YouTube: The Gift
When we think of the gift Jesus gave to humankind, our doctrinal conditioning will take us to his death, the notion that he gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. I like to think of this gift in a dramatically different way. He dedicated his life to teaching the truth of our oneness with God.
The Franciscan monk, Richard Rohr, made a very telling observation that he calls the great comma. It refers to a statement found in the Apostle’s Creed. The line and comma in question is this:
“…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried …”
The comma Rohr points to is the one between the “…born of the virgin Mary, He suffered under Pontius Pilate…” That comma represents 33 years, the entire life and teachings of Jesus. This is the gift he gave and the creed passes right over it.
Matthew’s account of the immaculate conception embodies the gift of Jesus’ teaching. This conception, imparted by the Holy Spirit, is symbolic of our receptivity to the deeper aspect of our own soul. Jesus taught his followers to go into the inner room, close the door, and pray to the Father in secret. That is, lay aside for a time the influence of the intellect, the Joseph aspect, and assume an intuitively receptive attitude. Advocating a direct experience with God was a refreshing approach. For those who were raised believing they were separate from God, the notion of the kingdom of God within would not have been an easy concept to grasp. But once that seed was planted, it would not be easy for the new believer to return to the old way of thinking.
The Christmas story is our story. I am not convinced that Jesus envisioned his message reaching beyond the world that he knew, but I think he would have found great satisfaction in knowing that his gift is still being given to people like you and me.