This is It - Episode 1: At the River

Though he lived alone, he was never alone. Nature was his home, true, but people never left him alone there. They followed him around. It was because of the things he said, strange things, some thought. People wanted to know what he was all about. 

The message was simple, and always the same. It was a message from before time, from before sky and before earth and before oceans. It had formed itself in his mind from a dream he could vaguely remember, from deep in his childhood. As it was so like some of the sayings he had been taught of the prophets, he knew from where it had come and that it was truth. 

The message of the dream obsessed him to the point that it was all he could think, all he could say, all he could do. He knew that he had to give the message away, that he could not keep it to himself. Ultimately, it was this message that made him go out into the world. 

This is it, he said to all within earshot, the dominion is at hand, and you will be judged on your actions, as well as all the thoughts and words that led to them. Regret your thoughts, words and actions that are selfish and immoral; return to the bosom of the most high. Lighten your soul by doing good, being kind, and sharing.

One day, during a rare instance of hiking alone in the wild, he came upon a spring. He felt dirty, tired and thirsty. 

He’d always understood water, loved water. This was so ever since boyhood, when he fell out of a fishing boat into the sea, and suddenly knew how to swim. No one taught him; he just knew how. 

At this moment, he plunged his head in the spring. Water was the way through the muck and mire, the way to be refreshed and renewed. He reveled in the coolness and wetness of the fresh, fresh water. When he rose, the feeling of the soft breeze over his wet face was like a blessing, likewise the trickle of water rolling down his body.

That was where and when he heard the voice. It was not a big voice, but a very small one. It surprised him that he could hear this tiny voice. It said: You are here baptized, for your heart and soul long for goodness in the world. This makes me happy. Share the blessing of your friend, water.

After that, he couldn’t bear to be inside. He stayed outdoors, close to the land and water, where he found sustainable nourishment from insects, berries, flowers, herbs and honey. He wore simple clothes he fashioned for himself. And he talked to the stones and the plants and to the creatures of the wild. People heard his talk, as well, and they followed him, to see what might happen next. Some thought he was crazy; he didn’t care. He knew he had to talk his talk, so that is what he did.

One day, at the riverside, while he was talking his talk to all that would listen, someone asked him, How will the holy one know I’ve changed in my heart and soul?Will you speak for me?

That stopped him short. He fell silent. Surely, he could not speak for others.

Then he heard the voice, again; that one from the spring, the small one. He heard it even in the midst of this noisy knot of people.

Share the blessing of your friend, water, with everyone. As this was the sign for you, it is the sign for them, too – and for me.

So, to the one who had asked, he said, Come, walk with me into the river. 

The person hesitated, and the gathered group held their collective breath. What would happen next?

Do you admit to wrong ways of thinking and speaking and doing, to these assembled people and to the most high?

Yes, said the penitent one.

Take my hand. Come wade with me. Tell us about the bad things you want to turn away from. Then, I will dunk you under the water, and you shall rise up, clean in body, mind and spirit, in thought, word and deed. This is how you let the holy one know, and how you awaken to a new life for yourself.

When that person rose up, refreshed as if new, all could seethe change. And they wanted to be reborn to goodness, as well.

And so, in part, that is how the life of this particular person found it’s bloom.

© 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

The Origins of the Universal Themes of our Lives

All words are built upon all words.

The above quote is mine, oft repeated to my children during their formative years.

How do I come by this statement, and what does it mean?

When I was a child, I received a special Christmas gift from my great uncle. It was a collection of Greek myths, vetted for the young reader. I read that book over and over, until the page corners were all dog-eared and soft as leather When I later read the library many of us call “The Holy Bible,” I was struck by thematic similarities in the stories. The Bible even contains duplications of stories, each version with a slight difference—and I could also see thematic similarities between Greek mythology and Scripture. What could be more similar than the theme of the hero surviving multiple trials? And what could be more true of everylife?

