47. Opinion of Disciples about Jesus

When Peter says that he thinks Jesus is the Christ, he means that he thinks Jesus is the apocalyptic messiah of whom John prophesied, the one to usher in the new golden reign of the Jews.

Given the disciples’ past performance, Jesus probably anticipates such an answer, and admonishes them not to tell people that he is the Christ. Why? Because he does not want to foster that already prevalent misconception.

[See also “Contemporary Opinions About the Worth of Jesus,” Commentary 6-27.]

48. Jesus Forecasts Events at Jerusalem

This is an interesting passage. First of all, Jesus seems pretty clear on the fate that awaits him, and he is accepting of it. Clearly he believes it is God’s will. Otherwise, he’d be steering clear of Jerusalem.

And then there is Peter’s reaction – something any nice person would tend to say, right? “C’mon Jesus, why all doom and gloom? Cheer up, that’s not going to happen to you!” 

But Jesus delivers what appears on the surface to be a pretty uncharitable response – he turns around and calls Peter Satan! What is that about? Well, one explanation is that Peter still thinks Jesus is the apocalyptic messiah, and Jesus getting strung up by the authorities is NOT the way the story is supposed to end. Jesus calls him on that and rebukes him for buying into the apocalyptic fantasy and not being grounded in reality, which is what a relationship with God is all about.

49. Some Costs of Discipleship

Here we have the essence of Jesus’ teaching, what is known as The Great Paradox. Understanding it requires postulating two aspects of our identity: one rooted at the level of ego (our conditioned or enculturated self) and one rooted at the level of our soul (our essence or “created” self).

The ego-centric self abides by “the laws of men” to use Jesus’ language. In other words, it seeks survival by being obedient to the expectations and norms of the culture. The ego also sees itself as fundamentally separate from the rest of humanity, and therefore can feel secure only when it has either power over or approval from “the other.”

The soul-centered self abides by “the laws of God” and thus stands on much firmer ground. It sees itself in holistic terms – part of, not separate from. Unconcerned with power or approval or even physical survival, it is able to serve a higher purpose: truth. So when it appears that the culture is headed in the wrong direction – say, for example, a direction that threatens the survival of the clan or nation – the soul-centered self is willing to risk rejection and even its physical life to speak out.

Both “selves” have their purpose and usefulness. The question is, which self is in charge? If the ego is running the show, our essence or soul is left unmanifest. That is the meaning behind the first part of The Great Paradox. If we try and save our ego – that is, only concern ourselves with success within the culture as measured by power and approval – our higher self is left stillborn.

But if we are willing to forgo power and approval and risk rejection in order to do what we know is right – which, if you’ve ever had the experience, you know truly does feel like a death – we create the condition for the birth of a new, higher level of existence or consciousness. That is what is meant by losing your life to save it.

It is the most difficult instruction, because our ego does not want to die. The ego is clever, resilient, subtle and unrelenting – all qualities developed and perfected over millions of years of evolution. Without the ego’s drive for survival, we would never have come as far as we have.

But if we want to continue to evolve and not destroy ourselves, it is time to will the ego into a subservient role. It will never go away completely; but it can cease to be in charge.

[See also “Some Tests of Discipleship (Commentary 11-57), and “The Costs of Discipleship (Commentary 12-73).]

50. The Problem of Tribute Payment

The tribute payment is expected prior to entering the temple. Jesus instructs that just as earthly kings do not require their sons to pay tribute to enter their kingdom, so God does not require His sons to pay tribute to enter into His. Again, Jesus’ point is that the tribute payment is a law of men, created for the benefit of the priests; it is not a law of God.

But he does not want the issue to stand in the way of people hearing his teaching, so he says, go catch a fish, and use that as payment.

51. Teaching on Greatness

The disciples have gotten caught up in a very human predicament: they are trying to rank themselves socially – who is smarter, richer, taller, greater, whatever. For the ego-centric, enculturated self, as we’ve discussed before, hierarchy and knowing your place are very important.

