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Good morning bus riders!
Happy Easter!
Sorry I don’t have any candy eggs to pass out. No colorfully dyed hard boiled eggs either. All I have is a basket full of readings. We have six to cover today.
Since it is only the three of us here at the bus stop this morning, that tells me most places of business are closed today; so, I imagine you two drew the short straws for Easter Sunday work.
Because there are so few, I’ll sit with you. I don’t want to seem like I’m preaching, by standing over you. If someone else comes, I’ll get back up.
Long ago, I used to work in the discount retail furniture-appliance business. They only recognized three paid holidays a year: Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. I remember working on every other holiday known to Americans and people looking at me at work like I was a zoo animal, simply because the company I worked for recognized holidays as when they made the big bucks.
Before I worked for that company, I had never worked at a place that demanded Sunday work, so no other place ever saw Easter Sunday as a paid holiday. It was just another Sunday when businesses were closed and employees did not work.
When I was a child, I remember they had ‘Blue Laws,’ which made it so businesses could not open before noon on Sunday, with all opening businesses having to close by six P.M. That was so Christians could go to church - morning and night - without work interfering with that ability. Of course, there were some exceptions, but to go for a drive on Sunday night, few places would be open for business.
When I was a teenager and worked at a grocery store, whoever was assigned to work on Sundays had to be paid double time for those hours worked.
Then, the Jews – who are still the lawyers of society today, although not specializing in Mosaic Law – they sued the governments with laws protecting Sunday – a Christian Sabbath – because they had no laws protecting Saturday – the true Sabbath, which was recognized by Jews.
They won. Rather than have the governments extend ‘Blue Laws’ to cover both Saturday and Sunday, they did away with them altogether. Now, Sunday is like any other day of the week, when business as usual goes on.
Easter Sunday is just one Sunday when more Christians decide to go to church, than any other Sunday in the year.
In the Gospel choices for Easter Sunday – from John 20 and Luke 24 this Year C – they both make it clear that the Sabbath was over, so work could be done. Both say it was “the first day of the week.” The Sabbath is the last day of the week – the seventh day. Sunday is thus the first day; and, looking at a calendar, you will see that confirmation of ordering.
The Sabbath was recognized by the Jews, as it was commanded by Yahweh to observe. Because Jesus was found out of the tomb on Sunday, Christians have intuited Sunday as the day to worship, even when the Sabbath Day never changed.
Do either of you think Saturday is a Day of Rest and when no work can be done?
<Look at shaking heads.>
Sunday is a special day in Christian theology: The Last Supper was on a Sunday, the second of two Seder meal observances done by the Jews each year. The first Seder that year was on a Sabbath. Passover that year began and ended on a Sabbath.
Not only was Jesus found risen on a Sunday (he rose on the Sabbath, in the tomb, after dying at 3:00 P.M. on Wednesday; thus, three days dead), he also appeared before Mary Magdalen, Cleopas & Mary, and all the disciples in hiding (in the upper room) on the same Sunday.
Seven weeks after Jesus was found risen from the tomb, his disciples were filled with the Spirit of Yahweh and began talking like Jesus reborn. That happened on Pentecost Sunday; after Jesus Ascended on a Sabbath.
I believe that because Jesus was banned from the synagogues in Galilee on the Sabbath (during his years of ministry) he preached from the mount by the sea on Sundays. He used that day after as time to begin doing the work necessary, because nothing of value had been taught in the synagogues by Jewish teachers on a Sabbath.
There is plenty of reason to see Sunday as a day of recognition to Jesus entering into one’s soul and leading him or her to righteousness; but before one can kneel down and worship as Jesus on Sunday, one needs to kneel down and worship Yahweh as one’s only God. That worship does not change from the Sabbath Day (Saturday); and the Sabbath Day is actually every day since the sixth day of Creation ceased.
In the reading set aside for today, from Isaiah 65, it begins by saying, “I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”
In that, the word “heavens” must be read as metaphor for a “soul.” The "heavens" speak of the spiritual realm. When we are born – when we are created – we become a soul breathed into a body of flesh; so, a "heaven" exists within the "earth" that is our bodies of flesh. A “new” addition of “heavens” is then the addition of Yahweh’s Spirit. That goes into one’s already existing soul; so, the “earth” of one’s flesh will be forever changed – transformed – transfigured.
The ”former things not remembered” are not blocked from one’s brain, making it impossible to “remember” the past. Instead, Yahweh will no longer hold it against one’s soul, for having let the flesh lead it to sin … “in former times.”
Those times are “former” because one has been created with “new heavens and a new earth.”
Does that make sense to you guys?
<Look for nodding heads.>
Good.
