Living Jesus' Words

Holy Week in the Christian tradition is observed as the final week in the physical life of Jesus. It begins with Palm Sunday, and includes what is commonly known as the Passion of Christ, as well as the crucifixion. As we observe Holy Week and make our final preparations to celebrate new life on Easter Sunday, we honor Jesus, our brother and view his journey to the cross as analogous with our journey toward realization of our Truth.

In Unity, we honor Jesus as the way shower. We teach that he was here to show humanity the way to freedom from the bondage and suffering caused by our belief in separation; he did so through teaching and by modeling the truth. We view the passion as symbolic of the suffering we endure as a result of our belief in separation, and the crucifixion as a representation of the process through which we release from our consciousness the ideas that separate us from Truth.

Unity co-founder, Charles Fillmore, said "The word crucifixion means the crossing out in consciousness of certain errors that have become fixed states of mind." Jesus' physical crucifixion symbolizes the "crossing out" of worldly consciousness. The resurrection symbolizes a new awakening to Truth, the Truth that each of us is an expression of the One Power and One Presence that Jesus called "the Father" when he said, "The Father and I are one."

Fillmore also said, "True resurrection within us lifts up all the faculties of mind until they conform to the absolute ideas of Divine Mind. This mental renewal makes a complete transformation of the body, so that every function works in divine order and every cell becomes incorruptible and immortal."

The "Sayings of Jesus on the Cross," also known as "The Seven Last Words of Christ" are seven expressions that Jesus is reported to have uttered during his crucifixion. The sayings are gathered from the four Canonical Gospels in the Bible. When we view them as a continuation of his teaching, they offer us some insight into understanding the crucifixion as a process of "letting go, and letting God," a process that we can embrace and consciously experience for ourselves, in consciousness.

I offer the following as a suggested spiritual practice for Holy Week using the "The Seven Last Words" to help facilitate our own surrender from the bondage and suffering of our belief in separation.

Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

Forgiveness in Aramaic, unlike in Greek, is not something that one does for another, but it is an internal process of allowing the acceptance of the Truth (the Father) to free us from our attachments to thoughts, to form, and to the past.

Ask yourself: Where am I bound by attachments to my thoughts, beliefs, perceived mistakes, and judgments?

Affirm: I am free from all limiting thoughts and judgments. I untie the knots that bind me.

Luke 23:43 "Today you will be with me in Paradise."

When Jesus was on the cross there were two others as well, one on either side. One of them said to Jesus, "If you are really the son of God save yourself and save us, too." The other said, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

The first was aware only of his current experience. He was focused on his physical condition. The other was aware of something more, something beyond (the kingdom). In that moment, in his conscious recognition, he was at once in the consciousness of heaven. Jesus was not giving him a dispensation: He was reflecting to him his own awareness and confirming that his recognition of the Truth in that moment had set him free. He was already "with him in Paradise."

Ask yourself: In what ways am I focusing solely on my physical experience and serving that which is not my Eternal Truth?"

Affirm: In this moment, I commit myself to serving my Truth. The Truth of my being sets me free.

John 19:26 "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple whom he loved, "Behold your mother."

Not only was Jesus honoring his biological mother, he was also recognizing the spiritual brotherhood of the disciples. It is a statement of Oneness. We are all each other's mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. Blood does not determine our kinship. We are One in the family of God.

Ask yourself: Where do I separate myself from others with labels, whether it is gender, nationality, race, religion, age, or any other label I might assign to another?

Affirm: I am One with all life.

Matthew 27:46 "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

The Lamsa Bible translates this phrase as, "My God, my god, for this I was spared." In other words, "It is for this purpose that I am here." Jesus had stated his purpose earlier when being interrogated by Pilate, as quoted in John 18:37, "For this I was born, and for this very thing I came into the world, that I may bear witness concerning the Truth. Whoever is of the Truth will hear my voice."

Ask yourself: Where in my life am I not bearing witness to the Truth; the Truth of Oneness with God and with all creation?

Affirm: For this I came into the world, to bear witness to the Truth of Oneness.

John 19:28 "I thirst".

Our greatest desire is to know ourselves as God expressing. It is for that, and for that only that we truly "thirst." Often we search for the experience of God in people, places and things. There is nothing in the external that can satisfy our thirst for God. Recall the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. He said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water which I give him shall never thirst; but the same water which I give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to life everlasting."

Ask yourself: Where do I attempt to satisfy my "thirst" for God by attempting to "drink" from the well of the world of form, whether that is money, another person, status, or any other form of attachment?

Affirm: All that I desire is here and now present as the Life of God within me.

John 19:30 "It is finished."

The physical work is done. The surrender is complete. I let go and I let God.

Ask yourself: Where am I still holding on? What am I not willing to release?

Affirm: I let go and I let God.

Luke 23:46 "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

The transformation is done.

Ask yourself: Am I ready and willing to embrace myself as the Christ?

Affirm: I embrace myself as the Christ.

As we surrender the myths, messages and beliefs that we allow to limit our full acceptance and expression of the Truth, we allow the crucifixion to take place in our consciousness, and we are resurrected into new life as the conscious awareness of the Christ we are.

Join us on Sunday, March 25, for the beginning of Holy Week. I will share a lesson entitled “Thy Will is My Will.” We will explore together what Divine Will is and how we can embody and live it.