Following Jesus to the Christ, Part 2

Following Jesus to the Christ, Part 2

At its core, authentic spirituality is not about beliefs. It’s about behavior. Martin Thielen[1]

To reflect upon the difference between Jesus and the Christ is like reflecting on the difference between a wave and the ocean. Jesus was a specific manifestation of the Christ in space and time, in the same way a wave is a specific manifestation of the ocean in space and time. Just as we are specific manifestations of God in space and time. The wave arises out of the larger ocean before crashing onto the shore and reintegrating into the ultimate source from which it came. Every part of the being of a wave comes from the ocean, is never separated from its origins, and returns to the unity from which it emerged. And so we say, “The wave is not the ocean, but it is not other than the ocean either.” Whatever is truly special about us as individuals is an emergence of God and finds its eternity in God.

The Christ is God in God’s unbroken unity of everything we label as either physical or spiritual. In trinitarian language, the Christ is the second person of the Godhead – the Son or Child or Offspring of God. The Christ is the created of the Creator. The Christ is not God, but it is not other than God either. Even though the Christ is not separate from God, we may understand it as a unique expression of God from a particular point in space and time, just as we may experience a wave as a unique expression of the ocean. So when we consider Jesus as a unique expression of the Christ we take a universal reality (the Christ) and make it specific (Jesus), but only for a particular point in space and time.

Traditional Christianity accepts Jesus as the Christ and accepts Jesus as God in the flesh. What traditional Christianity appears not to accept is that the person of Jesus of Nazareth was a mortal human being like you and me. He manifested the Christ on earth by consciously recognizing, accepting, and living out his Oneness with God. What traditional Christianity largely misses is that all of creation, including us, is inherently One with God and makes up the body of the Christ. As the created of God, we all live and move and have our being within that divine, all-inclusive body. But unlike Jesus, most of us reject the thought that we, too, are inseparable from the Christ. And until we consciously recognize, accept, and live out that reality, many of our behaviors will betray the divine nature from which we emerged. It appears to be an enormous responsibility to consciously accept our place in the body of the Christ because we will largely abandon much of what was important to us when we considered ourselves as separate, disconnected individuals. The material world around us promotes individuality in most circumstances because it assumes what we experience as physical and what we experience at spiritual are two different realities. They are, however, the same reality, as was apparent in Jesus and as will be apparent as we awaken to and accept it.

And so the gospels tell of how differently Jesus behaved (after his baptism) and how his focus was on the needs of others and not on himself, as if he recognized that the needs of others were his own needs. He reintegrated the unifying spiritual essence into what we otherwise perceive as solely physical. Which is exactly what we understand when we consciously live into our Oneness with everything in creation. We live and die together. We rejoice and suffer together. We are “condemned” and “saved” together. Everything about life on earth is communal – as one body – even as waves on the ocean are communal. Our essential nature is unfathomably vast and transcendent, infinite and eternal. Our specific manifestation in space and time is not.

A part of what following Jesus to the Christ involves is moving our attention from the specific – our (apparently) individual nature – to the universal – our Oneness with all that is – and bringing that unified awareness back into the specifics of our particular life environment and circumstances. Not so much solving world hunger but feeding the hungry in our midst. Not so much ending all violence in our world as assuring our actions emerge from a center of non-violent peace. Not so much punishing the sins of others as reconciling our behaviors in ways that encourage others to live lives more consistent with the unity we’ve found. Following Jesus, as one specific manifestation of God in the flesh, allows us to emerge in and as the universal love and acceptance of the Christ. It is why Jesus is still important as a model, and it is why we are here.

This is the 35thin a series titled Crucifying Christianity, Resurrecting the Way.Life Notes are my explorations into mysteries that interest me. They are invitations for readers to explore more deeply into life’s mysteries. Engage with me or explore contemplative spiritual direction at ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

---

[1] Martin Thielen, Doubter’s Parish.com, The Bottom Line About My Religion, May 6, 2025.