The Cosmic Christ: Week 2
All-Inclusive, All-Pervading
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
(All Saints’ Day)
Human beings are programmed to love all other living beings. We fall in love with persons and creatures, not so much with concepts or energies. We need “interface.” And so the Word or the Blueprint became flesh—one humble human, a Jewish Nazarene, called Jesus. Though it seems he was not particularly attractive, and many people despised and rejected him (see Isaiah 53:2-3 or Mark 3:21), Jesus in his full humanity was still alluring. We can relate to his suffering, his kindness, his friendship, his constant inclusivity.
Jesus is the microcosmic moment of the macrocosm, the Christ. Whatever we say about the Christ pertains to the whole universe. Christ holds everything together. He is the ultimate transcendence brought to earth and the ultimate inclusion of everything in God’s plan. In Christ everything is reconciled in heaven and on earth (see Colossians 1:15-20).
Christ is the name for the very shape and meaning of the universe. Jesus reveals this wonderful message in human form, showing us the full meaning of our own lives—in a way that we could love and admire.
By recognizing and honoring the Christ, I’m not downplaying Jesus. Quite the contrary, Jesus Christ is Jesus a hundred times over! But now Jesus can no longer be used as the mascot for our little club or to justify racism, imperialism, punitive behavior, or any form of shaming and exclusion. When we say that we believe in both Jesus and Christ, we are precisely including everything: the historical Jesus, plus all of creation, and ourselves too. “He is everything and he is in everything” (Colossians 3:11 JB), and “when he is fully revealed—and he is your life—you too will be revealed in all your glory with him” (3:4 JB).
When we understand this, matter itself becomes a holy thing. We worship God by walking with love and respect on this planet and with all other creatures. What a simple, universal, and wholehearted religion this would be! If this sounds like “the two great commandments” to you (see Mark 12:30-31), you’re right. This is truly “All Saints’ Day”!
Gateway to Silence:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
References:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Christ, Cosmology, & Consciousness: A Reframing of How We See (CAC: 2010), MP3 download; and
The Cosmic Christ, disc 1 (CAC: 2009), CD, MP3 download.
