This is It - Episode 7: Healing

He ventured to return to his own town. The followers came along.

The next thing, they brought him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher.

He saw their faith in him. 

To the paralytic, he said, Take heart: your errors are forgiven.

Some of the canon-lawyers said to each other, That’s blasphemy!

But he said, Which is easier to say:‘Your errors are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk away’? So you’ll know that this son of humanity, child of the earth, has earthly authority—he said to the paralytic—Get up, take your stretcher and go home.

The man, paralyzed no longer, got up, took up the stretcher and went into his home.

Onlookers were either terrified or praising the holy one that a mortal had been granted such ability.

Yeshua saw one of the onlookers at a toll station, Matthew by name, and said, Join me.

And they went to the house of Matthew, who was a tax collector; they and the students were joined at table with other tax collectors and other marginal people.

Pharisees addressed the question to Yeshua’s students: Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ungodly people?

Yeshua heard and said, The healthy don’t need a doctor. Go, find what it means ‘I seek mercy and not sacrifice.’ I’m here to call the godless, not saints.

John’s students asked, We fast, as the Pharisees do. Why don’t your students fast?

And he said, The wedding party does not mourn while the newlyweds rejoice. When the groom is taken way, they will have reason to fast.

An official of the town came to summon him. My daughter has just died, but if you put your hand on her, she’ll live.

They got up to go, and a woman came from behind and touched the hem of his cloak.

Yeshua paused, Courage, your trust has saved you, and she was healed of her excessive bleeding.

They passed on the official’s house. Yeshua said to the crowd gathered there, Be on your way. The girl is just sleeping. They laughed at him. He pushed through the crowd and took the child’s hand.

She woke up.

They left, and were followed by two blind men. Have mercy on us, son of David, they called out. 

Yeshua touched their eyes and said, Let it be for you according to your trust.

Their eyes were opened.

Then a mute person was brought; it was presumed a demon had silenced him.

Yeshua whispered in his ear. 

The man spoke.

Even though he told them not to divulge what had been done, word got out.

Yeshua and the students went out to the towns and villages, where he taught, proclaimed the good word, and healed. 

The crowds needing healing grew and grew, and he felt sorry for them.

He said to his students: Ample the harvest, too few the workers. The harvest master must send workers into the fields.And he deputized them to heal.

Go out, with only the clothes on your back. I send you like sheep into packs of wolves.  But, it’s enough for the student to be like his teacher. Don’t fear those who kill the body; they cannot kill the soul.

I did not come to case peace over the land. I came to wield a sword to separate people from wrong thinking.

Whoever receives a prophet by the name of prophet will receive a prophet’s pay. Whoever receives a just person by the name of a just person will receive a just person’s pay. Whoever gives a lowly person even but a drink of water by their name, as my student, you will not forfeit your pay. 

John, in jail, had heard of the work. He sent the question through his students: Are you the one who’s coming, or should we expect another?

Yeshua said to them: Go back. Tell John what you hear and see. Blind people see; lame people walk. The dead rise, and the poor are given good news.

And as they went away, Yeshua spoke to the crowd about John.

You went to the desert to see what? A prophet? A prophet, yes, and much more. About him was it written, ‘Look, I send my messenger to prepare your road ahead of you.’ He is the Elijah to come. Those with ears to hear, hear!

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

This is It - Episode 6: Preaching

Word came to him that John had been arrested. It was time to act.

He walked to the sea of Galilee and attracted the notice of some fishermen. He invited them to join him. Something made them leave their nets behind and follow him. They traveled together all around Galilee, while Yeshua taught in the synagogues, proclaiming the good word. He healed people who needed to be restored. The number of followers increased as he moved through Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and across the Jordan.

At one place, mindful of the crowds, he went part way up the mountain. He sat where he could be seen. The gathered people wanted to be his students, so he taught them, saying:

Fortunate are the poor: the holy realm is theirs.

Fortunate are mourners: they will be consoled.

Fortunate of the gentle: they will inherit the earth.

Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: they will achieve justice.

Fortunate are the merciful: to them will be given mercy.

Fortunate are those who are pure of heart: they will see the holy one.

Fortunate are the peacemakers: they will be known as the sons and daughters of the holy one.

Fortunate are all persecuted because they are just: the holy realm is theirs.

Fortunate are you when you are attacked because of me; rejoice and know you will be rewarded for your honor.

You are the very salt of the earth. Do not loose your flavor, lest you be thrown away.