Well, this song of Isaiah is singing about the promise of salvation, with it being Yahweh singing through a prophet, to people who had lost everything.
In that way, the Jews of Judah and Jerusalem had died … and gone to Babylon (not heaven).
That says this song sings about Yahweh going to the tomb of Judah – a name that means “Praised” – to tell the souls buried there, “This death is only temporary. You will be raised from death”
When Isaiah sang about “Jerusalem,” that clouds the brains of Christians today, as Jerusalem is a tourist destination. That is not what Isaiah was singing about.
Raise your hand if you have even been to Jerusalem.
<Look for no hands raised.>
Me neither.
The name “Jerusalem” means “Teaching Peace.” That is why Isaiah wrote it (at Yahweh’s command).
The transfiguration Yahweh promised then sings about the “joy” that will come to those souls who are “Taught Peace” by the addition of a new soul within theirs (“heavens”).
Another name for a “Teacher” (a capitalized one) is “Rabbi.”
In the John reading set aside for today, he wrote of Mary Magdalene exclaiming to a “new heaven” – one she did not recognize at first, but then realized it was Jesus. So, she called out, “Rabbouni!” That exclaims Mary having the joy of seeing her "Teacher!"
She was created anew at that time. The soul of Jesus looked like Adam, the Son of God who was the “gardener” in Eden.
Raise your hand if you have ever seen a ghost or someone who appeared before you, but really wasn’t there.
<Look for no hands raised.>
This means Mary was either very special (and she was), or what she thought she saw outside of her body was really one with her soul-body. In the later case, Mary was experiencing the truth of what Isaiah wrote: “She was created as new souls in a new body.”
She was one with the soul of Jesus, who was her “Teacher of Peace.” Mary entered the new Jerusalem. She became Jesus reborn.
Can you see that?
<Look for nodding heads or quizzical faces.>
In Isaiah’s song, he wrote: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” This needs to be seen metaphorically.
A “wolf” is not a symbol of evil. Instead, it has connotations with “endurance, teamwork, and family.” A “lamb” is symbolic of “gentleness, purity, and innocence.” This union needs to be seen as under the theme of “new heaves in a new earth.”
This says two are joined as one. A soul surrenders itself as the lamb of sacrifice, so purity is gained. In return, it become guarded by the wolf, who is an inner strength that protects one who has become family.
When you look at the “lion” and the “ox,” these symbolize “courage,” as well as “divinity” – the “King of the jungle” within. Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this physical world. His kingdom was the "heavenly" realm of souls. Jesus is symbolized by the "lion." The “ox” reflects “stamina” and "determination,” as "a beast of burden,” which becomes a reflection of the divine ministry carried out by one reborn with the "courage" of Jesus.
The “feeding together” becomes symbolic of Spiritual food being shared together – the manna from heaven – which comes from the “new heavenly soul's” presence. The “straw” is metaphor for wheat – the bread of heaven. The source of all strength and courage comes from divine insight. The soul of Jesus within one's soul feeds that soul that bread of heaven.
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35) Jesus is thus the "lion" sharing bread with the "ox."
When one sees that Mary Magdalene was a new creation of Yahweh when she was allowed to see a soul – a “new heaven” – that was because Jesus entered her soul. She became an example of the “wolf feeding with the lamb” and “the lion eating spiritual food with the ox.”
If you can see this, then you can see the message that must be conveyed on Easter Sunday is not about some miracle of Jesus resurrecting. What would be the purpose of that, as a miracle?
Where was Jesus’ body?
In Luke’s version read today, we are told of “two men clothed in dazzling robes” speaking to the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
To see two angels tell you “He is not here, but has risen,” does that not say, “You are now his body” – as you are now the new creations of “new earth”?
<Look for quizzical faces.>
To read on Easter Day that the body of Jesus is missing only leads to doubts. Maybe someone took his body away. Maybe the Romans took his body and put it where no one could ever find it.
We don’t read anything that says where the body had “risen” to. Soon, we will be reading about Jesus walking through a wall or a closed door, suddenly standing among his frightened disciples. How does a physical body do that?
There is nothing that says Jesus’ body – which had been wrapped in linen cloths and placed in the tomb on Friday – dead as a doornail – did anything other than “be raised.”
To read these readings today means Jesus was “raised” in those who served Yahweh. Those women and Peter and John were the “new earth” that had become “raised” with the “new heavens” of Jesus – his soul one with theirs.
When the women were asked by angels, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” You have to realize the only truth of “living” is a saved soul, having been granted eternal salvation. Everything else is “the dead.”
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) The name "Jesus" means "Yahweh Will Save."
