|
 "Let
not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God. Believe me also.
In my Father's house there are many mansions ..."
"You
heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you
loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for
the Father is greater than I. And now I have
told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may
believe." -
attributed to the Master Mind Jesus in the Gospel of John
At Easter we celebrate the Master Mind Jesus' greatest demonstration ...
that the Life within us, is more powerful than anything unlike It.
The wonderful American singer, songwriter and musician, Roberta Flack
said: "To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some
meaning in the suffering." And this is something that Jesus
must have been highly aware of as he went through the
"experience" of demonstrating that death is not finality ...
it merely opens us up to a new life experience beyond this world.
In this final lesson in Truth, the Master Mind Jesus could not have
allowed his thoughts to remain on the suffering, but on the Life that
dwells within him. His image of Life and the ever-Presence and
Power of G-d had to have been fully established within him as the Truth.
Through his healing work, Jesus learned that
true prayer is not to tell G-d about our troubles or our suffering, but
instead to increase our awareness that we are always in the Presence of
G-d ... always, even in our suffering or when we are confronted with
troubles and difficulties that challenge our faith. It is in this
awareness that we can know that whatever we ask for in prayer, we can
rest assured in quiet confidence that we have it already. This is
the way of all true spiritual demonstration ... and Jesus knew this as
Absolute.
In the Book of John, Chapter 14, we can read these
words: "Philip said to him, "Lord,
show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to
him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me,
Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you
say, "Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to to you I
do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does
his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in
me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. ... Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever believes me will also do the works that I
do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the
Father."
Even though we can read these prophetic words of
Jesus and realize that he knew before his arrest, that his life in this
world was coming to an end ... the world continues to give more
attention and focus to the "crucifixion" than it does to the
"resurrection." Easter celebrations are filled
with the cross or images of the cross, when instead we should forget the
cross and let our mind be filled with transcending all that seeks to
negate our good, all that seeks to negate life ever-lasting. "Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me .." Jesus
said. And we can read the mystical words of Truth from the Book of
Acts: "For in him we live and move and
have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his
offspring." This "Father within us" is a
part of G-d seeking to illuminate Its image and likeness as us and for
us.
Those religious leaders seeking to force us to carry our crosses
rather than transcend them have told us that we are "sinners"
and that we are "born in sin" ... and yet, everything that the
Master Mind Jesus was telling us points to our ability to
"resurrect the good" in our lives ... to transcend that which
is unlike the good in our life experiences. He didn't make the
Great Demonstration of Life, for us to bear a cross or struggle in our
lives, that is all nonsense. He said, "The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may
have life and have it abundantly." He did not attempt
to steal our joy, or kill the hope within us, or destroy our confidence
and self-esteem ... in his own words the Radical Jesus is telling us to
strive to do the same works, that is reveal the Love of G-d for us, in
our lives too.
When the
Master Mind Jesus declared, "I am the
resurrection and the Life," he was referring to G-d within
him and G-d within you and me. Everything works to our good when
we take this personally and deeply within our consciousness. We
can "resurrect" our prosperity, our success, our health ...
anything and everything that concerns us. But we must "forget
the cross" ... that is the struggle, the shame, guilt, blame,
resentment, fear and all things like it, for none of these are of G-d.
And, none of these things will open our mind to that which sustains us
and maintains us in harmony, joy, success, love, peace and abundance ...
and that is G-d, the Father within and without ... Omnipresent Good.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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Bates on the Radio
