
not lose sight of this as we speak our word for healing. There is
no necessity for compromise ... kindness, gentleness, compassion ... are
supportive of the true nature of everyone ... and each person's mind
will respond to words of Truth spoken with Love ... Love heals ... for
Love is of God.
AND SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev. Hank
Bates
Visit: www.IraqMemorial.org
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