EPIPHANY 3 C 27 January 2019 Jesus As Holy Man Introduction (Luke 4.14-21) Grant Bullen In 1968, the Beatles went to Rishikesh, North India, to live at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to learn transcendental meditation from the guru. Beneath the inevitable media circus, was a serious attempt by the world s biggest band, to find an alternative path. They especially George and John were dead serious. And it brought to the front page, a phenomenon that had been happening all through the 60 s thousands of westerners travelling East to learn from the spiritual masters Hindu and Buddhist. It revealed a deepening hunger in the west that although in our affluence we seemingly had everything, somehow, we d lost the heart of what made life liveable worth living. George Harrison expressed it simply enough in an interview at the time. We have all the money you could ever dream of all the fame you could ever wish for. But it isn t love. It isn t health. It isn t peace inside, is it? I witnessed this phenomenon first-hand in the early 80 s indeed I was part of it when I too went to India looking for an alternative path to the ashram of Bede Griffiths, a guru in his own right even though a Benedictine monk. Thousands of wanderers from Europe, America Australia attracted by the clutch of famed Indian holy-men of the day Rajneesh, Sai Baba, Guru Maharaji For the year prior, I d been wandering through Europe and I kept coming across their devotees and the stories of these gurus miracles and deep mystical knowledge. We, me included, were searching for something something essential that our own western culture had lost along the way. And these men Indian holy-men with their aura of great power could teach the practice of spiritual discipline that seemingly our Christian churches knew nothing of and spoke with authority of a deep spirit-reality in the world, a reality of life that was seductive to our ears. These holy-men seemingly had something we desperately wanted. Jesus Steps Onto The Public Stage The gospels have significant agreement on how the public movement of Jesus of Nazareth starts there s the baptism by John, the 40 days of wilderness discernment and then it begins. Luke 1
describes it most dramatically, depicting Jesus stepping onto the public stage in his home town of Nazareth. On the sabbath, Jesus goes to the synagogue, the meeting place where all will be gathered, and as a sign of recognition he s asked to read from the prophet Isaiah. He chooses the text, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news Eugene Peterson picks up the intensity of the moment beautifully... He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in Today this scripture has come to life in your midst. In other words, This is who I am and this is what I m about! It s high drama! That s how it begins according to Luke. So, to my original question What would that synagogue crowd have seen that day? How would they have seen Jesus? It s hard for us to imagine, as we ve been taught to see the Jesus-story through the veil of belief So, we assume the right answer is the messiah or the son of God. But that s not who they would have seen nor does Jesus make any claims in this regard not on this day anyway. They may well think perhaps he s is a prophet like Isaiah with that concern for social justice that the prophets held. good news to the poor release for the captives sight for the blind liberation for the oppressed It certainly sounds like a movement of reform! And very quickly it seems, people saw him as a rabbi a teacher of the faith. Prophet, reformer, teacher they all fit. But there is something we generally miss. NT scholar, Marcus Borg says 1 Jesus appears to them as a spirit-person He is one given over to the world of spirit Luke says Jesus returns from the wilderness-time filled with the power of the spirit. The text Jesus chooses begins, God s spirit is on me He comes to them as a spirit-person what we more commonly call a holy-man. 2 1 Marcus Borg, Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time (1995) p.30f 2 And if we need to rattle our preconceptions a little, perhaps we could try using the word guru. 2
Characteristics of the Holy-Man 3 All cultures, all religions stretching over time have some form of holy-man there s a range of names used some common to us, some esoteric mystic, spiritual-guide, shaman, guru, medicineman, witch-doctor Naturally there are cultural differences, but also widely shared characteristics. However-named, the holy-man (or woman) is one set aside by the community, to connect them with the world of spirit the world of God the divine. Jesus of Nazareth exhibits all these characteristics the same characteristics of the Indian gurus I began with He is a man of power seen particularly in healings and exorcisms he does miracles. He has ecstatic visions he speaks of direct encounter with God. There is a presence around him an aura think particularly of the Transfiguration. He has set himself apart from the conventional life of marriage, family, career and home. He speaks as one who has personal and unimpeded experience of Spirit. He speaks with authority as one who knows. He speaks of God intimately calling him father daddy. He speaks as one who lives in the spirit-world. And he demonstrates an advanced spiritual practice in prayer. He regularly withdraws for solitary time to begin or end the day. Sometimes he prays all night and as Borg says, we re not supposed to think he s working through an incredibly long list of petitions clearly, he s spending extended time in meditation contemplation. Stories like the 40 days of retreat in the wilderness fasting and silence speak of an expert practitioner in what we d call spiritual discipline. Vocation of the Holy Man 3 Borg uses spirit-person instead of holy-man intentionally in part to avoid the gender issues around man. I personally find spirit-person too clumsy and for me it fails to make the connection with the holy-man tradition. I m using holy-man for this sermon, and because I m applying it to the historical Jesus of Nazareth, man is correct. But in this footnote and I ll pause in the public delivery there is a long tradition and experience of holy-women too amongst all cultures and the same characteristics and vocation apply. 3
The holy-man has a particular vocation that is, to awaken and connect their community to true reality. We live in a world-view that sees reality purely in material terms a world of matter and energy within the time-space continuum. Our view is one-dimensional, and so we get caught-up in the collection of stuff, thinking that s where life waits. In poverty, it can be a daily grind for survival and in affluence, a driven need to acquire and consume more and more. We say that s the real world. Whereas the holy-man says that s madness blindness not true. Within this material world is the often-hidden world of spirit. It s not an alternate reality because it lives within but it s a deeper reality a true reality and it s this that determines the quality of the life we live. Jesus spoke of this spirit-dimension as the kingdom of God. It was at the centre of his teaching that this spirit-reality is always here and now and if you pay attention, the veil will lift and you ll see how things really are. The holy-man connects the community with the spirit-dimension through prayer, through ritual through what we often disparagingly call magic. We say in our faith, that as the Christ, Jesus directly reconnects us with God, through the cross and rising and resurrection. We ritualise this reconnection in many ways centrally in the Eucharist. Speaking of miracles (or is it magic) bread becomes body, wine becomes flesh and we have direct access to the world of spirit. And the holy-man attempts to shock the community into a spiritual consciousness into a different and deeper way of seeing. Everything that Jesus says and does is trying to jolt us out of our onedimensional blindness, into multi-dimensional sight. Think of the parables Think of the dramatic actions Always trying to wake us up to the bigger and deeper all-defining reality of spirit. Conclusion Last question and then I ll stop What difference might it make to us and our church if we included this awareness of Jesus Jesus as holy-man? For the church now that the days of establishment church are over, perhaps we could find ourselves again if we returned to our earliest roots as a movement of spiritual awakening speaking to the emptiness and hunger of our society. 4
Personally perhaps there might be a subversive freedom, if we related to Jesus not as a someone to believe in, but as a holy-man reconnecting us with the world of spirit. That s what happened to be back in the 80 s. I came home from India knowing that Jesus was my guru and I need no other. He is the one who knows the way home to God. He teaches me the path he opens the path and all I need do is walk it. Jesus is my guru I am a disciple and I will learn and follow. Jesus stands before us, here and now, saying The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news Today this scripture has come to life it s been fulfilled come true in your midst. 5