Re-Introducing Yeshua

 

Yeshua’s mission was to restore us to fullness of being by offering us a new Way forward, telling us the Truth, and by giving us divine Life as a gift.

 Lesson 4: The Mission

In this exploration into the unfamiliar roots of the tradition of Yeshua (the first-Century Jewish mystic and Master of Wisdom), we look more deeply now at his mission. In his own prophetic tradition, he was a visionary and seer like the prophets before him. His insights, however, seemed to have gone well beyond the ordinary expectations of the conventional Jewish religion of his day. He often shocked his audience by declaring what a sacred religious tradition was meant to do: reveal the sacred truths that are at the heart of humanity’s condition, who we each are individually, and how we might grow beyond our current limits towards the divine goal for humankind. His grand and extraordinary vision was bothersome to many of the traditional religious authorities of his day.

A new reality

 

He began his mission with the use of a simple phrase that has traditionally been translated as Repent for the God’s Realm is at hand (Matthew 3:2, 4:17). This translation, however, is too narrow and too weak. The original meaning of repent is to turn, go beyond the normal limits of mind and consciousness, and reorient one’s self to an entirely new reality. This is what he taught—how to experience such a turning from the horizontal axis along which we normally live and toward the vertical axis that runs right through our own hearts. What flows from that vertical axis is God’s own realm or “Kingdom.” The turning (or reorientation of life) means a radical shift for any person from pure self-interest to a far larger reality than one’s own self. It is called metanoia.

Restoration

Yeshua’s mission was to set us upon a path leading through this new spiritual realm. We are meant to travel and grow spiritually along both axes, of course, not just one. When we do, we begin to experience a healing that restores us to full functioning. Restoration is another important word describing his work and mission . He came to use the same healing oil and light by which he was anointed to give us back our life and health again. Yeshua’s mission was to restore us to fullness of being by offering us a new Way forward, telling us the Truth, and by giving us divine Life as gift. As the Messiah, he uses these to bring us the same enlightenment he experienced.

Beginning this journey toward spiritual maturity helps us to “complete” the restoration of our being and consciousness directs us toward a second important part of his work: metamorphosis or transformation. As humans, we are not meant to stay as we are, but to evolve into a different kind of human who shares the same image and likeness of God. We each carry divine DNA within us, but it must be released so we can grow up into full maturity with a structure or form different from what we are now. Currently, we are creatures in transition. As an example, we are moving from a caterpillar-like stage to that of a butterfly. The early tradition described this process as theosis—which surprisingly meant to become god-like, divinized and deified. Many, perhaps most followers of Yeshua today do not know about this extraordinary vision. It was, however, at the heart of his mission. He was not only revealing the truth of God’s intention for humanity, but was providing a Way forward into this new, divine life-form.

Clearly the metamorphic process will involve a more mature relationship with God for each of us—one which Yeshua himself experienced. He wanted his own students to become united with the Father in a direct relationship of oneness that he shared in which the two minds and hearts became One. Traditionally, this has been called mystical union. It is clearly an experience not about believing the right things, but about experiencing a new way of being human that brings our reality and the divine together, uniting them from the inside.

Yeshua often shocked his audience by declaring what a sacred religious tradition was meant to do: reveal the sacred truths that are at the heart of humanity’s condition, who we each are individually, and how we might grow beyond our current limits towards the divine goal for humankind.

He would not be satisfied until these same processes were catalyzed deeply within his students at the level of the heart. The reality of the heart, then, was also a key teaching, for it lies at the deep core of our being where we can enter and experience the divine Presence in just this way. It is also the place from which we might learn to do our own work helping him repair and restore the world (called Tikkun Olam in the Jewish tradition). Yeshua not only shared these understandings but also his same mission itself with us. We are invited to become fellow practitioners, using new tools and talents that grow from our own use and learnings in the heart. These are just a few examples of the many teachings which are now available to us from across many of the Oriental and Occidental streams flowing from his wisdom.

Questions for Reflection

Salvation and atonement

The original mission of Yeshua has been complicated in the West by the doctrine of salvation. According to that teaching, the work of the Messiah was to come to earth in order to die and save us from our sins. To be saved from sin and hell was his whole goal. From the viewpoint of the Christian Orient, however, this is a very serious distortion. Even the original word “save” is really about healing or being restored us back to life and full health. The term sin, used to describe a fault or flaw that we each inherit from our ancient ancestors (and to which add as long as we live). is misunderstood. Can Yeshua’s death on the cross save us from our sins? In the East his willing self-sacrifice is not about saving us, but a revelation of complete love. Only love can heal and restore us. This is basic to the teaching of Yeshua (There is no greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13). Which approach works best with you: for someone to point out your faults and flaws and then try to change you, or for someone to love you unconditionally?

Atonement theology is a long and complicated dogma. It is impossible to untangle here all of its many problems (and how it began and was promoted as orthodoxy in the West) where it is a called “orthodoxy.” In other streams of the Christian tradition (for example the ones that unfolded into the East and South of Palestine), this understanding had no role at all. If this understanding of Christian orthodoxy is problematic for you, it would be good to journal your questions and concerns about it, and then to talk to folk who have a very different perspective as we do in the OOOW. Also it might be helpful to read the book by Richard Rohr, Jesus’ Plan for a New World (1996), that can be purchased or read for free online.

Important Greek words

Various important Greek words were used in this lesson to describe Yeshua’s mission: metanoia and metamorphosis, also theosis. These are often misunderstood or mistranslated in the western tradition. There are other ways for them to understood, however, much closer to the early teaching of Jewish Christianity (and the Oriental streams of Aramaic tradition).

You might want to do an online search for these Greek terms, and also for the Hebrew Tikkun Olam. See what you find there. The various definitions will come from different streams of thought and tradition and may, of course, contradict themselves. That is often the case when doing research online. Journal your findings.

Yeshua crucifixion

You might benefit from reading this description of the role of the Apostle Paul in the creation of the doctrine of original sin and Atonement Theology.

Below are iconic images that suggest the transformation that took place in Yeshua’s life. These may help us understand the evolution of Spirit in ourselves as a part of his same journey. Explore these by gazing at the images and journaling your responses, learnings and insights.

Yeshua enlightenment