Click for audio: The Commitment to Prosper
At the culmination of his earthly ministry, Jesus made a fateful decision: he “set his face” to enter Jerusalem. The Gospel writers make it clear that he was aware of the potential danger lurking in this heart of Judaism and that orthodoxy would go to any length to squelch the views of those who ran against the grain of their rote teachings and practices. The crowds welcomed and honored Jesus by placing palm branches on the road as he entered Jerusalem. The scribes and Pharisees, on the other hand, quickly began plotting his demise.
At first glance we may see little in the way of a parallel between this story and our own. When we step back, however, and look at the literary movement of characters and events we see illustrated two fundamental elements required for entering the broader experience: sacrifice and commitment.
The word sacrifice makes most of us go a little weak in the knees, until, that is, we begin to think about what it means. To sacrifice is to give something of lesser value for something of greater value. Whether you are laying offerings on the altar to appease a capricious god or tossing a virgin into a volcano to quell the mountain’s anger, you are giving a small quantity of good for a larger quantity of good for the whole.
The principle here is this: to move forward in life, we must be committed to giving up our lesser views of who we are and be open to a more universal view. In the Gospel story, Jesus gives up his personal, human self but gains his divine Self. You and I are moving from the insecurities and fears inherent in the ego to the realization that our true identity rests in the Infinite, that all restriction is self imposed rather than given as the prescribed lot of the human experience.
Be willing to let go of the little self that squirms and struggles beneath the apparent weight of the world. You are not that little self; you are something much greater. As you “set your face” toward a freer life, you will see that all you really lose is the error of limitation.