My Take on LOG from The Adventures of Jesus
Here’s the first five sections of this epochal Adventures of Jesus book LOG —a reference to the story of the log in our eyes when we see a speck in someone else’s eye. In some respects, I feel these Adventures, so simply done, are more profound than anything. I have included the Introduction to give a sense of the breadth of just this single book in the series. Publishing exclusively on Kindle gives the best prospect of attaining a global audience for an effort whose purpose is the achievement of a global spirituality which is simple and everyday, like I imagine Jesus to have been.
You can obtain the $2.99 eBook here
LOG: Adventures of Jesus — Kindle edition by Stephen C. Rose. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ http://buff.ly/2iKOeXM
This is the first five of 41 sections
ADVENTURES OF JESUS
By
Stephen C. Rose
Copyright © 2016
https://twitter.com/stephencrose
Introduction
Second in the remarkable new history known as The Adventures of Jesus, told in terms of many years of revealing conversations with Abba, the one to whom he prayed constantly. Amazingly, Abba is not a forbidding, mysterious presence, but rather a friendly and firm sharer of the very purposes of Reality. This is an epochal series, based on early sources like the Q document and the Gospel of Thomas. It understands how creed modified and changed the most likely realities of the life of Jesus. Seen as a conversation with Abba that continues to this day, the Adventures of Jesus gives you a living, accessible sense of the utter necessity of building human life on the values and hopes expressed here. The initial sections — there are 41 in all — deal with the Log — the obstacle to making accurate judgments about others. But other subjects receive an equally provocative treatment. The Sabbath. Money. Healing. Anger. And Exuberance aka Love. At the end Jesus has moved from his first years of encounter to being truly unified with Abba, both aware and endlessly curious.
ONE
It became more and more clear to Jesus that there was nothing easy about the mission he was being prepared to undertake. Yes, the basics were simple and undebatable: repentance, forgiving, forgiving in return, living from within. But he knew if he spent a lifetime telling people to repent and forgive and live within, there would be little change.
2
Evil would not turn tail and run away. He could not understand. He was leading a rich, indispensable life in daily communion with Abba! But out there no one gave two hoots about Abba or forgiveness or living a better life.
3
“Abba if I am going to convince people to change, will it be enough to tell them you are here for them? And about repentance and forgiveness?” Abba laughed quietly.
4
“Isn’t it funny, Jesus. We would not be talking unless the problem was still there. The world is a cesspool of harm.
5
Good is killed every minute. Almost nobody sees. And those that do turn away. Why?” “Why? “Do you know what a speck is, Jesus?” “What? Dust.”
6
“Yes, something too small to notice except when it gets in your eye.” “So?” “Do you know what a log is, Jesus?” “Of course. A big piece of wood.”
7
“How many specks in a log?” “I don’t know. Thousands.” “Millions.” “Millions?”
TWO
“Can a log be put into an eye?” Abba asked. “Of course not.” “What if I said that the world has a log in its eye?”
2
“I don’t know, Abba. What?” “Yes you do. Think. If the world has a log in its eye, it is more than blind. It is absurdly blind. It has no power to perceive anything.”
3
“And what do you think enables the world to function as it does?” Abba waited. “The log?” Jesus said.
4
“Yes. If we could correct the world with something simple, like taking a speck out of its eye, the world would look at itself and see the simple truth. But when the problem is a log, beyond what anyone can imagine or accept, when people are that insensitive, then we are caught.” “Caught,” Jesus said softly
5
Abba continued. “Jesus can you teach people to remove logs from their eyes?” Jesus said, “No. No one can.” But Abba answered, “Oh yes, you can and you will, Jesus. Log removal.”
6
Jesus could see no way. He was comfortable here with Abba. And now he was almost afraid to leave.
7
“It’s not that bad,” Abba said. “Many people mean well enough. They sense what is good. Go. Think of other things. You’ll have plenty of time to learn about removing logs.”