All flesh is mortal, thus bound to die. A garden of tombs is where dead flesh is placed. There are no souls remaining in corpses. For an angel to ask the women why they sought eternal life in a tomb, says the angel told them, “Stop looking in a tomb for Jesus. Jesus is a living soul. That living soul now makes your soul in your flesh be living with the promise of eternal life. Look for Jesus in yourselves.”
Can you see that?
<Look for astonished faces.>
In the reading selection from First Corinthians, we first read, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
That says “life” as a soul animating a body of flesh – bound to eventually die – is “to be pitied” if one’s hope is all placed on Jesus having died for our sins, roughly two thousand years ago. To imagine oneself going to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and seeing nothing there, other than linen wrappings on the floor and folded on the death slab, says all one’s hopes are based on “this life” that Jesus lived in the flesh being true. An empty tomb then meets every hope one had, based on that belief.
That says one believes in tombs, more than a risen Jesus … that can only be explained childishly … from wild imaginations.
That is to be pitied because one’s soul is still living the single life that is bound for death … headed for its own tomb. Belief that Jesus died for your sins, so your soul can go to heaven without doing anything righteous is pitiful reasoning.
Paul said that!
The whole of Paul’s fifteenth chapter, in his long first letter to the true Christians of Ephesus, places focus on “Christ having been raised from the dead.” The “Christ” is not Jesus, as that word means “Anointed one,” where Yahweh is the only one who can do such “Anointing.”
Because the “Christ” is not Jesus’ physical body, it is the soul of Jesus that becomes the “Christ reborn” within an Apostle, from a most divine Baptism … one by the Spirit of Yahweh.
Thus, when the two angels told the women, “He has been raised,” that more appropriately says, “It has been raised,” with “It" being "the Christ” that was one with Jesus’ body of flesh.
The pitiful thing Paul pointed out was this: to go to the tomb and see it empty is to expect a place of death – one’s body of flesh AS the tomb of one’s soul. By not seeking to be “living” with the Spirit, knowing a “living Spirit” can never be something external to one’s soul, one is to be pitied for seeking to remain bound for death.
Just as two angels and Jesus appearing as the gardener were not external to anyone, but one with their souls, the “living Christ” can only be “raised” within one’s soul. If that does not happen – one stays hoping that Jesus having done something about two thousand years ago is enough for salvation, if one’s soul believes that, but does not be that. That is to be pitied.
The other selected verses from Paul’s letter are given a title by Bible Hub Interlinear (my reference tool) that says, “The Order of Resurrection.”
Paul stated there is an order – a step-by-step plan that “will create new heavens in a new earth.” That process takes a soul in a body of flesh that is bound to die, and transfigures it to eternal salvation.
The first step is marriage to Yahweh – a divine union of one’s soul to Yahweh’s Spirit. One must become a Christ.
Paul wrote, “In fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” The plural pronoun “those” means “Christ has been raised” in many. It is not Jesus that died for that “Christ to be raised.” It is the death of oneself, where one’s soul surrenders to Yahweh in marriage, that opens one's soul to "receive the Spirit."
The wolf must eat with the lamb first. Yahweh’s Spirit is the wolf. One’s soul is the lamb.
Paul wrote, “the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” Because Jesus died physically so his soul could be raised from that death, so too must all who want to receive his soul likewise die of self-ego. To seek the “living” is to be “made alive in Christ.”
Paul then said the order is this: “Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” First is marriage to Yahweh, becoming His Anointed one (as was Jesus). Second is the resurrection of the soul of Jesus within one’s soul – “his coming (into) those who belong to Christ.” That says marriage first, then divine possession second, where one's soul has become Doubly Fruitful (the meaning of the name Ephraim). The body of Jesus has been reborn in the body of another wife of Yahweh, producing another Son of His (the same one resurrected).
This is the familial relationship of the lion eating spiritual food with the ox. The “living Jesus” returns in the soul-flesh of an Apostle-Saint.
When Paul then wrote, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death,” this goes back to the verse written by Isaiah, after the parts of the wolf and the lamb, the lion and the ox, where he wrote, “but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!”
The serpent is the craftiest of the animals in Eden (a spiritual realm place), which was made to be the test of souls. One’s soul can only eat from the Tree of Life – Jesus – or it will be cast out of Eden, forced to toil on the earth, until death.
The only way to defeat the serpent is to have the protection of the wolf – divine marriage to Yahweh – and the courage of the lion – the resurrection of Jesus within one’s soul.
That ‘two-step program’ kills all influence the serpent has.
It was a presence known divinely by David, who wrote Psalm 118 in thanks to that inner presence.
He sang, “Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; his mercy endures forever. Let Israel now proclaim, "His mercy endures forever.”’
