Jesus speaks poetry

Jesus speaks poetry

An interesting observation about the probable rhythmic and rhymed style of Jesus' original sayings, from the article entitled, The Lord's Prayer, by Jack Kilmon:

"This author [Jack Kilmon] believes that one of Jesus’ disciples, probably Levi Mattathia ben Alfai (Matthew), wrote down notable sayings of Jesus both during and after his sermons. Written in Aramaic, this collection of sayings would be referred to as the "Oracles of the Lord" by Eusebius in his Church History written in the 4th century. Some scholars, capable of isolating these sayings in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, would call the source "Q." The Lord’s Prayer may have been contained, in it’s original form, in this collection of sayings. A "fingerprint" of Jesus’ sayings seems to be a two-four beat rhythm and rhyming. This was a device of good oratory of the time that assisted listeners in remembering what was said . . . Scholars learned to identify much of the "Q Source" material as genuine Yeshuine sayings by this meter and rhyme when the Greek of the New Testament record was "retroverted" to the Aramaic of Jesus."

One cannot help but see a parallel with the extensive use of iambic pentameter (blank verse) in the Course.

--------------------------------------

THE LORD’S PRAYER

 by

Jack Kilmon

 1,968 years ago, on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth was asked by his followers for instructions on how to pray. In response, Jesus recited a short prayer. This prayer is recorded in the Gospel of Luke (Ch. 11:2-4), written in a final form about 80CE, and the Gospel of Matthew (Ch. 6:9-13), which was completed approximately in 85CE. The longer version of this prayer from the Book of Matthew has become the standard in the liturgy and daily prayers of over one billion Christians worldwide. Most Christians are taught the "Lord’s Prayer" at a very early age and continue to recite it throughout their lives either privately, at churches, schools, or social events. The recital is automatic and flows from the mind and tongue with robotic familiarity. The authors of Luke and Matthew were writing over a half century after the prayer was composed and delivered by Jesus. What was their source? How accurate are their renditions to the words actually spoken by Jesus (Ipsissima vox Jesu). Was the prayer unique within 1st century Judaism? I hope a closer look at the linguistic, cultural, spiritual and historical aspects of the Prayer will give Christians a higher awareness of the power of those few short sentences all too often spoken robotically.

The Language of the Lord’s Prayer

We cannot tackle the more difficult issue of what Jesus’ exact words were without a better understanding of the language in which it was rendered. The Gospels and Books of the New Testament were set down in Greek between 20 and 80 years after they were spoken. Greek was the vernacular of the West and the language of commerce. The vernacular of the East, and Jesus’ language, was Aramaic. 

  The Hebrew language, in 1st century Palestine, was used for scriptural and scholarly writings. The weekly synagogue readings (the Sidra, Parashah, and Haphtarah) were always accompanied with an Aramaic translation. These oral translations of the Hebrew lections to Aramaic would eventually be written down in the Targumim. The Gemara of the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud were written in Eastern (Babylonian) Aramaic. Why did the Jewish people speak Aramaic and not Hebrew? Aramaic was the language of commerce of the Persian Empire and was used widely from the Indus Valley to Egypt. It became the language of the Jewish people by conquest, first when the Israelites were deported by Tiglath-Pileser III in 732 BCE in the first Assyrian invasion. The northern tribes were deported in 721 BCE when Sargon II made Israel an Assyrian province and finally the Judeans in 587 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar. There is, in a sense, some irony to this since these Mesopotamian conquerors came from the land that gave birth to Abraham. Aramaic was the language of the ancestor of the Jewish people. What is known as the Hebrew Language in the New Testament was called the Lip of Canaan in the Old Testament. Abraham and the Patriarchs adopted the language and script of the Phoenicians. The aftermath of the "Babylonian Captivity" resulted in a readoption of the Aramaic ancestral language of Abraham. The "Hebrew" script used today is actually the Aramaic Square Script which replaced the Phoenician script known as "Old Hebrew" about 200 BCE. Old Hebrew is exemplified by the Moabite stone inscription, the Lachish letters, and the Siloam inscription. Most Christians are surprised to learn that until the adoption of Hebrew as the official language of the State of Israel in 1948, it had not been the vernacular of the Jewish people for over 2500 years.

