to go deeper within ourselves, starting a process that continues today. He was bringing love, not the law. Jesus was bringing a new way of being and it was going to take time to ground and infuse that energy. We are changing out inner reality and the outer will follow. We tried it the other way and it didn’t work. Let us return, for a moment, to some of the details of the events. Did Jesus have to drag or carry his cross to Calvary? Yes, but he had some help and did not have to do it alone. Was he scourged and made to wear a crown of thorns? Probably not, but those ideas do fit with the pain and suffering belief system many of us were raised with. And what about Judas? Judas’ relationship with Jesus was close and quite complex and is a story unto itself. But as it relates to our story here, Joseph Campbell’s description of the Judas “betrayal” is succinct and accurate. Joseph Campbell said that Jesus’ words to Judas “sound more like a command than anything else.” Judas got a bad rap. Metaphysically,
Judas represents guilt, which remains with humanity today. Judas took on the persona of the saboteur, just as humanity sometimes sabotages itself today. There was a betrayal, but Jesus allowed it to happen.
The cross itself is highly symbolic and an ancient spiritual symbol that pre-dated Christianity. There are cave drawings in Europe that exist from prehistoric times that include the cross. Metaphysically the stipe, or vertical bar, connects heaven and earth and indicates there is no separation between them. The patibulum, or horizontal bar, connects time and space. The significance of the cross to the crucifixion is eliminating the barrier of time and space and connecting heaven and earth with no separation. The message of Jesus is expressed and reinforced by the cross.
When the crucifixion was complete,
Jesus’ body was claimed by Joseph, a friend of Pilate, as had been pre- arranged. Dusk was upon the scene and Jesus’ body was taken to his tomb
for burial without all of the usual ritual preparations of Jewish custom because of night falling. His body was washed and tied in a linen cloth and placed in the sepulcher, called the Garden of Joseph.
Three days in the tomb symbolizes the trinity of Mother God, Father God, and infinity. The tomb itself represents humanity’s disconnect with its own divinity. We have minimal access to our own divinity in the dark universe we have created. Humanity is in this dark, tomb-like place of disconnect with self. We can come out of our own self- imposed tomb by recognizing our own divinity and simply coming out of our tomb. It is a self-imposed tomb we are all existing in and we can walk out of our tomb just like Jesus did. That is the symbolism and message of the tomb. Did the resurrection really happen?
Yes, it did. Was the resurrection of the body or in spirit? The resurrection was of the spirit, not of the body. Did Jesus appear to those who saw him after his crucifixion as a living breathing man in the flesh? Yes he did, hence some of the confusion about the resurrection of the body. Jesus was divinity personified and he could appear in any form he wished to, and he chose to appear human. But the resurrection of the body would contradict his teachings, which included reincarnation. We release the body upon physical death, to claim a new form when we are reincarnated and reborn into a new body.
Nothing is the story I have presented here detracts from Jesus or the power of his message. Jesus’ true message remains as powerful today as when he walked the earth.
Copyright 2012 Walter Perschke, all rights reserved. Walter Perschke President, The Spiritual Learning Center, Inc. spirituallearningcenter@
gmail.com. 47 Polk Street, Suite 153, Chicago, Illinois 60605.
48 Te Monthly Aspectarian - March 2012
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