“The Soul’s Journey pt 5 - Jesus Christ”
by Rev. Christine 3/19/2023
Today we are continuing with the subject matter of Sacred Contracts of prophets in Carolyn Myss’s book. In short, a Sacred Contract is an agreement our soul makes before we are born. We promise to do certain things for our self, for others, and for Divine purposes. Part of the contract is that we discover what it is that we are meant to do. The Divine, in turn, promises to give us the guidance we need through our intuition, dreams, hunches, coincidences, and other indicators.
There are five steps to a sacred contract although they are not experienced necessarily linear, but may be interwoven. The following briefly highlights these five steps to a sacred contract:
1. Contact - A moment of connect occurs between you and the Divine, it could be considered enlightenment;
2. Heeding the Call - Having been awakened, you apply new wisdom to your life at hand;
3. Renaming - You assume a new name, title or role with spiritual significance;
4. Assignments - Throughout life you encounter extraordinary opportunities and challenges that require continual transitions and adjustments;
5. Surrender - You are given ongoing tests that ask the question Which world will you choose to follow, that of spirit or of the earthly?
This week we are exploring the Sacred contract of Jesus the Christ. Unlike Buddha, Moses, and Abraham, we are told that Jesus was born in humble surroundings with the barn animals. But, Jesus birth was no ordinary birth.
The preparation to bring Jesus into this world started with the Sacred contracts with Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary, mother of Jesus.
The Apocryphal New Testament has The Gospel of the Birth of Mary. This book begins with Joachim and his wife Anna. They had been 20 years childless. They prayed, and vowed that if they should have a child that they would devote this child to the Lord. An angel approached them separately promising they would have a daughter, that her name would be Mary, and that Mary would one day give birth to the Son of the Most High God and would be named Jesus. Anna gave birth, and when Mary was about 3 years, her parents brought her to the temple to live. This was fulfilling their Sacred contract. Mary was an extraordinary child. At the temple she spoke to the angels and had visions. At the of age 14, as with the other girls in the temple of her age, it was time to leave and seek marriage. Now Joseph was selected to be her husband. He was a widower, a carpenter by trade and a spiritual teacher. Joseph left for his home of Bethlehem to prepare for Mary, and Mary went to her parents house in Galilee awaiting Joseph’s arrival for her.
As the story goes, Mary was approached by the Angel Gabriel telling her of her Sacred contract to bring forth a son that is to be the messiah, and that she would conceive by the Holy Ghost or Spirit. When Joseph arrived she was 3 months with child. An angel came in his sleep explaining to remove any doubts, and they soon married. Joseph took Mary back to Bethlehem, and she gave birth to a son. Their Sacred contract is in place.
Prophecies foretold of this holy child that was soon to be born. Three wise men came to bring gifts from afar by following a star that led them to this special child. My understanding of the wise men, is that these gifts were symbols of their promise to help prepare him for his work, and when it was time for his training Jesus would arrive with his gifts, and they would know it was him. These gifts were their contract to Jesus.
To save Jesus, Joseph and Mary left for Egypt, and abided there for a few years until it was safe to return home. Egypt, meaning land of material consciousness of wealth and security. A few years later, when it was safe, they returned to Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. From 4 years until 12, there is very little mentioned in the Scriptures, although other sources claim he had extraordinary abilities.
At 12 Jesus parents brought him to the temple, where the priests were impressed with his knowledge. But, when his parents left for home with a caravan they didn’t realize that Jesus was left behind, and so had to return for him. At which point, Jesus said that “he had been about his Father’s business.” From age 12 until 30, are referred to as the missing years.
I would say that at 12 Jesus had an initial Contact, an initiation, this was the beginning of his spiritual journey. Then he traveled to far away places, some sources say with an uncle. These places are where he had further training and mastered their spiritual traditions which is Heeding the Call.
At the age of 30, scripture tells us Jesus returned home prepared to carry out his mission, or contract to teach and heal. His work was not to be through the temples, but directly to the people – those that were suffering and without hope. He sought out his cousin John, who was baptizing people in the river Jordan, and Jesus asked to be baptized.
This is a significant moment in Jesus’ life. This ritual marks his direct contact with the Divine. We’re told the Holy Spirit came down as a dove, and spoke “Beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” John turns over his disciples to follow Jesus who is now called Master or Rabbi.
