This blog contains reflections on the Word of Jesus Christ (“The Word”).
I undertook this study after reading an assertion by a certain author that there is no gap in Christ’s Message; that it contains everything needed for man to advance spiritually.
It is one thing for one’s experiences and researches to lead one to the conclusion that Christ is the Son of God. But to state that Christ’s Message as transmitted through the Gospels is spiritually comprehensive is a radical claim.
It is radical in light of many of the “new” challenges we face in modern life (e.g. relating to technology, gender roles and identity, economic and political systems, etc.) that do not appear to have been directly addressed by Christ.
It is also radical in the light of the many issues and concepts presented in other spiritual works (e.g. those of Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, etc.) that do not appear to be resolved by the Gospels.
Nonetheless I went back to The Word of Christ with redoubled interest, and gradually began to realize the truth of this assertion.
Arriving at this truth involved recognizing a number of hurdles that impede understanding of The Word. These hurdles appear to be quite widespread among Christians.
Notable amongst these are insufficient humility (i.e. human vanity), and selfish tendencies (i.e. interpreting The Word in such a way as to serve a selfish purpose).
I shall explore these two issues in this and the next essay.
Lack of Humility
If Christ is the Son of God, His viewpoint is not human. He speaks from an infinitely high standpoint.
His Words contain comprehensive, all-encompassing, and eternal meaning.
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
— KJV, Matt 24:35
but my words shall not pass away.
Being human, we automatically evaluate language as if it was uttered by another human being. Because the habit is natural and unconscious, it is difficult to identify and overcome.
Therefore it is difficult to reorient the mind to The Word.
A continuous mental readjustment is required to absorb The Word as something coming from Above, and not from the human level.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
— Matt 5:3
One aspect of “poor in spirit” (which we shall explore later) is spiritual humility.
Humbly starting with the assumption that one does not understand Christ’s Words turns out to be a good basis for deep reflection and experiencing of It. It provides an open-mindedness that allows for new insights.
The “natural” (i.e. effortless, human) approach leads to superficial interpretations of The Word.
An Example
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
–John 8:58
When a human being says “I am“, the meaning is obvious. Whatever is being said pertains to the current state of the speaker.
Applying that “default thinking” to the Word of Christ doesn’t quite work.
Everything that is created is an expression of the Will of the Creator.
Therefore our world, our reality, is an expression of the Will of the Creator.
But Christ is One with the Creator, and therefore One with His Will, on which our entire reality depends.
Therefore an “I Am” statement from Christ contains something about the World, about the Laws of Creation, about Eternal Truth, about the reality that surrounds us.
It should not only be interpreted as a statement about some person (Himself in a human body) as it would be if a mere human being were talking.
In other words: we must take a more impersonal view of the Word of Christ if we are to understand it, because Christ is not a mere person.
Today’s Resolution
- We shall seek to “de-personalize” our attitude to the Word.
- We shall seek to comprehend The Word as coming from a height infinitely far above us, and we shall humbly seek understanding without making presumptions and assumptions.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 