The lamp of the body is the eye. If the eyes are in good order, the whole body is lit. If the eyes are not in good order, the whole body is in darkness. 

You are the light of the world, so do not hide. 

You must shine for all the world to see, so that your goodness teaches the world of the holy one’s benevolence.

I did not come to overthrow the law or the prophets; I came to fulfill them. The letter of the law will be required until everything has come to pass. Those who tear down the law will be given no regard. Those who keep the law and teach the law will be considered great. Those who use the law to mete out less than what is just will never see the holy realm.

To illustrate, your ancestors were told: do not murder. Murderers are subject to justice. But I say further, any who gets angry with a brother or sister will be subject to justice at a holy tribunal.

When you bring an offering for the temple altar, then remember an unresolved disagreement with a brother or sister, leave the gift without placing it on the altar. Return to and make up with your kinfolk. Unresolved disagreements may lead you to the holy tribunal, and even to the fire of Gehenna. 

Your ancestors were told: do not commit adultery. I say further, all who lust after another person’s mate have already sinned in their heart.

If one eye blinds you to what is right, pull it out and throw it away. If your right hand goes astray, cut it off. Better to lose a part than the whole body be thrown into the Gehenna fire.

Your ancestors were told: do not break oaths, give them to the holy one. I say further, do not swear at all. Anything more than yes or no is evil.

It has been said, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ Contrarily, I say do not challenge a bully. If you are slapped on one side, give the other. If they take your shirt, give up your coat. If you are diverted a mile out of your way, go two.

It has been said, ‘Love those close to you and hate your enemies.’ Contrarily, I say love your enemies. The sun shines on the good and the bad; rain falls on the good and the bad. What virtue or toil is it to love those you already love?

Do not show off your acts of virtue to others; the holy one will take no notice of you. Do all your good works in secret; only then will the holy one notice. Do not make a show of praying. When you fast, don’t put on a show. People who make shows of piousness have earned their reward: the attention of onlookers.

When you pray and when you fast, it is not about many or fancy words or how you look; the holy one knows what you need before you ask.

Instead, pray in this way:

Oh, holy one,

Sanctified is your name.

Let your realm come,

Let your will be fulfilled

on earth as in the beyond.

Give us day by day our bread.

Forgive our debts

as we forgive those others owe us.

Do not put us to the Adversary,

but rescue us from all evil.

Make it so.

Whenever you forgive people for missing the mark, the holy one will forgive you when you miss the mark, also.

One cannot serve two masters; you cannot worship both money and the holy one. Do not hoard or hide the kind of treasure that can be stolen or damaged. Where your treasure is, that is where your heart is. Your heart is your treasure.

Don’t worry yourself about what to eat or drink or with what to clothe your body; the soul is a more important consideration. Examine the birds; they don’t plant, don’t harvest, and certainly don’t hoard, and yet they are fed. All of your concerns about these things don’t make a difference—for example, your desire to be tall will not add to your height. Study how the lilies of the field grow. They do not work, they don’t spin cloth, yet not even Solomon in his glory was ever dressed so beautifully. If that is how the holy one dresses the wild grasses, which are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t the same be true for you?

So, again, worry not about what you will eat and drink; the holy one knows what you need. Ask first for the realm of the holy one and for justice, and your needs will be answered. Ask for what you need today, don’t concern yourself with tomorrow; tomorrow is it’s own story. Each day’s difficulties are enough for that day alone. Live fully in the moment; live fully each and everyday.

Don’t judge, so as not to be judged or you be given the same sentence you utter; by whatever standard you define for others will you yourself be measured. Why waste time fixating on the splinter in another’s eye, while being unaware of the log in your own? Work on removing the log from your own eye before offering to help remove a splinter from someone else’s. 

Don’t throw what is holy to the dogs and don’t throw pearls before swine; they will trample all into the ground and knock you over, as well.

Ask and you will receive; look and you will find; knock and you will be granted entry. The asker always receives, the seeker always finds, and whomsoever knocks will be granted entry. Who, if asked by a loved one for a loaf of bread would give instead a stone? If you know enough to give what is asked, how much more true is that of the holy one.

Likewise everything you want people to do for you, you must do also for them, for that is in keeping with the law and the prophets.

Choose the narrow path and go in through the narrow door. The way is wide that leads to destruction and many will head that way. How narrow the path, how narrow the opening that leads to Life, and how few are the people who find it!