And yet, through the ensuing years, I realized that these collections of literature were held in academic silos, never being truly and honestly held up to the same scrutiny and academic rigor, much less honest comparison. Mythological literature was studied in one way, “sacred” literature in another.

Justice, I had been taught via the church, is what one trusts a supernatural being will bring about…

And yet… and yet…

So, what do I believe? 

Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’ve been reading in this vein—well, actually in two veins simultaneously—all my life long. I do not proclaim to be an expert in ancient literature, but I have read a lot of books on the subject(s), and I would have to say that there are blind spots, many blind spots, in our general education on matters mythological and spiritual.

I currently believe that the academic approach with regard to early introduction to Greek literature is a worthy endeavor. This provides a good start to presenting our common life themes. 

Yes, the subject runs into the world of the sacred, or the immortal, and we, being mere mortals, can hardly be expected to understand the unseen.

However, my personal experience of comparative mythology and comparative religious literature (as a non-classics scholar, a non-seminarian) has shown me a stark truth that the average person is all too willing to overlook: Mythology and Scripture share a role in presenting all the universal themes that occur in mortal life. While the ideas of the ancient Greeks do not seem to hold sway in modern times, truly the epic nature of life enjoys all the drama that can be found in Greek literature—and Biblical epic.

So many people are prepared to believe and have faith in a being that acts proxy or go between, an intermediary between this world and the sacred, unseen.

What do I mean to suggest with that outrageous statement? 

Well, first of all, the epic nature of Greek mythology and Biblio-sacramental literature is not all that different. The relationships that can be found between each of these sets of literature are by no means confined to these sets or generations, as the relationships reach back to earlier literatures, even to the earliest examples of Western literature. 

All of our history of literature is comprised of and built on clear and similar themes with variations; similar narratives as viewed through, sometimes, different lenses, and/or offered with different motives—frequently to explain what has just happened or to explain far distant historical events, or perhaps indicate the future.

The homework on all of this, by the way, has been done by bone fide scholars—and not just recently—but the results have largely been ignored, if not scoffed; previous work of classicists on ancient literature and its common themes has been ignored by Biblical scholars, to the detriment, I think, of all followers of Judeo-Christian faith. Christians, in particular, do not realize they err and even sin with regard to what they falsely believe is exceptionalwith regard to their faith. The average Christian is, I have found, frightfully ignorantof the context of writings they will quote by chapter and verse and claim to live by. Moreover, they are ignorant of how many innocent people have died throughout the centuries, so that they could wallow in their false sense of exceptionalism. In many cases, the Gospel message has been excised completely from their consciousness, if not twisted out all sense. [Contrast this with Thomas Jefferson’s exercise in recreating the New Testament by extracting everything outside the Gospel message, with the goal to bring that into harsh focus.]

If one looks critically at all the extant ancient literature available, one can see a very important and universalset of moral themes. The just person, the ethical person, must be an exemplar of hospitality to other. The only way that one be such is to examine and evaluate self, with an eye to self-improvement and, if need be, self-healing. The Greeks are purported to have invented journaling as a tool to self-knowing and self-improvement; this is an admirable technology still practiced in modern times. But the modern public has become disconnected with intent of this tool, just as it has become disconnected from the universality of themes contained in its world literature.

I propose that the universal themes within our ancient literature point to something vital and true: The Human Species is one single race, albeit divided politically, divided regionally, divided in so many natural and unnatural ways.

If this is indeed the case, then we are all meant to have a role in the lives of those in our community, with all the best of intent. Perhaps social justice, ancient and modern, is about insuring that we are capable of being the hero in our own lives, that our personal heroism in the face of trial is supported in the community, that our individual heroism has a role in supporting the community.

I know I will write about this more, but what I set here is enough, for now.

My wish for you in 2020 and beyond: Be the hero of your story and ours; be the light and love of mindfulness, generosity and thoughtfulness, ethical action and sustainability that makes a difference in your community; may health and prosperity visit you, your friends and family, and the ever widening spirals of your acquaintance; and may the abundance, blessings and beauty of this world be upon you, to uplift you as you shine your light!