THREE
Jesus had an active mind, to put it mildly. No sooner than he lay down did said mind begin to churn. Clearly, if a log had to be removed from the eye of the world, it was not a matter of a single log.
2
The inability to see, hear, and understand was lodged in everyone. In Caleb, in Jesus’ mother and father, in the girl next door. In everyone. Including Jesus. Jesus’ mind went back to things Abba had said regarding numbers multiplying beyond belief. Grains becoming logs. One becoming millions.
3
Still no message could be gotten to all. How did growth work? How do people get right? Such questions made it hard to sleep. Jesus tossed. Jesus turned. Finally, he called out, silently and insistently: “Abba, let me sleep!” And then he did sleep.
4
The next day, Abba said, “There is a way.” Jesus asked, “What?” “You are looking for a way. I have an understanding that solves the numbers problem. You start with one. And ask what enables change.”
5
“Puzzling,” Jesus said. “Think,” said Abba. “Caleb has a wife. Your mother is a wife. Do you know there are places where a wife counts as much as a husband?”
6
“Where?” Jesus asked. “Places. Jesus, we cannot address numbers until we see that all are one. That’s how we get to where we’re trying to go.” “Where?” Jesus asked. “Come Jesus, you know.”
7
“Justice?” “Yes,” Abba replied. “There is no justice if we divide people by the power they presently possess, because the world is mired in hypocrisy and its aftermath, which is injustice.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.
FOUR
“Then do you see the end of the whole log business?” “What?” “Do you see how to solve the world’s vision? Restore goodness, decency, love.” “No. I’m not sure.” “Bear with me. Everyone has the same power. That is the key to removing logs.” “The key?” “Democracy,” Abba continued. “Everyone helping everyone else.” “Of course.”
2
“Of course?” “That’s a start.” “So are you going to go the palace of the local king? The one who serves under the emperor? Will you suggest they give a vote to everyone from slaves and women to the poor and infirm and hopeless?” “No,” Jesus said.
3
“Say yes, Jesus. For you can, with every word and deed, make truth clear. You can and will send a signal that is understood. Even if rejected and scorned.”
4
“So you have been right all along,” Jesus said, sighing. “I will be walking to my own death.” “Yes. Just for showing people how to remove logs from their eyes. The people who kill you know perfectly well what happens when everyone realizes they have more power than anyone has ever suggested.”
5
“There must be some victory in this,” Jesus said. “There is,” Abba answered. “You are establishing the very foundation of reality.” Walking home, Jesus kicked a stone carefully. He wanted to kick it all the way home.
6
He thought about the power involved in seeing everyone as powerful as everyone else. He thought of himself not as unusual but as usual, as normal, as real. It was a good feeling.
7
When he went to bed that night, a phrase passed through his mind, gently, peacefully: “Making the all real.” Jesus slept deeply for the first time in weeks.
FIVE
Jesus woke up thinking about time. He sensed what it is. It is what passes. It goes forward. There is morning and afternoon and so on.
2
And then a next day and a next. Whatever we may think, this movement is real and inexorable. And if there is this real time, there is also movement.
3
Abba mentioned democracy. The word was new to Jesus, a world organized around the oneness of its people. Where we can remove logs from each other’s eyes. Here and there were actual democracies, not perfect but moving in time.
4
Time. Jesus wondered how much time he had. His childhood speeded by. His boyhood moved rapidly. Soon he would be a young man. And then … He did not like to think of then.
5
His mind wandered to a thought of his future. Jesus did not like pain at all. Even when bumped, he was sensitive. He would react as others held their tongue. Lately, he started to control that response.
6
His mind went back to time. “Was there always time?” he asked Abba. “As far as I know,” Abba said. “Is it a mystery?” Jesus said. “Yes and no,” Abba answered.
7
“Time is part of the freedom and destiny of everything. It is how we exist. We move with remarkable regularity. Destiny is a mystery but your movement is not. You all know it.”