Beware of the fake prophets who come dressed as lambs but are rapacious wolves inside. You’ll know them by the fruit they bear. You don’t harvest grapes from a thicket of thorns or figs from a thistle bush. Every good tree bears good fruit, while rotten trees bear bad fruit. Any tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Not everyone saying, ‘Teacher, teacher’ to me will be accepted into the realm of the holy one, only those who do the holy one’s will. Some will say to me, on that day, ‘Teacher, teacher, didn’t we prophesy in your name, didn’t we exorcise in your name and work many wonders in your name?’

And I will say to them, ‘I don’t know you. Go away, lawless ones.’ 

Those who hear my advice and follow it will become as sensible as the man who built his house on bedrock; when the storm hit, the house did not fall because it was grounded. Those who hear my advice and ignore it will be like the man who built his house on sand; when the storm hit, it fell and was washed away.

When Yeshua finished speaking, the crowd was in awe of his teaching, because he taught them seemingly on his own authority, rather than the authority of the canon-lawyers.

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings

Sutra of No More Sutras

Thus I have heard, once and forever.

In the wake of Shariputra’s death and parinirvana, Ananda spoke,
voicing the thoughts of those assembled.

“Honored teacher, we know your time with us nears its completion.
Pray, tell us how to continue beyond your extinction?”

The Buddha opened his eyes and offered his smile to all,
and then he spoke:

“For many years, we have thus assembled,
and I have given voice to the music of one vehicle,
three treasures,
four noble truths,
six perfections,
ten powers and ten precepts,
twelve causes and thirty-two signs.
I have spoken and chanted into the ten directions:
and these sayings and singings continue to vibrate through the chiliocosm. “

“To you, a good doctrine has been given,
acknowledged by buddhas and arhats,
past, present and future,
and expertly remembered by you, honored Ananda.
Many sermons have been set down,
by scribe after scribe,
in scroll after scroll after scroll.

“Good cousin, Ananda,
these teachings of the way
have been the making of a raft,
one strong enough to float above
the ever-flowing stream of happening
and even of dharma practice.

“But this raft must now be untethered and released,
and each adept must engage
the singular stream of unfolding—
the teaching, and also the teacher,
must be released into the wild unknown.

“Wherefore?
Because, any other course would come to ruin
in grasping and corruption.”

All present, on hearing these things, quietly bowed their heads.

“Do not sorrow, Dear Ones,
do not sorrow; the great void is not to be feared,
for truly it is indicative of endless potential,
which is Presence,
gleaming and differently perceived in each moment.

“How the good doctrine will flourish
on the ever-flowing river
cannot be foretold by the Tathagata,
nor by all the ranks of adepts in every dimension,
neither can time tell.

“To reside on the scroll
is to miss the point,
it is a surrender to inaction
that borders on forgetting;
one can rapidly become lost
in the thicket of serifs and diacriticals,
grammars and dialecticals.

“This leads to doubt.
Doubt leads to discussion.
Discussion leads to arguments and grousing,
parsing and chasing
after forms and meanings.

“In the end, this activity is
so tarry illogical
to the reality of eternal moment.”

The birds in the trees stopped singing,
cocking their heads to listen.

The butterflies found a place to light,
so they could hear.

The trees bowed their limbs lower.

“The chasing after merit
is also like the chasing after forms and meanings.

“There is only the Way,
and the truth of the Way
is where the heaping of merit occurs
never for the individual,
but only for all of existence,
as served by the Three Jewels.

“These Jewels are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha;

compassion, frugality and humility;

right view, right knowledge and right conduct;
thought, word and deed;
essence, vitality and spirit.

“Any heaping of merit is
unknown and unknowable,
but indeed present in eternal moment.

“Every being who does right in the moment
heaps merit onto the wheel of time and change,
for all and for all time.

“There is no such thing as competition;
all conscious right actions are integral
to the completion of perfection.
This is the essence of the Middle Way.”

A single ray of light burst forth
from between the Buddha’s brows,
touching all with understanding.
The birds, the butterflies and the trees
arose jubilantly.

“Take to the raft of the Way and journey.
Be the gift of goodness in the World.
Do not write it or discuss or plan it.
Be it, in the best way you can, in the moment;
this is how the teaching grows and spreads
to all generations.”

When the Buddha finished this Discourse,
all present were filled with the joy of this teaching,
and, taking it sincerely to heart, they went their ways.

