What Should You Remember?

WED., APR. 3, 1996, 8:42 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

This is Holy Week, with Palm Sunday past and Maunday Thursday coming tomorrow. Good Friday follows, and then Easter morn. It is a time of remembrance for you Christians, so I ask (and probably answer) the question today… what should you remember? You have experienced many Easters, some of which seemed to be dominated by egg-hunting, with more focus on the Bunny than on the Christian story. I won’t comment on that this morning.

You know the story rather well, and this year this knowledge has been reinforced and improved by the weekly focus on each of the Gospel’s versions of what happened. It is another Scriptural story that raises the question of how much was predestined and how much came about through willful behavior. I tell you, and this you should remember, that this was the way it was to be. I have enumerated various alternative scenarios… particularly how I could have acted differently, to maintain My life. I was to die. It was an early instance of assisted suicide (but of course it couldn’t be called that).

There had to be a Judas who, in a way, “betrayed” Me, as Jesus, even though there was nothing particularly secret about who I was or where I would be. There had to be a mention of satan, but you needn’t give that much consideration. For, you are right, it does seem that if there was a satan he was playing his part, as directed by Me, as Almighty God. Either I encouraged him to “enter” Judas, or I allowed it. The distinction is unimportant.

There had to be a trial, and, finally, Pilate had to be guided to a “guilty and crucify Him” verdict or to be frightened about the results of a more liberal verdict. It was, as it had to be, a quick verdict and a rather immediate capital punishment. There were no appeals and no legal maneuvering. It had to take place before Passover and the Sabbath. (9:11 / 9:15)

Each Gospel proclaims that I died, after some variety of verbal utterances. My dead body was taken to a tomb, put in, temporarily (because of the Sabbath), and the stone “door” rolled into place. One account has soldiers there to be sure that the body isn’t taken away. But where was My Spirit during this time? There’s one suggestion that I took a quick trip to Paradise… another that I descended to hell to minister to those who hadn’t benefited from My ministry during their lives. The Scriptures give no clear answer.

But “when the Sabbath was past”, on a Sunday morning in Christian tradition, My Spirit returned to My Body, and I left the tomb. In some instances “I didn’t look like Myself”, and I was not recognized until there was some symbolic act (which is remembered, like the breaking of the bread). I was in a body that was recognized by some. The nail holes and the wound in the side were evident (though apparently not bleeding). I could eat. I could talk. I also could come and go rather magically. Then, finally, I ascended to Heaven, with the promise of returning, presumably to complete the conversion of every human to Christianity.

Yet through the centuries since that emotional event there have been testimonies (and there will be some today) as to My Presence with individuals and groups… and in some I am seen, as I came to your son Peter).

So, what should you remember? As God and as Jesus I chose death as a symbolic way to guarantee eternal life. In one sense I died. In another I didn’t (understandable to a Zen Presbyterian). It was, let’s say, a “near death experience”. For I did return, in, by some accounts, at least, My “original” body. This is mystical and therefore not explainable in concrete terms. Remember this.

I, the Holy Spirit, was promised, as a consequence of My death, as Jesus. But I also have been here in the earth “from the beginning”. Now I have more power to influence, even though there was no rein on My Power before this. Again… mystery.

“Out of death comes life”… is both a spiritual and an ecological truth. In the future, particularly, the quality of the life of many will be maintained and improved by the death of another “many”. In this future it will become easier for you who are the “old ones” to give up your lives for others. Yet you only give up the present body (probably not as functional as you’d like) and you gain much spiritual knowledge. It’s a very good trade-off.

So let it be
9:45 AM