By: Michael Ketterhagen
Today is a joyful day for me as a Christian because the crucifixion and death of Jesus, the human being born in Nazareth, is commemorated today in the Christian church.
This is joyful to me not because Jesus died for my sins or because he saved me from damnation, but because he lived a life of non-duality. He lived a life of Oneness with his Divine Spirit, always in tune with his Father. He showed us human
s how to no longer live in a dualistic world, but to live totally and completely in tune with one’s spirit. He did exactly what his Divine Father wanted him to do. He did exactly what his spirit and guiding force in life wanted him to do. He was to fulfill his purpose as the Messiah of the Jewish people over 2000 years ago. He was to fulfill all the Jewish prophecies about the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. He did not let the outside political or religious leaders tell him what to do. He did exactly what the Divine, His Father, spoke to him inside. He listened to his inner conscience and followed his purpose and meaning in this earthly life.
Jesus undid, as Paul would say, the division in the world, the “sin” of Adam. Jesus’ yes to his Father’s will reversed the desire of Adam, the prototype of all humans, to focus on the outside world and no longer stay connected to God. Jesus no longer let the physical world tell him what to do. He no longer let even his own desires and fear of death tell him what to do, but he did exactly what the Father, his Spirit inside, led him to do. Jesus spoke the truth and for that he was killed. He lived the truth by challenging the unjust political structures and religious practices of the day and for that he was killed. He lived out and completed the prophetic missions of the Jewish people’s messiah, even though the Jewish people as a whole did not agree with him or did not agree with what he was saying, and for doing that He was tortured and killed.
This is exactly what the yoga tradition believes. We must live in a non-dual reality. We must live in a world of unity with God, the Divine Source of life within us. We must live in tune with our purpose and meaning in life which is driven by our inner conscience and the inner voice of the Divine within us. This is very hard to do in our culture and it was hard for Jesus to do in his culture. It is hard to do for many yogis and Christians, unless they isolate themselves in a cave or as some Christians do in a monastery or convent.
This is what we celebrate today as a Christian people. And I celebrate this today too not only as a Christian but also as a yogi.
My own personal suffering with cancer has helped me realize that I had to practice (abhyasa) letting go of (vairagya) my own desires and my own wishes. I wished for health all my life and I was given cancer. I wished for this health not because I loved doing the will of God, but because I was afraid of death and wanted to be thought of as a healthy person by other people. I suffered from this and now I’m grateful because I have new life even though I am physically wounded by cancer. Like many yogis and Lord Jesus, New Life or Resurrection and woundedness are not separate from each other.
This is the new story of humanity—wounded and resurrected—if we trust in that inner voice of the Divine Presence within us.
Therefore, Hallelujah for this wonderful Good Friday! And I thank God for the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection this coming Easter!
I bow to the Divinity within you!