© 2015 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Operations

As the last student straggled in to take a seat, Teacher logged the daily attendance. She asked the students to pass the previous night’s homework forward, then collected the papers, tamping the stack of sheets on her desk, to tidy them. She had done this at all the class meetings, for every class over the course of forty years.

Something about the way in which she did it today caught the attention of the class. Everyone became uncharacteristically quiet and attentive.

Tucking the stack of papers into the folder reserved for them, she turned to the class, smiling.

“Today is a very important day. Oh, I know there is no holiday or festival noted on any calendar, but, indeed, this is an important day.”

Turning to the black board, she took the chalk and wrote the following equation:

[A B+C D+E+F G+H+I+J K+L+M+N+O P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X]2

x

Y2

=

_______________

The students waited. This wasn’t a proper equation; there must be more to it.

Turning back to the seated students, she said, “Shortly, I will be leaving you. A new teacher will come to see out the rest of the term with you. This is my last day; I am retiring. I know there has been no prior announcement; this news may be a shock to some, a delight to others—“ she had heard some intake of breath, some rustling of papers, some fidgeting, “but I chose this hour, before lunch, to be my last.”

The atmosphere was suddenly charged with an odd collective mood, as well as mild curiosity.

“I did not want to leave without offering one last problem, which you see on the board before you.” She paused, obviously having anticipated questions.

Cameron took the bait. “Uh, Miss, that, what you have written up there, is not a real problem, is it?”

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for just a moment, letting the world settle around her.

“Well, you won’t find it in the textbook.”

That was enough to break the tension; there was some snickering, particularly from those in the back row. She thought, ‘I must leave a note for the new teacher about the back row…’

‘I will confess to you, this is not pure math. It is rather, a philosophical problem with sociological implications.” Glancing at the clock on the wall, she continued, “ah, well, tempus fugit, and so I must soon be on my way. However, I need to give you a bit more information, so that you can really work on this problem.”

Turning back to the board, she took up the chalk, pausing just long enough to savor the dry, powdery feeling of it in her hand. She made a single alteration to the equation:

[A B+C D+E+F G+H+I+J K+L+M+N+O P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X]2

x

Y(ou)2

=

_______________

Shelley didn’t bother to raise her hand, “What does that mean?”

Without turning or answering, she raised her fingers, making small erasures, so that the equation looked like this:

[A B+C D+E+F G+H+I+J K+L+M+N+O P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X]2

x

YOU2

=

_______________

She knew they would not understand. That is actually why she was offering them this lesson.

“This is, believe it or not, my gift to you. I hope you will work on this and find the solution. Indeed, school will not be out for anyone who does not attempt to solve this vital problem.”

Brett shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t think all the information is there. I don’t see how this can be solved.”

“Brett, thank you. I have left out one vital piece of information, which I will give you before I leave. For now, I will make this small change.” She turned back and altered the equation again.

[A B+C D+E+F G+H+I+J K+L+M+N+O P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X]2

x

YOU2

=

_______Z_______

 “We are solving for Z?” Chloe, a student who was always struggling anyway, was clearly distressed. This exercise was as clear to her as mud. All she could picture in her mind was the potential for “F²” to appear on her exercise paper.

“Ah, Chloe, thank you for that opening. No, Z is known; I will give this to you at the end. But, there are some things I must say about the multiplicand.” She leaned on the edge of her desk, crossing her arms and looking up toward the ceiling.

“As I said, this is a philosophical problem, one in which, as long as you live, YOU are the sole multiplier who figures into the expression, each and every day. YOU are required to engage with everything and everyone that the multiplicand represents, in order to solve for the product.”

She lowered her eyes, scanning the faces of her students. A few had a bemused look on their faces, as if it was all a joke.

“As to the multiplicand, this will be different for each individual YOU in this room—indeed, for every YOU everywhere in the world. The multiplicand is the factor you are tasked to discover in this problem. YOU and the product must be understood to be constants. And, the way you multiply yourself with the multiplicand will depend on the precise circumstances in any given moment—specificity about which I cannot provide. I highly commend this exercise to you, and I hope you will share it with others.”

The phone rang, with a jarring suddenness.  Going around the desk, Teacher took her seat and picked up the handset. The students tuned their ears toward the desk, straining to hear anything.

“Yes. I am on my way,” she said, and as she was replacing the handset, she was pulling open her file drawer. She pulled out her purse and gathered up her briefcase.

