The Vision of the indigenous Jesus (Yeshua) Sermon, July 10, 2022
- Article Published At:
- Rutland UMC Sermon
- Date of Publication:
- July 10th, 2022
John 8, 31 (To the Jews who had believed him), Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” We long for the Truth that will set us free – but we live in a world full of power, money and lies.
Where do we look for a key? [Last week], Bobbie spoke about the New England Declaration “Envisaging the Beloved Community”, and how to cooperate deeply as a community, given all our individuality.
This week, I am going to talk about a deeper issue, our connection to the living Creation.The Beloved Community becomes much clearer and easier for us all if we see our common connection to the living Creator and Creation. This was a central teaching of the indigenous Jesus and it is the source of the Truth that sets you Free. But most Christian groups do not understand, because they are based on human power, and not the teachings of the indigenous Jesus. I will talk a little about this (see also Planet, July 2).
Let us start with the related words from Proverbs 8, 1-4 Wisdom’s Call 8 Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice? 2 On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: 4 “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all who live.
Wisdom is a key, but money and power matter more than wisdom in our society. It resonates with me because, as a climate scientist, I knew fifty years ago that we were heading for a climate disaster because no-one would take responsibility for the earth. In 1980, I asked “How do we merge science with wisdom?” I was sent to Tiruvannamalai in SE India, where I connected with Indian saints. The day I arrived I sat in the meditation room of a saint (Ramana Maharshi who had passed-on 30 years before) and the living Creation connected me to everything and for an hour showed me through the web of my past and future connections to Creation – I was stunned and ecstatic and set free. (Full story published March 1; The Earth’s view of Climate Change: research page of alanbetts.com)
Over the years I filled in the pieces and understood that the “Truth that sets us Free” is of course universal. The Indian saints spent 20 years on the sacred mountain till they understood - Jesus grasped it from his communication with the Creator and the Creation. The Truth that sets you Free is our spiritual connection to the living Creation that we can all access in more than one way - but it needs surrender. (Nor easy as taught: “Fight, fight and never surrender” - militaristic) Back to John 8, 31 (To the Jews who had believed him), Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Absolutely but we live in a society that is determined that we do not know the “Truth that will set us Free”. Society wants us to be kept under control by those with money and power.
It was a challenge for the disciples of Jesus and it hard for us as modern Christians because Jesus was an indigenous teacher who spoke Aramaic, which has three levels of meaning. In Aramaic there is no difference between Heaven and Earth, we are all part of the one divine Creation. Our challenge as humans is to accept our role in Creation with understanding, insight and wisdom. The indigenous Aramaic speaking Jesus (known as Yeshua in Aramaic) always backed the Creation over human power and human rulers. This is the key test for all religions:do they support the Creation over human power? Many Christian religions do not, so they are not following the indigenous Jesus. [See Herald, July 2] There is a reason for this that you should all know, since what I will call ‘fake Christian’ churches are trying to take over the US.
This has been the key issue since the Roman Catholic Church was created at the Council of Nicea in 325AD. The Aramaic gospels were destroyed to meet the demands of the Emperor Constantine, and replaced with the Greek gospels. The Aramaic understanding of the Truth of the Creation is simply incompatible with the dominance of human power and warfare that are critical for the Emperor’s rule. So from the very beginning, the Roman Catholic Church and their male bishops, and all the breakaway churches that followed were based on human power, not on the living divine Creation, as taught by the indigenous Jesus. [Of course Jesus was crucified because the Truth was heresy to the Jewish and Roman ruling powers.] Tragically most of the Aramaic speaking Jewish Christians were killed over the next two centuries, and the persecution of the Jews followed. After seventeen hundred years, the misuse of human power across all aspects of society has led to many disasters, and now brought the Earth close to a climate catastrophe.
It is only in the past twenty years that the Aramaic gospels have been reconstructed. A beautiful simple example we can all understand is the Lord’s prayer [Prayers of the Cosmos: Neil Douglas-Klotz] King James: Give us this day our daily bread Aramaic: “Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight”. [No separation of material & spiritual]
Why does this matter? When we realize we are part of the Creation, and that we can have direct communication with the living Creator within us, our human issues are transformed as we have a common framework.
It matters practically because it appears the living Earth system – the Creation which is responsible for all life on Earth – is taking over the climate system, because human institutions refuse to manage our burning of fossil fuels that are destroying the climate and life on the Earth. This is still ‘heresy’ because we humans believe that “we are in charge of the earth because we are the most intelligent species. We can do what we want for power and money”.
We are wrong – the living Earth – the Creation is of course in charge as Jesus said. We are the only stupid creatures not listening to the Creator! (Pacific tsunami from massive 15 Jan 2022 Tonga volcano explosion; science vs listening)
Now the living Earth, the Creation, simply says: “Embrace the indigenous view and rejoin Creation, or lose the industrial world to climate catastrophes”. Our rulers and most corporations do not understand this is reality, but this is part of the Truth that will set us Free.
From a meditative space – from breathing in and out - Let go, and surrender. You cannot order the Creator/Creation – all my communications from the Creator were unexpected!
Bobbie last week – Believing is seeing (not reverse) – so you need to believe first: examples
March 19 Australian desert air moved 5000miles south to sit on E. Antarctic 10000ft ice-sheet- T rose 70oF. Scientist said “If you had told me 2 days ago, I would never, never have believed you”. Now the issue is, if all ice-sheets can melt, could sea-level come up 20ft in 20 years?
This week catastrophic floods around Sydney Australia, July 2-4. [The third this year] The latest wild storm cell - which brought a year’s worth of rain in three days to some areas is affecting the coal mines (!). Companies were enjoying great cash margins (profits after operating costs) of about 45%. Almost no-one is seeing the connection! (see pdf)