Institutional religions strive to make us totally dependent
on external
authority;
Protestants, Scripture;
Catholics, the Magisterium.
Institutional religions require
us to guide our lives
by Scripture as they translate
and define it,
and by the Magisterium’s
pronouncements with its corner on the Truth.
All this in the face of the True
Gift of the Holy Spirit,
all the answers we need deep
within.
Scripture and the Magisterium
are important sources of Wisdom,
which we should consult in
making our life choices,
but ultimately we each have been
given the guidance we need,
the gift of the Holy Spirit deep
within.
There is a touch of the Divine
within us all
and we can connect to that
Divinity
within us and within each
other.
As opposed to burdening people
with even more external rules and regulations,
Jesus spent his life
Freeing People!
He freed the lepers from
isolation;
He befriended the morally
marginalized;
He ate and drank with the
drunkards and prostitutes;
He freed the adulteress from the
strict letter of the law;
He tended the unclean, freed the
woman in menstruation from disdain;
He freed the tax collector to be
one of the chosen;
He accepted the
centurion;
He freed the children to come be
with him;
He raised women—who had no legal
status at all—to full discipleship
entrusting them to spread the
Good News
His whole life was spent freeing
people from bondage,
bondage of physical ailments,
bondage of custom, bondage of law,
self bondage.
Even His parables were designed
to free people
from the bondage of their
minds,
teaching us that
It is a journey of Unknowing.
Jesus is the Great
Liberator.
His sermon on the
Mount,
the Beatitudes,
the essence of
Christianity,
simple expressions of
Love,
also carried important
messages
of Freedom.
If Poor in Spirit, we can be free of
worldly things,
If we Mourn our losses, we can be free of our
pain and anguish,
If Meek, we can be free of our need for
power, control, approval,
If we Hunger and Thirst, we can be free of
conventional wisdom
and over-identification with any
group,
if we are Merciful, we can be free of
unforgiveness,
If we are Pure of Heart, we can be free of our
minds,
and move into our
hearts,
going with Intuition.
If we are Peacemakers, we can be free of
results,
if we are willing to Suffer persecution, we can be free of
self-possessiveness.
The Beatitudes are not only
Gifts of Love,
but also Gifts of Freedom.
The hierarchy of Jesus
time,
did not fear Jesus because He
healed people;
the establishment feared
Jesus
because he went about Freeing People.
By valuing ALL people
and Loving them,
Jesus freed them
from the sense of unworthiness
placed on them
by the self-righteous
by the rule makers.
How could they possibly maintain
control
if Jesus message of Freedom
spread throughout the land.
Take a look at the
Virtues
promoted by Institutional
Church:
Obedience, Humility, Trust, Forgiveness, Patience,
and
Long-Suffering.
They are good qualities and
strengths of character.
And are qualities a King wants
of his subjects.
But, in and of
themselves,
they have no power to move in
any outward direction;
they harness no energy to move a
group forward;
they hold a group
together,
albeit as is.
For change and growth, an
entirely different set of Virtues is needed;
Leadership, Truthfulness, Decisiveness,
Intelligence,
Inner-Authority, Courage, and
Compassion,
qualities Jesus also exhibited
throughout his life
by helping to tip the bushels
keeping people’s lights hidden.
Jesus life and
message
were non-bureaucratic (freeing),
inclusive (freeing), and disruptive (freeing)
a threat to the establishment of
the day,
and, in fact, to the
establishment of today.
It is interesting that Jesus
never wanted to be adored,
only emulated.
Is it any wonder
that the hierarchy
prefers
we make Jesus an object of
adoration,
rather than a person we
emulate.
How, indeed, would institutional
church be changed
if we all emulated
Jesus?
It might not even be
needed.
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