But once again Jesus turns the logic of the ego on its head, and says that in the kingdom of God, being first means to be last of all and minister of all. Huh? How does that work? Well, there’s a stanza from a great song that Louis Armstrong recorded, called “What a Wonderful World.” It goes like this:

“I see the children,
I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more
Than I’ll ever know
And I say to myself, what a wonderful world…”

And that’s the way knowledge works, right? If you want to be first—say, the one who knows the most – you have to be last. Only then do you have the advantage of all the learning that came before you. It also places upon you the responsibility to spread and enlarge that knowledge for the benefit of those who come after…which would make you a “minister of all.”

The genius of Jesus is that he speaks from such a totally different frame of reference – one that takes in a greatly expanded context of existence. His teachings extend our horizons of time and space, and place the human species not at the pinnacle of existence, but on a continuum: as inheritors of a wealth of past wisdom and success, and as torchbearers of the present with tremendous responsibility for future outcomes.

The radical nature of this perspective is what makes many of his teachings – even today – so hard to understand and to seem at times to defy common sense. Because from a more typical, limited (egocentric) perspective, they often don’t make sense.

That’s why the first step in understanding Jesus’ teachings is to understand his worldview: all life is part of one seamless whole, all an expression of a single, loving spirit. When we clearly perceive and align with that spirit, we fulfill our true identity and like a healthy flower, life blossoms. When we fail to perceive and align, we suffer, just as a seed suffers when it fails to find the right combination of sun, soil and rain.

How do we know when we are in alignment? We are loving and responsive. How do we know when we are out of alignment? We are hateful and resistant. Pretty simple. And yet, not simple at all.

Oh yes, and that business about salt? Well, once again it’s about being true to our real selves. When salt loses its saltness, it loses its identity. Jesus is saying that by tending to the things of man – preoccupation with status and power, for example – we lose our true identity as a vehicle for the spirit of God.

[See also “Teaching on Standards of Greatness,” Commentary 14-87.]

52. Teaching on Tolerance
53. Teaching on Forgiveness

As we’ve seen, the disciples live in a time when peoples’ lives are guided by laws that are highly rigid and specific, and this may be one reason why the disciples repeatedly confuse symbolic language with literal, as we see again here. Jesus is teaching that we should have a constant attitude of forgiveness, but the disciples want a specific number: do I forgive someone seven times, and then on the eighth time I can really let the bastard have it? To make it more clear, Jesus says not seven, but until seventy times seven.

Why does Jesus recommend this attitude? The next passage, “Parable on Forgiveness,” gives us an idea.

[See also “Teaching on Tolerance” (Commentary 11-56), and “Parable on Forgiveness” (Commentary 10-54). ]

54. Parable on Forgiveness

Can you remember a time when, feeling truly loved and worthwhile, you had nothing but goodwill and charity toward everyone else around you? Maybe it was in high school when you found out that the person you liked really liked you. Or the day you got a well deserved promotion at work, Or had a particularly brilliant idea that everyone loved. People could cut you off on the highway, spill coffee on your blouse, whatever – all were immediately forgiven. In fact, you could not help but forgive them; it was automatic. Something happened that made you feel loved and worthwhile, and you were compelled to extend that same spirit toward all others. We’ve all probably had that experience at least a few times in our lives.

Jesus is saying that if we saw clearly – without blinders or judgment – our own human frailties and limitations, and clearly understood that we are loved by God, our creator, despite all of our shortcomings, then we would be so overwhelmed with gratitude that we would automatically have nothing but an attitude of charity, goodwill and forgiveness toward all other human beings.

It’s not that having such an attitude is just a good or nice idea. It is actually the inevitable outcome of being fully who we are meant to be. This is important, because Jesus was not creating some sort of behavioral check-list that, if followed, leads to automatic membership into the kingdom of God. He was trying to communicate a process that, if undertaken, leads naturally to loving, forgiving, merciful behavior.

Again, we don’t go for the behavior directly, we go for the process that will lead to the behavior. If you see what Jesus saw, this is how you will behave. Not how you should behave. That is a big difference. And one that few have understood.

The emphasis is always on how you see and how you hear. Not on what you do. Doing is just the result of seeing and hearing clearly.