The recording of the Lord’s Prayer from the mouth of Jesus

This author believes that one of Jesus’ disciples, probably Levi Mattathia ben Alfai (Matthew), wrote down notable sayings of Jesus both during and after his sermons. Written in Aramaic, this collection of sayings would be referred to as the "Oracles of the Lord" by Eusebius in his Church History written in the 4th century. Some scholars, capable of isolating these sayings in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, would call the source "Q." The Lord’s Prayer may have been contained, in it’s original form, in this collection of sayings. A "fingerprint" of Jesus’ sayings seems to be a two-four beat rhythm and rhyming. This was a device of good oratory of the time that assisted listeners in remembering what was said. After all, tape recorders were not available and if they were, there was no place to plug them in. Scholars learned to identify much of the "Q Source" material as genuine Yeshuine sayings by this meter and rhyme when the Greek of the New Testament record was "retroverted" to the Aramaic of Jesus. A good example are the sayings known to Christians as the Beatitudes in Matthew 3:5-10. The first beatitude by the Greek-speaking author of Matthew was rendered thusly:

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

 In retroversion to the Aramaic of Jesus, however, it becomes (transliterated):

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED

 
The reader need not know Aramaic to read these transliterations and get a sense of the beautiful rhyming oratorical style of our Lord and feel the impact of his true voice.

 Do the Gospels record the original rendition of the Lord’s Prayer?

 There are two renditions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospels. One is recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 and a shorter version in Luke 11:2-4. Since both are different, which one records the exact words of Jesus? In fact, the logical conclusion is that no ONE form of the two versions records the original ipsissima vox Jesu (exact words of Jesus). Jesus also could have repeated the words at different times in sermons using variations. Both versions reflect editorial modifications by the authors of the Gospels to reflect the liturgical traditions of the separate groups of Greek speaking Christians to which the authors subscribed. The Gospel writers were not as concerned about the EXACT words of Jesus as much as conveying the sense of their liturgical tradition as the INTENT of Jesus’ words. Let us first look at these two renderings in the Greek of the Gospel writers (taken from the Codex Sinaiticus, c. 325CE and other ancient texts), English and an Aramaic retroversion.

http://www.historian.net/lp-pap2.html

God Calling - Daily Christian Devotional

God Calling - Daily Christian Devotional

During the early 1930's, two anonymous English ladies known only as the "two listeners" undertook an experiment to see if they could listen for and hear their inner teacher. Readers familiar with the origin of "A Course in Miracles" will recognize the similarity with Helen Schucman's and Bill Thetford's joint undertaking that resulted in the transmission of the Course.

In their own words, this is what happened.

"In December 1932 my friend and I sat down, pencils and paper in hand and waiting.

"From the first, beautiful messages were given to her by our Lord Himself, and every day from then these messages have never failed us.

"We felt all unworthy and overwhelmed by the wonder of it, and could hardly realize that we were being taught, trained and encouraged day by day by HIM personally, when millions of souls, far worthier, had to be content with guidance from the Bible, sermons, their Churches, books and other sources. Certainly we were not advanced in spiritual growth, but just very ordinary human beings, who had had more suffering and worry than the majority and who had known tragedy after tragedy.

"The tender understanding of Our Lord's messages was at times almost heart-breaking. But He always insisted that we should be channels of Love, Joy and Laughter in His broken world."

The results of this undertaking were published in book form titled "God Calling," along with a companion volume, "God at Eventide." "God Calling" consisted of 366 daily devotional messages, most of which Course students will be quite comfortable with and inspired by.

Carl Rogers' theory of happiness

Carl Rogers' theory of happiness

Carl Rogers was one of the most famous American psychologists and therapists of the 20th Century, and he was Bill Thetford's mentor at the University of Chicago. Carl Rogers' theory of optimal development, or the fully functioning person:

"He describes this as the good life where the organism continually aims to fulfil their full potential. He listed characteristics of a fully functioning person (Rogers 1961[4]):

"1. A growing openness to experience – they move away from defensiveness and have no need for subception (a perceptual defense that involves unconsciously applying strategies to prevent a troubling stimulus from entering consciousness).

"2. An increasingly existential lifestyle – living each moment fully – not distorting the moment to fit personality or self concept but allowing personality and self concept to emanate from the experience. This results in excitement, daring, adaptability, tolerance, spontaneity, and a lack of rigidity and suggests a foundation of trust.

"To open one's spirit to what is going on now, and discover in that present process whatever structure it appears to have . . . (Rogers 1961[4])

"3. Increasing organismic trust – they trust their own judgment and their ability to choose behavior that is appropriate for each moment. They do not rely on existing codes and social norms but trust that as they are open to experiences they will be able to trust their own sense of right and wrong.

"4. Freedom of choice – not being shackled by the restrictions that influence an incongruent individual, they are able to make a wider range of choices more freely. They believe that they play a role in determining their own behavior and so feel responsible for their own behavior.

" 5. Creativity – it follows that they will feel more free to be creative. They will also be more creative in the way they adapt to their own circumstances without feeling a need to conform.

"6. Reliability and constructiveness – they can be trusted to act constructively. An individual who is open to all their needs will be able to maintain a balance between them. Even aggressive needs will be matched and balanced by intrinsic goodness in congruent individuals.

