Not long ago, some friends of mine were in Washington, DC, and were part of a gathering in the Capitol to protest Congress’ military support for Israel. My friends had witnessed the devastation of Gaza and the thousands of Palestinian lives lost and felt morally compelled to put their bodies on the line for what they believed.
Like so many protests, there was a point where the security forces at the Capitol issued that standard warning that often goes something like, “Move or you will be subject to arrest…” My friends did not move.
Security issued a second warning, “Move or you will be subject to arrest.” My friends did not move.
“This is your final warning. Move or you will be subject to arrest.” No movement.
And they were arrested.
As I read their account of the arrest, I thought about the courage it takes to follow one’s moral convictions in the face of direct consequences. And that’s where we find Jesus today in the 6th chapter from Luke’s gospel.
Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath. There’s a man with a “withered right hand” there. The religious authorities know that Jesus is a known healer, and so they watch him like hawks to see what he’s going to do.
Jesus knows that they are watching and plotting against him. So he “addresses” the crowd and asks, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”
And then, probably looking straight at the religious authorities, he says to the man, “Stretch out your hand…” The man was healed, and the authorities were enraged.
As some of you may be aware, one of our adult education programs coming up (September 16) is exploring the book The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Ruiz’s book draws upon his Toltec ancestry and offers wisdom to help people become free from their psychological and emotional programming.
He says that humans receive an incredible amount of programming (from our families, schools, governments, etc.) that shape our conceptions of what is right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable or not. They shape how we see others and how we think about ourselves. And while there is an inevitability to this process, it keeps us stuck in a “dream” that is not our own. Furthermore, he says that “most of us are not even aware that we are not free” and speaks often to the “domestication of humans.”
Ruiz goes on to say that even if we did not create the belief systems that we’re in, we still go along with them (what he calls our agreements) – oftentimes because we may not realize that another way is possible or because we are just plain afraid of what might happen if we don’t. He suggests that the belief systems give us forms of security even if we know that they are just made up. And he says that any time we break with these false agreements and listen to our true selves, we get some power back that can then be used to impact the world around us.
I would imagine that Jesus would agree with Ruiz.
Somehow, Jesus had done some intense inner work that enabled him to be free enough to perform a public cure knowing that there would be consequences. Conventional wisdom said, “You can’t cure people on the Sabbath,” and this was enforced socially. But Jesus asked, “Why not?”
He knew that the “dream” of the world that he lived in was too small because it excluded something like healing on the Sabbath. So he took steps to defy the conventional wisdom and live into the bigger dream of God’s kin-dom. No doubt, it came at personal cost, but it also gave Jesus a power and authority that left an impact on the world.
Each of us is invited to do the inner work required to hear God’s call for us in the world and to hear our own dream – not just the ones that have been given to us. As we discern this call, it may (and might often) put us in opposition to the status quo or to the ways that we have been socialized to behave and think. It may invite us to risk disapproval. It may invite us to risk ridicule. It may invite us to risk being misunderstood. It may invite us to risk arrest. It may even invite us to risk our own lives.
And yet if we do not examine our programming and assumptions, very little will, ultimately, change.
Ruiz concludes, “this [new] way of life is possible and it’s in your hands. Moses called it the Promised Land, Buddha called it Nirvana, Jesus called it Heaven, and the Toltecs called it the New Dream. Unfortunately…all of your beliefs and agreements are there in the fog. You feel the presence of the parasite [all the negativity that works against life] and you believe it is you. This makes it difficult to let go…”
May we all learn to let go of programming that no longer serves us, release our fear and live into a new dream that gives us and everything around us a chance at true freedom.
If you want to join us on 9/16 (virtual or in person), please pre-register here.