That theme says David’s soul was a Christ of Yahweh. Yahweh’s “mercy” that “endures forever” is His Spirit that Anoints one’s soul.
When David then sang, “Let Israel now proclaim,” the name “Israel” is not some dead body, like an area of earth. Instead, it is the name of one’s soul that has been reborn as Yahweh’s Son. The name “Israel” means, “One Who Retains Yahweh (as one of His elohim).”
That presence is also the “mercy” of Yahweh that is the promise of “eternal life.”
When David was divinely led to sing, “Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them; I will offer thanks to Yahweh. This is the gate of Yahweh; he who is righteous may enter.”
This has to be seen in the light of Isaiah singing that Yahweh “will create new heavens in a new earth.” The “gates of righteousness are opened” through a soul submitting itself to Yahweh in marriage. The opening of those “gates” is step one. Then, step two is becoming “the gate of Yahweh,” which is the resurrection of Jesus’ soul within.
This is how Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9, NIV)
In reference to that “gate,” David then sang, “The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” The builders are those led by the craftiness of the serpent. They design buildings that will be set in stone; but those buildings are their own tombs.
The “cornerstone” is then the key element that prevents a soul freedom after death. The builders erect tombs, for souls to be forever locked within a tomb of earth – a body always bound to die. Jesus is the round stone that can be rolled away upon death. The builders of death reject that escape plan.
When the women, Peter, and John came to the tomb, they found the stone had been rolled away. That rounded “cornerstone” was the way to be “raised from death.”
Now, a mandatory reading for every Easter Sunday comes from Acts 10. Every Sunday in the Easter season has a mandatory Acts reading. This is because the symbolism of Jesus having been raised is his soul being raised in those who will then do the Acts of Apostles.
In Acts 10, Peter has become Jesus reborn, as a Christ. He was moved by a vision of angels, telling him to go meet the Gentile Cornelius. He acted as the Spirit of Jesus told him.
The key thing to get from this soliloquy is where Peter told Cornelius and the other Gentiles of his house, “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses.”
In that, Peter’s saying “Yahweh allowed him to appear” does not say the physical body of Jesus came through a wall or closed door … magically. The soul of Jesus “appeared” within those “who were chosen by God as witnesses.”
A “witness” is one who can “testify” to the truth, which comes from personal experience. Peter was the living proof of the body of Jesus having been allowed by God to appear. Peter knew for a fact that Jesus’ soul had resurrected within his soul.
To then add that he and others chosen “ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead,” that says they were the dead in whom the soul of Jesus had been raised. Their acts of eating and drinking were all done as Jesus reborn, among others who were likewise Jesus reborn; so, all were Jesus reborn, all having been raised from the dead.
When Peter told Cornelius, “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead,” that says Yahweh sent His Son into other souls … making all be His Sons reborn (including the souls of the women) … so they could tell anyone who was not married to Yahweh, having given rebirth to His Son Jesus, they were “the dead.”
Cornelius (most likely the "centurion" who said at the cross where Jesus died, "Surely this man was the Son of God." - Mark 15:39) and those of his house wanted to be "the living," not "the dead." Yahweh knew their hearts and sent Peter to assist in that transfiguration.
Only those who completed the ‘two-step program’ Paul wrote of would be considered “the living.”
Thus, the two men clothed in dazzling white said, “Do not seek the living in a tomb of death,” which means do not be a soul unmarried to Yahweh, who pitifully thinks Jesus having once lived … promised to return again some day (distant).
The stories told on Easter Day are all about one realizing Jesus has long ago returned; and, he wants to return again in you.
I see the bus arriving. I wish you all well at work on this Easter Sunday. Do the work of the Lord and take care of your souls.
Amen
[Afterthought] I have recently been pondering the "Apostle's Creed" or a Confession of Faith, where it says [an Apostle-Saint knows], "he will come to judge the living and the dead." That little word "and" (the Greek kai) joins "living and dead" as one, which is the "lion and the ox" and the "heavens and the earth." Yahweh is the Judge of souls (the living), relative to determining if they should remain living (joined with Yahweh) or be sentenced to be dead (reincarnated in a prison of flesh). Jesus becomes one's Lord [Adon or Kyrie] who then "judges" how a Saint ACTS, to make the serpent eat dust, not a body of flesh with a soul married to Yahweh's Spirit, reborn in the name of His Son Jesus. When the wolf will dwell with the lamb, that is a divine union of soul and Spirit - spiritual union. The lion is then the result of that union, as the Son then joined with a disciple, raising it to be an Apostle, who becomes a beast of burdern in ministry, in the name of Jesus.