On a Skype call with blogging best friend, Rarasaur, we discussed how being victims of false charges sent both our lives into unexpected directions. We started naming off other good people who have been “innocent victims.”
I skyped with a dinosaur!
“What about Jesus?” I added. “He is the king of false charges.”
Then I committed blasphemy, “Maybe we are modern day Jesuses.”
Of course, I was joking, but even jokes can go too far sometimes.
The next morning in meditation, a thought occurred to me (yeah, yeah, I know that you are not suppose to harbor thoughts in meditation, but I’m still wrestling with my “Monkey Mind”).
“Why couldn’t we be modern day VERSIONS of Jesus?”
Blasphemy again! But is it?
“The state of injured innocence…becomes a tremendous opportunity rather than a place of resignation. From the Buddhist perspective, to reach this state of injured innocence, to hold this feeling of outrage in the balance of meditative awareness, is the entrance to the path of insight.”~Mark Epstein, M.D.
I thought about all the great spiritual leaders who have been falsely charged or innocent victims: The Dalai Lama, Viktor Frankl, Aung San Suu Kyi, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Anne Frank, Nelson Mandela, Joan of Arc.
I then thought about how many of my blogger friends had been innocent victims of abuse, domestic violence, childhood trauma, death of loved ones, cancer, and other terminal illnesses. I thought about how much Light they bring into the world in spite/because of those hardships.
I’m not saying that any of us is worthy to be bumfluff on Jesus’s loincloth, but surely we can strive to be like Jesus. We can love our enemies, forgive our prosecutors, and teach peace to all we meet.
Maybe John 14-6 is not a statement that restricts access to heaven for Christians alone, but, instead, a challenge for all humankind to live like Christ: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus was a role model for the way, the truth, and how to live.
We all face hardships. At some point we are all the innocent victims of life. Two things are certain in life—change and death. Everything changes and everything dies. Another way to look at change, however, is growth. And if we truly believe in Jesus and butterflies, then another certainty of life is rebirth.
What if life is all about growth and rebirth? Jesus grew on the cross. He went from “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” to “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
We might not all be like Jesus, but we can definitely live like Jesus. We can grow in the face of adversity. We can be reborn through forgiveness and unconditional love.
Image via CrunchBase
At my son’s school the older kids had an assignment to make a poster of their heroes. Living in Silicon Valley, many of the posters portrayed Steve Jobs. I found this odd that young children had been “taught” to idolize Steve Jobs. Other posters had sports stars and entertainment stars. I didn’t see one poster of Jesus, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, or Mother Teresa.
So how blasphemous is it to try to be a modern day version of Jesus or Buddha? Would God rather that we focused on being a new version of Michael Jordan or Steve Jobs?
Like the Dalai Lama said, “the planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” Above all, Jesus and Buddha were peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers.
On this Father’s Day in 2013, I want to honor all fathers who are being a role model for their children. You may not invent the next i-Toy or make billions of dollars, but, more importantly, you are peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and/or smiling.
Is it blasphemous to try to be a modern version of Christ? Please share.
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- Look What My Dad Got Me (bebeautifulanddance.com)
- Spiritual Growth is Not Hierarchical (carbonatedgrace.wordpress.com)
