Jesus and the Christ, Part 2

Jesus and the Christ, Part 2

Christ is God, and Jesus is the Christ’s historical manifestation in time. Richard Rohr [1]

To help distinguish between Jesus and the Christ, as is done by Richard Rohr in The Universal Christ [2], Jesus was a specific human being from a particular time and geographic location. The Christ is universal, transcending any single individual and existing outside of time and space. The Christ manifests through the conscious integration of the spiritual (creator) and physical (created) expressions of being into a single, unified, eternal consciousness. For individuals, this is sometimes called awakening to our Oneness with God. This conscious awakening occurred with Jesus (“the Father and I are One”) and resulted in his extraordinary insights and abilities. And this is where his life and teachings lead us – to an awakening to and manifestation of our Oneness with God. As such, Jesus and the Christ exist in unity but are distinct expressions of and in God. The Christ is the timeless, conscious embodiment of God on and beyond earth.

The concept of Oneness can be perplexing. On the one hand, Oneness with God is a quality inherent to all parts of creation. On the other hand, few are consciously aware of their Oneness so their conscious thoughts and behaviors are not aligned with God’s nature, meaning they live their lives unconsciously and as if they were separate, independent beings. The 17^th chapter of the gospel of John records Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. He thanks God for the Oneness he and God share. He asks that his disciples awaken to their Oneness – with Jesus and, through that Oneness, with God. And he asks for Oneness “on behalf of those who will believe (through the teachings of his disciples),” [3] and that final category is us. Yes, Jesus prayed for you and me 2000 years ago in that garden. He prayed that we would awaken to the same Oneness he and God share so we become conscious participants in the kingdom of God – not as God or Jesus, but as our essential selves perfectly aligned with God.

One understanding of the gospel narrative is that Jesus, the man, became consciously aware of his Oneness with God at his baptism, when “…the heavens were opened…and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him…and a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’” [4] Some reject this interpretation because they fear it denies the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke that are traditionally understood to show Jesus that was born a vastly different type of being than us. Personally, I find assuming Jesus awoke to his divine nature later in life frees us to understand the birth narratives as allegory or metaphor instead of as literal or historical facts. In doing so, we can imagine Jesus not as someone inherently different than we are. Rather, he was born a human baby and raised by earthly parents, just like us. He realized his universal, divine status as the Christ through a conscious awakening to God’s presence within himself and all of creation, which he now invites us to join: Emmanuel, which means God is with us. It is the resurrected Jesus, the one transformed at his baptism and consummated in his resurrection, that we are to follow and emulate. That is the Jesus bearing the title of Christ.  That, it seems to me, is the path and invitation given through the life and teachings of Jesus. And that is the transforming path Christianity should reveal.

Awakening to our Oneness with God and all of creation is also called becoming children of God: “But to all who received him…he gave power to become children of God…” [5] Becoming a child of God is not a status we earn; it is already present, though latent, within us. Becoming means consciously awakening to our heritage as God’s children so we know and behave accordingly. One path to that level of awareness is by adapting the life and teachings of Jesus to our lives. Following his example leads us into Oneness in the family of God.

In the same way that we theorize three persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit) as equal but distinct manifestations of One God, so Jesus of Nazareth is one manifestation of the Christ. And just as there is no essential separation between the persons of the Trinity, so there is no essential separation between Jesus and the Christ, any more than what exists between a wave and the ocean.

This is the 4^thin a series titled Crucifying Christianity, Resurrecting the Way. The opinions expressed here are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, my email is ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s

Mass on the World

In Celebration of the Vernal Equinox

Saturday, September 21, 2024

7:00 am, Baker Wetlands Discovery Center Overlook

1365 N 1250 Rd, Lawrence, Kansas

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[1] Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, Convergent Books, 2019, p. 19.

[2] Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, Convergent Books, 2019.

[3] John 17:20

[4] Matthew 3:16-17

[5] John 1:11-13