"7. A rich full life – he describes the life of the fully functioning individual as rich, full and exciting and suggests that they experience joy and pain, love and heartbreak, fear and courage more intensely. Rogers' description of the good life:

" This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life. (Rogers 1961[4])"

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rogers

The pool at Bethesda - revised for some ACIM students

Imagine if Jesus had been an ACIM student, this might have been what miracles of healing looked like.

 The pool at Bethesda

Once during the high holy days when all the Jews were gathered in Jerusalem, Jesus went out shopping for a new pair of sandals. As he wandered aimlessly looking at the various shops and chatting with different sandal makers, he realized that he was quite close to the famous pool of Bethesda.

Healing miracles happened at the pool of Bethesda during the high holy days, and there was sure to be a crowd gathered there. Sometimes the people were so excited after being healed that they ran straight out of the pool and danced shouting down the street in their bare feet. With any luck, Jesus thought, he might find an abandoned pair of sandals in just his right size.

As he walked toward the pool, Jesus saw an old man laying on a woven mat not far from the edge of the pool. The man held his face in his hands, and he was weeping softly. Jesus approached. "Nice pair of sandals you have there, grandfather," he spoke cheerfully, "What ails thee?"

The old man looked up and turned his tear-streaked face toward Jesus, and met his gaze. Without hesitation, the old man told his story. "My parents committed great sins against the Lord," he explained, "and I have been lame since birth these many years in punishment for their transgressions. Every year I come to this pool during the high holy days in search of a healing miracle, but because I am poor I have no manservant to help me into the pool when the angel of the Lord troubles the water. Each time, some other is the first to reach the pool before me, to receive the blessing."

Jesus knelt down at the old man's side and looked intently into his eyes. A single tear slid down Jesus' face and splashed upon the paving stones. "You are wrong, friend." Jesus admonished. "You have not been cursed by God as punishment for your parent's sins, you have cursed yourself. It's your mind that needs healing, not your legs. You are not a body, and your legs are not real. Although I feel the intensity of your pain and I grieve with you, it would seem that you still want to punish yourself more for your imaginary guilt and fear of God. But, keep your faith. There is always next year."

With that, Jesus straightened up, and taking one last wistful glance at the man's sandals, he walked off into the crowd.

Affirming unity and the realization of oneness

Affirming unity and the realization of oneness

Years ago I created a graphic simulacrum of a stained glass window, based upon one symbolic theme commonly used by Unity churches in various forms. As you can see, this simple graphic has three major elements: The word "Unity" at the bottom, a soaring dove in flight, and the unobstructed shining sun above.

As I revisited this artwork last night and this morning for other purposes (see: Inspirations from A Course in Miracles), I was struck by the perfection of the symbolism as it relates to the teaching of A Course in Miracles.

For us, lost in the confusing labyrinth dream of separation, the starting point may come to us through words. With A Course in Miracles it is more than 500,000 words. With this piece of art, it is the single word "unity." Something in the meaning of the words connects with a hidden yearning within us, and by sharing the thought the idea grows in strength within.

The ACIM Workbook lessons leads us, with words, through a series of contemplations and affirmations that, with repetition and a little willingness, plants the seedling ideas firmly in our minds. After a period of germination and with a proper attitude, the seed-ideas may sprout. As they push above the surface of our befuddled minds, we get a first taste of the reality behind the words, and the mind is given wings to fly.

The dove generally symbolizes both the Holy Spirit reaching down, and the desire for peace reaching up. Inner peace, as the Course teaches, is the one condition necessary for knowledge. The Holy Spirit represents the vast array of help and support that is available to us for the asking. The minute we desire peace, peace is offered, and it is this that which gives wings and the ability to ascend in the here and now below, to the here and now above.

The shining sun is a symbol both for God, the giver of life and light, and also our own soul or essential God-created self. When we reconnect to God, we reconnect to our eternal self. When we reconnect to our eternal self, we reconnect with God.

So, the words carry the idea. The idea plants a seed within. Affirming and practicing the idea from within a fog of doubt and fear nurtures the seed planted within. When the seed sprouts, it gives us a glimpse of the truth. This glimpse of the truth inspires the will to proceed in trust in the face of apparent adversity. The ideas gather strength and the dove takes flight.

All this, from a simple word "unity" to the ascending reaffirmation of spirit through experience, in a simple picture.

"You have received all this. No one who walks the world but has received it. It is not this knowledge which you give, for that is what creation gave. All this cannot be learned. What, then, are you to learn to give today? Our lesson yesterday evoked a theme found early in the text. Experience cannot be shared directly, in the way that vision can. The revelation that the Father and the Son are one will come in time to every mind. Yet is that time determined by the mind itself, not taught. . The time is set already. It appears to be quite arbitrary. Yet there is no step along the road that anyone takes but by chance. It has already been taken by him, although he has not yet embarked on it. For time but seems to go in one direction. We but undertake a journey that is over. Yet it seems to have a future still unknown to us."

ACIM Workbook Lesson 158