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Enjoy another wonderful text by Rev. Phil Smedsted, minister Emeritus of Oasis Rising Center

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Phil Smedstad's texts are one of the ways Oasis Rising Center supports members.

A Positive Path for Spiritual Living

Oasis Rising Center Spiritual Center
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702) 804-8189
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“The Spirit of Resurrection”

  By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

This past Sunday was, of course, Easter Sunday, a day to celebrate not only the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also our own.

On that first Easter morning, the mood turned from somber to jubilant as more and more people heard the news – He is risen!  Three days earlier, it had seemed like the darkest day ever.  Jesus had died on the cross like a common criminal. 

Even today, many Christians believe that the crucifixion, not the resurrection, should be the focus of this weekend.  They call it “Good Friday” (Why not “Bad Friday?”).  They sing, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  And they feel horribly guilty, believing that Jesus died “for their sins.”

According the Bible scholar Bishop John Shelby Spong, this doctrine of “substitutionary atonement” has been the cause of all the violence and killing done in the name of the church.  He said that this doctrine results in so much guilt that people have to project the guilt onto someone or something.  Throughout history, this has resulted in the church demonizing Jews, Muslims, women, blacks (through justifying slavery), and now gays and lesbians.

Jesus, however, did not see himself as a victim – not of God, not of people, and not even of Pilate.  When he was being questioned by Pilate that Easter week, he simply didn’t respond.  Finally, Pilate said, “Speak up, man!  Don’t you know that I have the power of life and death over you?”  Jesus said, “You have no power at all, except that which is given to you by my Father in Heaven.”

In today’s language, Jesus was saying, “Pilate, you are an extra in my movie.  This whole thing is MY idea.”  In A Course In Miracles, Jesus said, “I elected for your sake and mine to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, doesn’t matter.”

On the cross, Jesus said several things, including, “El! El! Lamasa Shabakthani!”  What’s fascinating about this phrase is that it is the only place in the whole Bible where the Hebrew words are written first, followed by the English.  This is because of how difficult the phrase is to translate.

According to the Aramaic (and Hebrew) Bible scholar, Dr. Rocco Errico, this was not Jesus saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” as it is usually interpreted.  Rather, it was a cry of victory, with Jesus saying, “My God!  My God!  For this was I left (or kept, or spared).”  In other words, “This is my destiny!  This is what my whole life was pointing to!  I did it!”

Also on the cross, Jesus had words of forgiveness for his killers.  Marianne Williamson, in her book A Return to Love, asks us to contemplate what history would have been like if, instead of Jesus saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” he had said something like, “I really hate you guys.”  A very different history indeed.  Still later on the cross, Jesus had words of comfort for his mom, and then finally, words of complete surrender:  “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Perhaps the biggest fear people have about following Jesus is that if they do, they will be crucified in some way.  But this is not what happens, except as it relates to us dying to our false sense of littleness.  Again in A Course In Miracles, Jesus said, “You are not asked to be crucified, which was part of MY OWN teaching contribution.  You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and not to accept them as false justifications for anger.  Remember always that what you believe, you will teach.  Believe with me, and we will become equal as teachers.”

Then in another place in The Course, he says, “The crucifixion is nothing more than an extreme example.  Its message is simply this:  Teach only love (by example), for that is what you are.”

On that first Easter morning, we have the amazing demonstration of forgiveness called Jesus’ resurrection.  Why is this a demonstration of forgiveness?  Because, as it says in The Course, forgiveness is complete when there is nothing left to forgive. 

Regarding our own resurrection, Jesus says in The Course:  “Your resurrection is your reawakening.  I am the model for rebirth, but rebirth itself is merely the dawning on your mind of what is already in it.”  Our own resurrection is a return to our original state, which is oneness with all God is and oneness with each other.

This is a day to celebrate the divine Truth of our being, including that we can’t die, and including all that life can be for us right now.

What is it in your life that has seemed dead?  Your happiness?  Your dreams?  Your innocence?  Whatever it is, the good news is that IT CAN BE RESURRECTED.  That is what this day is all about.

Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said, “He isn’t dead.  He’s only sleeping.”  That is the same message that the Christ in us has for us about our dreams.  “They aren’t dead.  You are only asleep to them.”

All that first Easter morning, people kept having the experience that they couldn’t SEE Jesus.  The reason was because they kept looking at the tops of their shoes.  The first to have this experience was Mary Magdalene in the garden by the tomb.  She thought she was talking to the gardener when she said, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”  Then, it says, “she looked up and her eyes were opened.”  At that point she recognized Jesus and said, “Rabboni!”

This is what happens when we “look up” – when we take our eyes off the material world and place them on the spiritual one.

Later on that first Easter, Jesus appeared to his disciples.  Thomas, however, was not there.  He then famously said, “Unless I see Jesus and touch his wounds, I won’t believe it was him.”  Then, Jesus appeared again, and this time Thomas was there.  Jesus said, “Thomas, because you have seen with your body’s eyes you have believed.  How fortunate are those who have NOT seen and yet have believed.”

How about you?  Are you willing to see your divinity as raised from the dead, even before there is physical evidence of it?  Are you willing to see your dreams as resurrected, even before you have proof that it will happen?  Someone once said, “Anyone can see the seeds in an apple, but it takes a true visionary to see the apples in a seed.”  This is what Easter calls us to be – true visionaries.

Your divine self has never been dead.  The love in you, the power in you, the wisdom in you, and the life energy in you are just as alive today as they have ever been.  If they have seemed dead, it’s only that you have been asleep to your divinity.

Let this Easter be a day to do two things.  Let it be a time to celebrate that your success, in the fullest possible meaning of the word, is absolutely assured.  Let it also be a time to recommit to waking up to your loving, powerful, wise, and fully alive self.

And even though it is several days later as you read this, Happy Easter.