Jesus a Historical and Cultural Look.

Jesus As Spirit Person and Mediator of The Sacred

You are on page 3 click here to see page 2.

Moreover, this other reality, it is important to emphasize, is not "somewhere else."  Rather, it is all around us, and we are in it. In William James's words, we are separated from it only by filmy screens of consciousness. When those screens of consciousness momentarily drop away, the experience of Spirit occurs. A spirit person is one in whom those screens of consciousness are unusually permeable - compared with most of us, who seem to have hardened rinds of consciousness instead.

Judaism had its stream of spirit persons. Indeed, they are the central figures in the biblical tradition, going back to the beginnings of Israel. Abraham and Jacob had visions of God and other paranormal experiences. Moses was a spirit person par excellence. He ascended Mount Sinai - the sacred mountain that symbolically is the navel of the earth, the axis mundi connecting this world to the other world - and there was an intimate communion with God. According to the book of Exodus, when he came down from the mountain his face even glowed with the divine presence. I have no idea if things such as that happen or not, but the point of the tradition is clear: Moses is presented as one of these mediators. He "knew God face to face," as his brief obituary at the end of the book of Deuteronomy puts it.

Beyond Moses there is Elijah, a social prophet who was experientially in touch with the Spirit of God. He even, according to the stories about him, "journeyed in the Spirit," much as the Sioux spirit person Back Elk is reported to have done. Then there are the prophets of ancient Israel. For most of them the story of their "call" is told, typically involving a visionary experience of another reality. Classic among these is the story of Ezekiel, whose book begins with words that almost make the hairs on the back of one's neck stand up: "In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month of the year, on the fifth day of the month, by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God."

Closer to the time of Jesus there were a number of Jewish holy men or spirit persons. Best known are Honi the Circle Drawer and Hanina ben Dosa, both of whom were famed for their contemplative prayer and their ability as "Miracle workers." If we move beyond Jesus for just a moment, the Pharisee Saul became the apostle Paul through his experience of the Spirit. According to the book of Acts, he had a vision on the Damascus Road that involved both a photism (an experience of light) and an audition (a voice). According to Paul himself, he had a vivid experience of journeying into "the third heaven" and there experiencing things that are unutterable, that may not be put into words because they transcend the categories of language.

It seems to me that, given that there really are spirit persons and that the Jewish tradition included many such figures, Jesus was clearly a spirit person. The stories of his life in the gospels make this very clear. He had visions, including a vision at his baptism in which, like Ezekiel, he "saw the heavens opened" and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. That vision was followed by a series of visions in the wilderness in what we typically call the temptation narrative, but which a cultural anthropologist would recognize immediately as a wilderness ordeal or vision quest, characteristic of spirit persons.

Jesus used spiritual practices, including both fasting and prayer. We are told that he prayed for hours at a time, sometimes all night long, and presumably not because his prayer list had gotten exceptionally long. Rather, it seems more likely that he practiced a form of contemplation or meditation similar to that of Hanina ben Dosa and Honi the Circle-Drawer. About them it is said in the Jewish tradition that they would still their hearts before God before they would heal. The practice of wordless meditation is not simply an Eastern tradition, but is central to the Jewish-Christian tradition as well.

Other indicators that Jesus was a spirit person include the intimate way in which he addressed God. In particular, he called God Abba, which is the Aramaic word that a toddler on the babbling edge of speech uses to address his or her father. It is like the English papa. So Jesus called God "Papa" (he also, as we shall see in subsequent chapters, referred to God with female imagery). Why would a first-century Jewish person address God as "Papa" when his tradition typically used much more formal terms of address for God? It is a bit shocking, and Jesus may have used this word for that reason, of course. That would be quite in character. But it also seems likely that this intimate term of address for God expressed the intimacy of Jesus own experience of God.

For page 4 Click Here More on the Spirit person and Jesus.

Out of difficulties can grow Miracles if you can redirect your anger or frustration in the right way. J. Joe Clemons

COPYRIGHT © by  A1DATINGADVICE.COM and J. Joe Clemons  2009

All models were 18 or older at the time the photos or videos were taken.