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Jesus had a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, hono(u)red as the promised Messiah
(John 12, 12-19) The hardened priestly castes knew how to press the "psychological buttons" of the people, to partially turn their mood into a negative one. Individuals who are aware of their own negative moods and indifference and try to convert these influences are capable of being more stable and closer to God. They are no longer so easy to manipulateby mass-suggestion and external negative forces. The reality of mass-suggestion was also found in some of the mass movements of 20th century.During the arrest (Joh. 18) the soldiers were knocked over at first. Christ showed that he was not under their control. Nevertheless he let everything happen to him willingly after that.
The "whipping" (Joh. 19, 1) strikes the back of Jesus. The "middle" of the human being, his feeling and his power toovercome emotional suffering are qualities that can emerge during meditative comprehension - it's not passive, despairing suffering. Nevertheless all Christian mystics report of Jesus' pain they voluntarily or compulsorily experienced in their soul. So Christ did not flee from this pain anxiously, although he surely could have done - like Indian masters who practise "Pratjahara", which means "to withdraw the senses". Rather one can feel an expansion of the consciousness towards the suffering of others.
It was not the whole truth, to make, as mentioned, the whipping the symbol of
a specific "step of initiation", a stage of development of
contemporary people on the way to greater completeness. It seems that Jesus
already initiated this step at the Last Supper following the anointing at
Bethany (Matthew 26, 26-29). This Last Supper is the better symbol for
what Jesus gives to suffering mankind. The bread represents the substance (and
the soul) of Jesus Christ, the "Word of God". The wine represents the
divine spirit of Christ, which gives
life to this Word of God for altruistic work. The Catholic Church stressed the change
of the substance of the bread and wine to the pure flesh and blood of Jesus,
while the Protestant Churches stressed the remembrance of Jesus. On one hand
both are right. Scientists found out that even the simple "holy water"
of the Catholic Church shows that the angle of the water molecules had changed.
However, the most important viewpoint would be the change within the person
taking part , by attuning to what really radiates from the transformed and
transforming "flesh and blood" of Jesus Christ. So it would be good to
do this practice in the churches with great concentration. Some even tried to do
this directly in spirit only - without the visible help of bread and wine –
and still felt the effect, which is a lot more difficult to achieve. For those
who want to practice a blessed meal without claiming it to be a "Holy
Sacrament" of the church, it can be called "Agape" - supper of
love.
The whipping can be understood as a caricatured answer from ignorant powers to
that which had in fact already happened and does not have to play a central role
in the Meditation. This can also be said of the following crowning with thorns.
The old Christian esoteric teachings with their sometimes one-sided accentuation
on suffering relate similarly to these newer insights, just as some teachings of
John the Baptist relate to the newer teachings of Jesus and his disciples. Each
person is free to choose which one of these ways he wants to go.
Theologians also discussed whether the Last Supper represented their own form of the Jewish Passover feast, or whether Jesus replaced the old feast by heralding himself as the actual "Lamb of God". The new covenant of God with the people (the New Testament) through Jesus (Luke 22:20) was seen as being connected to 2nd Moses 24:8; Jer. 31:31-33; Isaiah 53:12. The bread was seen more as the person of Jesus and the blood as the complete healing devotion. Others have doubted the originality of that which has been handed down (so-called words of institution), which is not very likely when one considers that they belong to some of the earliest of scriptures.
Extra window: quote concerning the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion, Eucharist)
Help: a self-examination for the work with the main text
Question:
If I haven’t already, do I want to ask* God for the ability to cooperate
lovingly with others - even if it requires me to change my mind ?
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