Shabbat shalom everyone,
Did any of you see the 1998 film ‘Godzilla’, with Matthew Broderick? There is one scene near the beginning, where he is told that he is standing in the sample he is supposed to examine. His reaction is, “I don’t see it! Where is it? I don’t see it!”
The camera then pans out, to let us see what he is standing in. He is standing in Godzilla’s footprint (clip here on YouTube), which is so big, he just can’t see it.
The biggest volcanic mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars. It is so incredibly enormous, that if you were to stand at the top of it, you would never realise that you are in fact standing on a mountain; you would think that you are simply standing on an expansive, completely flat piece of Mars – even the edge of the volcano’s caldera stretches away over the horizon of the planet. It’s the size of France, or the state of Arizona.
These days, I have to admit that I rarely talk about Yeshua – I must apologise for that. I assure you though that I haven’t forgotten about Yeshua – the things that he emphasised in his ethical teachings are always at the forefront of my way of life; his outlook and mindset are what helps me focus on the important things in life and what really matters, and how to approach things, as well as how not to approach them.
Yeshua is my ‘Rebbe’, so to speak, so I have made his values my values – social justice, lovingkindness, the Kingdom of God, leadership as service to others, compassion for the vulnerable and the least of society, standing up for the poor, speaking against religious hypocrisy and fake piety, on being forgiving and merciful, being honest and not being quick to judge, and so on. The most important of all though, is the practice of one’s religious faith with love.
When I was a Christian, everything was about ‘Jesus’. I was not allowed to look at or examine anything else; if it wasn’t about ‘Jesus’, then it wasn’t important. Looking back at that time, it was like I was trying to look at the world through a tube of cardboard, and thinking that everything I needed was down that cardboard roll; there was nothing else either side of the end of it.
I really couldn’t see anything else, because the God whom Yeshua worshipped, was just too big to be noticed. I couldn’t recognise God in those times when God encountered me, because the god I had been taught all my life up to that point was just too small.
The evolution of my personal faith took me away from being obsessed with Yeshua – of measuring everything by the person of Yeshua – and I started looking at God instead; I guess that thinking that ‘Jesus’ was god, had made God merely human-sized, and no more. Paullist Christianity is about the person of ‘Jesus’; Talmidaism is about the ethical teachings of Yeshua – that is the big difference.
I became a Talmidi – that is, I first self-identified as a Talmidi, a Follower of the Way – back in March 1987. That is when I got rid of the metaphorical cardboard roll, and started looking around at the way the world and the universe actually were. Focussing on the actual teachings of Yeshua, I began to realise that there was more about the ancient community of the Way than just Yeshua.
There was Jacob the Pious (or ‘James the Just’, as he is known in Christianity). From the writings of Robert Eisenman and Hugh Schonfield, I realised that Christianity had fused the personalities of Yeshua and Jacob together, in order to create ‘Christ’. Yeshua was a masterful orator, a charismatic teacher, and a commanding presence. Jacob the Pious on the other hand, had the personality of a gentle, meek and mild pastor – a highly educated and knowledgeable sage, a saintly man of infectious sanctity. The image of a bearded man with long hair, and wearing white – that’s Jacob the Pious, not Yeshua. The characters of the two were fused together to create the usual Christian image of ‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’.
But most of all, what the act of widening my spiritual sights achieved, was to open my mind, heart and soul to the majestic wonders of Yahveh – to the extent that the words of that other hymn often come to mind: ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee – How great Thou art, how great Thou art!’ Since I became a Talmidi, those words have had greater meaning for me. Often are the times when I just sit in awesome wonder, and tremble in admiration of Yahveh God.
In the early days of my journey, I was able to widen my focus to more than just the 3 years of Yeshua’s ministry, and instead look at the 1,500 years of Israelite and Jewish teaching that came before him, on every topic under the sun. I was able to realise that everything Yeshua said during his ministry, had already been proclaimed by other Hebrew prophets before him.
The point at which my own personal spiritual journey is at now, is I am focussed on the Glory, the Holiness, the Wonder, the Presence and the Message of Yahveh. My relationship is with Yahveh, my Sovereign, my Saviour, and my Redeemer, who has kept me alive, sustained me in spirit, nourished and fed me, healed me, given me strength and courage when I had none, guided and taught me whenever I doubted and had questions.
I would dearly love all of us to head towards a deep, close, meaningful relationship with God, our living Yahveh. However, I fully realise that there are some of us who are still making our way out of Paullist Christian theology, still trying to find a decent path to walk in order to find God.
The Way ahead may seem so big and daunting, that we just cannot see it. Therefore I need to look at all the stages of the journey, and at what people need because of where they are at. So I’m sorry that I haven’t written much about Yeshua’s teachings for so long. I will try to do better. If you have any particular teachings of his that you would like me to examine, please let me know.
Have a peaceful and blessed Sabbath
your brother in service
Shmuliq
shmuliq.parzal@googlemail.com