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Jesus says, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31)
When Saint Patrick was sixteen, he was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave. During that time, his faith deepened and he found strength and courage in daily prayer. After six years of captivity, he was guided by a voice to escape to his homeland, only to be guided by a vision to return to Ireland to become the “Voice of the Irish.” After his successful escape to his homeland, he did heed the vision he received and returned to Ireland and is credited with baptizing and converting thousands to the Catholic faith. Today, Saint Patrick is the world renowned patron Saint of Ireland and as such is synonymous with green beer, shamrocks, and wearing green on Saint Patti’s day. But instead of the traditional drinking of green beer, Saint Patrick offers us all an opportunity to reflect on the many events that have unfolded since the last article posted on this blog. Since January, the United States has a new leader, there was a miracle on the Hudson river, not long afterward a fiery crash that claimed the lives of several women who were in service to humanity, Israel ruthlessly bombed Gaza, and a global economic crisis is leaving many people homeless and out of work. This is the unpredictable nature of life, the unpredictable nature of God.
Jesus says, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31) Jesus speaks these prophetic words as he is being lead to his own crucifixion at Golgotha—The place of the Skull. The Tree of Christianity is indeed very dry and the voice of Evangelical Christianity is being lead to its own Golgotha. A recent article written by Michael Spencer on the Christian Science monitor entitled—The Coming Evangelical Collapse—An anti-Christian Chapter in Western history is about to begin, but out of the ruins a new vitality and integrity will rise. The article begins by stating, “We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West… Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline.” What is causing this predictable collapse of Evangelical Christianity and how can it help us understand the teaching of Jesus on an even deeper level?
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Michael Spencer explains, “Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society. The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can't articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.”
Jesus explains, “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13:13-15)
The complete ignorance of Jesus and his teaching is the root cause for this predictable collapse of what has been called evangelical Christianity. Jesus reveals, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:26-27) As Jesus points out it is not just the understanding of his teaching, but its application that builds a strong foundation on the rock of true surrender and faith in God.
The collapse of evangelical Christianity is driving people either to the mega-church that focuses on personal development and wealth or is driving many others to Catholicism—which never wavered from the sanctity of the teachings of Christ. For many more the rampant ignorance of the deeper meaning of Jesus and his teaching demonstrated by both the mega-church of evangelical Christianity as well as the ultimate mega-church known as Catholicism, falls short of satisfying the deep longing for Truth, Peace, and Happiness that lives in the heart of everyone.
The ultimate Truth is the deep longing that you experience in the core of your being, will never be satisfied by the dogma that has been presented as Truth by most priests and ministers around the world. Fundamentally, this is a direct result of one simple thing—ego. It is this fundamental misidentification with the body as the truth of who you are (ego) that leads to endless suffering and renders the teaching of Jesus as lifeless as the cold heartless rock of Golgotha.
Jesus says, “Otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.” Jesus is giving you the key for that unlocks the mystery of every parable he ever uttered: Understand with your heart. Understanding with your heart leads to the destruction of your ego—it is the sacred union of your mind and your heart that reveals that ego is not real. When your mind rests in your heart you have an opportunity to recognize the vast Love that Jesus represents, not as a concept or idea of Love, but as Love itself. Deep inquiry into your own heart reveals you are this unending LOVE—a Peace that lives beyond all understanding!
The teaching of Jesus is a Living Truth, the depth of which, can only be understood when you deeply inquire into the depths of your own Heart. Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
At the core everyone’s heart is pure. If you look deep within your heart, you will see the infinite face of God—the infinite Light of unending Love.
If you open your heart to this Love, you will see that you always have been that Endless LIGHT!
How will you open to this infinite Light today?
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