Click for audio: The Resurrection Principle
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” — John 12:24
The Easter story, one that is told with great passion year after year, is celebrated as a time when, over two thousand years ago, Jesus died for the sins of humankind. As with all stories found in the Bible, this one has a literal meaning and it has a spiritual meaning. The majority of Christians, having come to believe that God can punish the sinner with eternal damnation, celebrates the literal story as a sign that God’s love is so great that He has given us the opportunity to escape the fires of hell by sacrificing His only son.
To those who base their understanding on God as unconditional love, we see a deeper meaning to this story, one that is in keeping with the principle of growth and new life that we see expressed in Jesus’ above statement on the grain of wheat.
The Easter story contains five important elements: 1: the arrest, 2: the trial, 3: the execution, 4: the resurrection, and 5: the ascension. When you set a goal for some greater good in your life, it is usually a matter of time before you are, like Jesus, arrested by negative thoughts and appearances. You are put on trial, and are challenged to hold fast, as Jesus held fast, to your vision of greater good unfolding. You must totally let go, die to the old fears and attitudes that have kept you from moving into your freer life. From this death, this letting go, the new is born and a resurrection occurs. As your new life unfolds, you ascend into a higher state that is reflected in your body, mind and circumstances.
This resurrection principle applies to the simple, daily needs of your life and it applies to your life as a whole, this spiritual journey of your ever unfolding consciousness. To bury a seed in the ground gives the appearance that nothing new will come of it. But we know that it is only a matter of time before the seed dies to its former self and emerges as something greater and much more productive.
Thank you for this very meaningful Easter message. I am happy to hear that your well being continues to improve. Re: the spiritual “awakening” you experienced as a young man which you said changed your life and led you into the ministry. It seems very similar to the ‘second birth’ Jesus told Nicodemus one must experience in order to enter the kingdom of God, a statement which caused Nicodemus such puzzlement. Jesus at that point in his ministry was not talking at all about his eventual death which the Christian church now has placed at the very heart of its salvation message. What a dramatic paradigm shift those early hearers of Jesus’ teachings about God and their relationship with Spirit must have experienced! When I recoil at the news of this day – another suicide bombing where 70+ men, women and children were killed as they gathered in a park in Pakistan to celebrate the Easter holiday – I am humbled to have learned that there is only one way to bring true peace and it doesn’t involve bombs and carnage. “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me!” Easter Blessings!
Thank you, Jackie, for your good comment and well-wishes.