“The time has come for me to leave you, but I want you to know that this—“ she gazed around this room, this last one, representative of all the rooms she had ever occupied in the course of doing this work—“this has been a privilege and an honor I hope to have lived up to. I want to thank you for all that I have learned.”

She started for the door.

“Wait.” It was Chloe, “Don’t we need to know what the product is?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you, Chloe.” She patted the girl’s shoulder, to reassure her, as she returned to the blackboard.

Shifting her briefcase to her left hand, she took up the chalk one final time, used her fingers to erase the “Z” in the product area of the equation. She put down the chalk, rebalanced her bags while turning, and headed out the door.

“Best of luck to you all!” She said, cheerfully and went on, without a backward glance.

Her students stared at the board. There were yet fifteen remaining minutes of class. They did not know what to do.

Was someone else coming?

Was this equation a real assignment?

Would they be graded?

[A B+C D+E+F G+H+I+J K+L+M+N+O P+Q+R+S+T+U+V+W+X]2

x

YOU2

=

_____LOVE_____

© 2015 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Kindness and Cooperation: Lessons in Daily Living

We so often hear that "boys will be boys", particularly if the phrase is being offered as an excuse for episodes of bad behavior. Girls can also be mean. And so can parents be mean, as well as people of an adult age who do not have children. How much mean-spiritedness are we modeling for our children and youth? If we see our child behave badly, do we step in and say something, or hang back, because it is too much trouble?

We hear so much in the news about bullying, and there have lately been many tragic consequences. We wonder at the decline in civilized behavior, and we comment on how "those other people" should behave (whomever "they" are).

But, here is a news flash, people: we are all "them".

Kindness is a blessing, but generally not a natural gift to most people, although I have met some people who are, I think, naturally kind in every encounter. Meeting the embodiment of kindness and generosity is edifying and humbling for me.  Hopefully this is true for everyone, but perhaps not; many merely take someone else's kindness for granted. Some people meet kindness and generosity believing that is a form of weakness, and feel free (or obliged) to take advantage; little do they realize that they are the losers in such an exchange.

In a world of kindness, there is no pecking order, no top-down authority; all are equal and respected in the eyes of the observer. A world of kindness requires a specific type of engagement with the world: mutual attentiveness between any two people. Martin Buber characterized this beautifully in his book I and Thou:

The primary word I-Thou can be spoken only with the whole being. Concentration and fusion into the whole being can never take place through my agency, not can it ever take place without me. I become through my relation to the Thou; and as I become the I, I say Thou. All real living is meeting.

What he means, of course, is that real living requires that two or more engage in an activity; it takes two to tango. If one can acknowledge another, meeting that person as an equal and actively engaging in relationship, even if that relationship is only a simple transaction at the grocery store, or cars merging on the freeway, or a game at the park, that meeting is where life happens. Transcendence occurs in every action between individuals who engage to solve a problem.

In the same vein, Aldous Huxley says of love:

There isn't any formula or method. You learn to love by loving - by paying attention and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done.

You could easily substitute the words "live" for "love" and "living" for "loving".

What is suggested is a type of ongoing education. Goodness and compassion may not be natural, but they can be learned and taught. Teaching goodness and compassion is every bit an attentive action as that meeting that Buber describes and that love that Huxley wrote about. And it requires more than yelling across the park "hey, quit picking on that kid!"

If we want to teach our children well, we cannot avert our eyes and mouth worn phrases like "boys will be boys"--that is inattention at its most self-contained and in complete disregard for "what needs to be done."

If we want to teach kindness, we must recognize and be humbled by our own capacity for meanness. If we can do that, the next step is to engage with our children honestly about meanness and its consequences, about the inattention that leads to disregard or objectification, and likewise about attention leading to mutual engagement and problem solving.

That mutual learning experience is where life really happens; it elevates the everyday world and lifts people up.

But life is all about choices; living life attentively, with kindness and compassion, is a choice, like any other. People are not the isolated beings they like to think they are; we cannot live for ourselves alone. We live in a world that faces destruction if we do not fit ourselves into the picture that is so much bigger than ourselves, and turn our attention to solving the problems we have created from a position of selfishness. An integral world demands mutual integrity; every day introduces the opportunity for a new lesson.

Integral life must be thought of as a continuing journey in the practice of kindness and cooperation.

May we learn from our mistakes and teach our children well.