The Cross of the Intercessor

Historically, in the time of Abraham, human sacrifice was practiced in many cultures as a way to appease the gods. Then was substituted the sacrifice of animals as human life was cherished more than for its mere instinctual survival value.One may look upon the Christian drama of the Cross as the end of an age for both human and animal sacrifice. The meaning of human life gaining greater value in its potential for immortality, expanding the idea that life was in the physical blood and givining it a universal meaning.

No longer does a body's blood serve the cause of salvation as an outward sign of life's significance. Life remains the object of sacrifice yet now emerges a greater refinement with a deeper understanding. What the Divine calls us to do now is sacrifice our very own soul - that G-d breathed into Adam (I will speak of the spiritual breath/winds at another time). Psuche means life as well as soul.

This sacrifice of the soul-life is still necessary for each of us to enter into the Divine Life (Zoe) which Jesu came to increase within us abundantly. Thus the saying that he who seeks to save his soul-life shall lose it. Jesu did not do it for us but rather prepared the way for us to follow him; much like the one who first broke the four minute mile - called impossible - somehow prepared the way for others to do the same, which they did in rapid succession.

We offer this sacrifice of soul every time we give up judgement and offer forgiveness; forgetting and releasing our own will of separation. Or when we surrender our thinking for waiting upon the inspiration of the Holy Wisdom of G-d. These are but a couple of examples of the method and means of carrying our cross and following Jesu. This in a nutshell is the New Covenant based on the revelation and understanding of life which Jesu espoused.

I Understand that this challenges Christian doctrine suggesting Jesu dies for our sins, erasing them for the sake of our salvation. Yet remember that we are the Body of Christ and we are to enter into the mind of Christ and as such we must never be content with glib doctrine. We must ask again and again like a child; "but what does that mean?". The Logos is not above reason but is the very reason behind all things.

Most Christians will not like this interpretation of the Cross and their relationship to it. It requires that we take responsibility rather than assume we can sit back having let Jesus do it all. But Jesus was master and teacher in the sense of mentor - teaching us to fish rather than giving us a single meal as the wise saying reflects.

Most Christians will offer prayer when they or their loved ones are in need, and give from their abundance. I question if this was Jesus' Way. He asked us to pray for our enemies and and gave from an apparent lack to the multitudes in feeding the 5,000 in an emergency, with a few loaves and fishes.

Simone Weil wrote that if the Christian Church fails to offer truth sufficient to the needs of the congregation , it is their duty to seek out other religions. Perhaps the mass exodus we see from the churches today is a reflection of that search for full disclosure of the Divine Truth. And before a belief system is declared defunct and shredded into a myriad "new age" teachings, a certain die hard fundamentalism seems to surface. This too is happening today.

As for me, I have sought not to reject or digress into literalism, but to become inclusive, certain that G-d has always left guidance that The Children of G-d may not want for direction. In that spirit, I offer a Buddhist practice to help understand the meaning if taking up ones cross. It is a two part practice called "Taking" and "Giving."

In taking, one imagines that the sufferings of all beings are taken from them, invited and accepted upon oneself. The two fold fruits of cultivating compassion and selflessness are the desired results. This aligns well with Jesu saying; "Greater love has no man than this, to give his life for his friend."

The other half of the practice is Giving, in which one imagines that one is giving perfect happiness to all beings. As (by the LAW of the Tetragamaton) one can not give what one does not have, so in the act of giving, ones having is subconsciously assumed. And the more one gives the more to receive. Jesu echo's this in the saying of the Gospel of Thomas that. "what you do not have within you will kill you."

Thus in this second practice one participates in the resurrection as well as the role of salvation. And remember Jesus saying, these things I do you shall do and greater things.

© Arjay 2009