Jesus is heeding the call in going into the wilderness to fast for 40 days. He is then tempted to use spiritual power to serve his ego and material gain. Jesus overcame his ego and chose to serve the Divine. Each one of us will encounter such challenges in the form of “temptations or tests” again and again.
Every time we enter a new sphere of power, which can include obtaining more money, earning more degrees, a promotion. Or as with Jesus, attaining a higher level of spiritual power, we are given another test to see how we will manage the influx of new power. We must pass these tests before more power is entrusted.
Having emerged victorious from his internal battle with his ego, Jesus reemerges and is ready to follow his assignments. Jesus began his public ministry to teach, heal and comfort with a message focused on love, compassion, forgiveness, eternal life, and an all loving God that is within everyone.
His miracles were many. In time Jesus’ disciples recognized him as the prophesied Christ or Messiah (Christ or Christos in Greek means enlightened one, and Messiah means Savior.)
As time went on, and the end was nearing, his task was to prepare his disciples to carry on without him. He was challenged by their ongoing bickering, jealousy, doubts and fears. Then there was the challenge of his dear friend Lazarus, who was gravely ill, and when he arrived had already died. Mary, Lazarus’ sister was so angry and sad. Then Jesus went out by the burial cave, and called forth Lazarus to rise, and so he did and walked out of the cave.
Now the rumors were flying of how powerful he was, and that he was the chosen one to take over the Roman kingdom for them. But, that wasn’t the kingdom he was preaching, it wasn’t an outer world, but the inner kingdom of God within each and every one of us. Jesus said, “This is not my kingdom” and “I am in this world but not of it.”
Again, he was challenged, this time after the Last Supper, at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew his disciple, Judas, was to betray him, and turn him over to be arrested by their elders to initiate the trial and crucifixion. Could Judas had been the beloved and trusted disciple, the one having a most difficult contract to turnover his master while knowing how the people would hate him?
There Jesus is praying with all his heart and soul to have this assignment lifted from him, but if it be thy Father’s will – Thy will be done. A total act of surrender, even in the face of extreme suffering and his earthly life. He knew what needed to be done, and surrendered himself to let it happen. Jesus could have fled, or used his powers to free himself, but he chose Thy Will, not mine be done.
And, then the final act upon the cross of surrendering his will completely in, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” Yet, his work was not done. There were more assignments in the resurrection and ascension. Much work was done in the inner realms. To carry on the works, the disciples needed more instruction and faith before the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Then the ultimate demonstration of eternal life in a spiritual kingdom waiting for all.
In all ways, Jesus modeled his teachings. He showed that we are here to serve divine wisdom, as opposed to using spiritual law for personal gain. When we pass through life’s painful experiences the practice of forgiveness, illogical though it may seem to our minds, is the only practice that truly soothes and frees our soul. Its all about who will we serve our ego, that temporary sense of material self, or for our true self of God, of spirit and eternal life.
The stories of Jesus the Christ from birth, death, resurrection and ascension are extraordinary. The average person doesn’t normally have such an exceptional Sacred contract to fulfill. But, each one of us are exceptional in the eyes of God. We are all part of a greater plan to unfold our consciousness in this spiritual plane we call earth. We are each called to our very own unique assignments. What we go through may not seem all that important at the time, but each step leads to another. I think of Joachim and Anna having a child later in life that would eventually lead to Mary and Joseph giving birth to Jesus the Christ.
I think of the choices I made throughout my life with some leaving me in the wilderness for sometime until I came to new realizations, healed and made new choices. Were my original choices wrong, or were they necessary to get me to an even better place? I believe there are no wrong choices, but that each one will eventually get us where we need to be.
It seems that most people need to go to the wilderness for a while to seek and find their spiritual nature. It is sometimes in this wilderness state that we have our first contact, some kind of unusual experience that leaves us wanting to find answers. Then our adventure truly begins, and along the way we discover our assignments that lead to more learning and awakening. Life is an ever unfolding process in awakening to our true self at-one with all life.
I’ll close with this thought. Scientists talk of us someday traveling to other planets. What will we have to offer? What will our greatest gifts be? I hope love, compassion, forgiveness and spiritual wisdom.
Next week we shall finish this series with Muhammad’s Sacred Contract.