this morning as i prepared to write, i thought of the hymn, "love divine, all loves excelling," by charles wesley. one particular line came to mind: "jesus, thou are all compassion." what must that mean, to be "all compassion?" the idea of divine love has occupied me for the past several weeks, and even more so now that i'm reading richard rohr's "the universal christ." this concept that there is a spirit of love that holds everything together, that is a part of everything that exists, is at the core of my beliefs. rohr's understanding, and my own, is that this universal force is beyond the bounds of any one religion. we christians understand it as the logos, the "word," that was from the beginning, but this is not a solely christian phenomenon. many religious thinkers captured an understanding of the "all compassionate" love that keeps it all from flying apart. this is a way of thinking that transcends religion. it requires no faith in the supernatural. one has only to look in one's own heart to find what rohr calls the "universal christ." every time we see another being suffering and feel that being's hurt, the eternal logos is awakened in us.
in the process of making jesus a god, we have diminished his teachings. we have tried to cram god into a box, to place limits on the divine, to replace the old rules of judaism with new rules of our own. we insist on magical rituals, we focus on sin and define what it is and how to find ways to repent of it, every form of christianity insisting that its way is the only right way. many christians are convinced that all who believe differently from us are doomed to eternal fire, that only those who are a part of our communion are "saved."
jesus taught a religion of the heart. over and over, he went out of his way to make others whole. he ate with "sinners," with the "unclean." he called disciples from all walks of life, even outcasts like matthew. he visited with a samaritan woman in violation of jewish teaching. he made a samaritan, an infidel, the hero of one of his most famous parables. he refused to join in the condemnation of a woman caught in adultery and sent her away with kind words. he told his followers to look within themselves, to spend time making themselves whole rather than looking for ways to condemn others.
jesus' brief ministry was one of healing, not just physical maladies, but illnesses of the heart and mind. he told nicodemus that being born again was the only way to enter the kingdom of God, so that one who finds that kingdom has a complete change of heart, a new focus on life. the only true religion is one that helps us to become whole, to put aside our selfishness, our clinging and craving, and to be filled with love and compassion.
may we be true followers of jesus, even if we are not christians, in the sense that we are born again, awakened to the possibilities of a life filled with love. may the all-compassionate force of divine love manifest itself in our hearts and lives. may we let go of our clinging and craving, our desires to hold onto and acquire impermanent things, and may we hold onto the only thing that is eternal, that was in the beginning and will be forever: love. shalom.
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