Thinking about the Messiah, a Rabbi tells this story: “The Messiah finally arrives. Jews and Christians, after waiting for so many centuries, rush to meet him. The Jews cry out, ‘This is the first time you have come, is it not?’ The Christians, raising their voices above the Jews, insist, ‘This must be Your second coming that we have been waiting for!’ The Messiah smiles wearily and waits for the noise to subside. Then, in a quiet and gentle voice…says, ‘My dear, foolish people. I have come not once, not twice. I have been here hundreds of times. But you have all been so busy fighting with one another you have never even noticed.’ “ [i]
By the time the Acts of the Apostles was written, almost 60 years had passed since Jesus’ death and resurrection. The early church had been waiting for Jesus’ immanent return for decades. While Jesus’ followers waited they retold stories, prayed, encouraged each other, watched and listened. They took up Jesus’ mission and carried on, alert for signs of his return. Twenty-one centuries later Christians are still waiting for Jesus to return, and Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. There is that part of us, as human beings, that longs for a savior, someone who will come with both authority and power to rescue us, and to end suffering everywhere. We project that longing onto Jesus, Adonai, Allah, Krishna, various Divine Beings—and wait. We wait. And our better angels say to us: “Why do you citizens of earth stand here looking up at the skies?” Stop fighting with each other and recognize the only savior there is lies within—within you, within the community you are—no exceptions. The kingdom of God is within You.
When Jesus told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, and to wait for what God had promised he must have recognized their need for first hand experience of God’s presence within them. This ongoing inner experience of God’s presence was what he drew on everyday of his life throughout his ministry. And what had God promised? Through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will place my Spirit within you;” through Isaiah: “I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring;” through Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all humankind.”
After all the disciples have been through with Jesus, including his recent death and resurrection, they still don’t understand him or his mission in Mark’s Gospel. Not understanding, but of course recognizing the power in his rising from the dead, they ask if he will now restore sovereignty to Israel. Patiently, he answers saying they can’t know the future, but he assures them that when they receive the power of the Spirit they will finally get it. They will witness to the same truth of God’s love for all humanity that he has lived and died for, love that transcends tribal boundaries and socioeconomic barriers. They will carry this knowing, this conviction, to all ends of the earth. This is what he is passing on to them, and what the Spirit will bestow. Without his presence and on their own, they will need to draw on the source of this conviction to face into those boundaries and barriers. The Spirit within them will be that touchstone. The Spirit within them will lead the way.
The Spirit at the heart of reality can’t be divided. As the author of Ephesians tells us, there is only one Spirit, alive and present in all of us and in all Creation. There is one body, one spirit, one hope, one God, one Mother/Father of all. When the Spirit within is truly experienced and fully known, we see separation is an illusion. When the experience of that One Spirit is ignited, when it bursts into flame within us, then how we see the world, how we see others, and how we live is no longer disfigured by us-them thinking and either-or judgments. Living this reality HEALS. It heals body, mind and heart. It heals the human collective and all of creation. That is what the ‘coming of the reign of God’ means. It is the ‘coming of the Messiah’ in Jewish terms, and the ‘second coming’ expected by Christians.
We have our work to do, and it is internal work. We need to confront the illusion of separation within our own minds and hearts to allow the Spirit free reign in our lives. Today’s gospel portrays the signs of Spirit’s presence in first century language. It sounds bizarre today. But let’s translate those metaphors into words that make sense to us. We begin with an awareness of the One Spirit at the heart of all reality, the One Spirit dwelling in each of us, as it did in Jesus and the early disciples. The Spirit rises from the core of being. It ascends from that deep place within where God dwells. The mystics, such as Rumi, Hafiz, Sts. Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Hildegard and Francis all use ecstatic language to describe their experience of the Spirit rising within them, overwhelming their senses. As they receive that powerful inflow of energy, it seems to come from the outside, to ‘descend from on high.’ This is likely what the disciples experienced at Pentecost. It was so profound, it radically shifted how they saw the world. There was no longer a duality. They spoke in new ways—new tongues. There were no demons. Dark and light were now two sides of the same coin. They can handle the venom of life and worldly poisons, and ingest rancor, hatefulness and anything deadly without being harmed. Like Jesus, they filter it through their spiritual center. They meet life with acceptance, open hearts. They live the oneness of Spirit rather than fighting and supporting what appears as division. They don’t do it perfectly; none of us do. They have to keep reminding themselves of the unity of Spirit just as we do, that God is alive within everyone and all Creation—indivisibly. This same Spirit is alive right now in all of us. It is accessible. It is dynamic. Our task is to cultivate that awareness.
Mother’s Day and the feast of the Ascension both point toward eternal truths. We are One people, dwelling between the portals of mystery—between seeming entry at birth and seeming departure at death. In this sacred space of earth-time Jesus invites us, his disciples, to experience ourselves in the one Spirit, intrinsically connected to everyone and everything. This is how the Messianic Age will come to be. This is how the world will be healed. Our deepest work is to know and live the truth as he did with a Mother’s heart. All life is precious. We are Spirit manifest, the one family of God.
[i] Rabbi David Zaslow, Jesus: First-Century Rabbi, 151 [Brewster, Mass., Paraclete Press, 2014] Story told by Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer that she heard from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. (Fuchs-Kreimer, “Redemption,” in Christianity in Jewish Terms, 275.)
Leave a Reply