Liturgies

Wednesday, April 22nd 2015

'I don't mind what happens', Jesus' State of Mind' on how to live life.

By Terry Fitzpatrick

An elderly man in Brisbane calls his son in Perth  and says, "I hate to

ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing;

forty-five years of misery is enough."

"Dad, what are you talking about?" the son screams.

"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says.

"We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your

sister in Melbourne and tell her," and he hangs up.

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like hell

they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this."

She calls Brisbane immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT

getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother

back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO

YOU HEAR ME?" and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone, too, and turns to his wife. "Okay," he

says, "they're coming for Easter. "

Our familiar Easter journey begins each year with the famous image of Jesus  riding a donkey into Jerusalem with throngs of people waving palm leaves and singing or yelling “Hosanna. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!... (Mark 111-11). 'Hosanna in the highest heaven,' 

Replicated for centuries by the Christian church with its Palm Sunday processions around its churches in many countries of the world and here in Brisbane with the Peace Rally and March through the streets of Brisbane.

An image of a calm and resigned Messiah is depicted in tonight’s gospel. Jesus is seemingly accepting of his fate, whatever it may be, as he entered the city where those who wish to kill him reside. He is embracing the expression which the Gospel writer John uses when Jesus is thinking of the day of confrontation. “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain, but if it dies then it can yield a rich harvest.”

This calm and resigned Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem is not a person burdened by a self. He is devoid of ego, his will has been submerged into a will much greater than his or his will is not existent. In the Garden of Gethsemane we hear “Not my will be done, but yours.” He is in sync with something bigger and he is accepting and embracing of whatever is awaiting.

The story of an Avatar, or Messiah, riding a donkey, surrounded by enthusiastic supporters and followers waving palm leaves is very common in the Middle East around the time the Gospel writers were relating this story of Jesus. People hearing this story would have known of at least one other Avatar doing something similar. For the Greeks, Dionysius image was pictured astride a donkey carrying him to meet his passion is found in many places. The people of Asia Minor with Attis, and an Egyptian connection with Osiris.

For the ancients, the donkey represented our earthy animal nature and for the godman riding in triumph on a donkey, symbolized that he was master of his ‘animal nature’ or that he was able to ride along with this nature and use it for a greater purpose. The donkey, as many would agree, is known as a very stubborn creature and to get it to do what one desires is a call for triumph. Jesus having resigned his will to the will of the Father, the greater good, rides with ease upon the donkey. There is no battle of wills. When the great Indian philosopher and mystic sage Jiddu Krishnamurti who lived from 1895 and died in 1986 aged 91, he had travelled the world, teaching, speaking to large and small groups and individuals. He was author of many books. In a TV interview shortly before his death when he was asked to summarise his numerous thoughts and teachings, simply said “I don’t mind what happens.”

 To keep the theme with our Lenten Journey at SMX, he and Jesus were achieving the ultimate in Living Light. The bringing of our will into alignment with whatever is happening in our lives, saying ‘yes’ to whatever life is presenting us with. I love the quote from the 13th Century Persian Poet and Mystic Rumi when he writes:

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honourably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

-- Jelaluddin Rumi,

Ah! Not to be burdened by a Self always asking why is this happening to me, but, always welcoming and in the words of Rumi, entertaining.

I think that is why so many of us like spending time in Nature. To be among the trees who are not burdened by a Self, not caught up in some existential crises and wondering what it all means and why is this happening. There is quietness, an absence of the busy mind, in Nature.

Imagine if the trees were like us. They would be saying to the wind “Oh wind, you’re blowing my branches too hard. I wish you would stop.” Or “Oh Sun, you are far too hot today. I wish you would go away.” They accept whatever life is presenting them with. And being with them brings us into that stillness of mind, that acceptance of whatever life is presenting us with at the moment.  They teach us presence, and to embrace an inner stillness and to realise that the majority of our thoughts are just that, thoughts with little or no reality within them.

This Easter let us hear the invitation to Live Life- to see our many thoughts and points of view as that, a point of viewing, to hold our thoughts lightly with a preparedness  to let them go. To come into the great stillness with nature, not bound by a sense of Self and to embrace a selfless Jesus who is able to say in the garden of Gethsemane before a gruesome death “ Not my will but yours be done.” (Mark 1436)

Homily 2nd April – Holy Thursday