be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect

Christian Mysticism:
The Way of Knowing God in the Darkness

Deification (Greek theosis): process by which a Christian becomes more like God.

…as they gathered around the sage, old, blind man he began to speak, “the life you are living is a lie! Look to the heavens; you say there are stars, the sun, the moon, you are wrong. I know this for I have looked as well and have seen nothing, you must see as I see and know this as well.” The crowd dispersed having wasted their time.

So, where do we start as we try to untangle the blind man’s ravings? All Christian experiences, mystic or not, begin in scripture. That is not to say that a person can’t have an experience of God without first reading the Bible; rather that the experience they are having finds its root there.
In Genesis 1:27 we are told that God created us male and female in God’s own likeness. In community, thinking, creative beings are capable of amazing things. Possibility and power were grafted into us as a mirror of God’s own self. Perhaps the greatest, and least thought-of power we possess, is the ability to make (or re-make) the world in our own image. All this was and is ours, for we were intended to assist God in the furthering of creation. We, like God, are caregivers and lovers, participating in the protection and flourishing of life.

Even as we possess these abilities today, we rarely use them as they were intended. Having broken away from God (Genesis 3), enticed by power, and seeking the self instead of the other, we are preoccupied and distracted by fear and loathing. God continues to call to us, and we do hear though many times—most of the time—we can’t hear that sweet, still silence. Still, we know that we are being called and we are afraid of what that means and we are ashamed of the misuse of the power God has given us. The tragic results are broken relationships, seeping regret, and disquietude.

From Genesis 1 through Genesis 7 the physical and spiritual trajectory of humankind is mapped: from being created as the image of God in joyful communion to broken trust, murder, the perversion of nature, and worldwide destruction. The rest of the Old Testament is an ongoing account of war, famine, destruction, deception, slavery, and death. But, through it all, in every age and time, there is hope. Through the biblical witness, God is calling, leading, at times even pleading for healing and renewal. Throughout time, God has called us, not by our power, but by God’s. God is always the initiator, leading through spirit and presence, always affirming that our wholeness lies in union with the divine (Deification). Ultimately God points the way to the consummation of all things in a New Heaven and New Earth, where there will be reconciliation and wholeness—in God.

Human power, the usurped power God has given us, is never why God chooses us. God chooses out of love and seeks weakness and humility in those who are made in God’s image. To show us exactly what that looks like, what we are meant to be, God becomes one of us, the perfect image of God’s self, God reflected in us as we are reflected in God.

Born in a humble state, Jesus, the Imago Dei, (image of God) reveals love, hope, caring, joy, peace, and relationship as the path to wholeness. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3a) as he is both the author of life and the teacher of what it means to live. By love, in love, through love, Jesus—God incarnate—leads and witnesses God’s self to us, not through power and oppression or fear and selfishness, but by self-giving (Genesis 1).

So, in short, the pattern of scripture (and our lives) is: wholeness, rebellion, brokenness, self-justification, fear and resignation, potential awareness and wholeness, rebellion, brokenness, . . . In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-10) Jesus clearly teaches what we must do to break this cycle and begin growing in his likeness (completely human). Seeking God in all things as the answer to all things we will be filled—enlightened.

Enlightenment: spiritual awareness of God’s presence and purpose and of God’s pre-creation devotion to communion with us.

As Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, he told him to be “born again;” to be born of the spirit. The only route to enlightenment is through Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” and that way through him is by being born again by the Spirit. Jesus did not speak these and other words of instruction idly or frivolously; what he said he meant and what he proposed is possible. Sadly, most often these words of Jesus are taken to mean simple discipleship, believing, and following the Lord, but they mean so much more. How can it be that we can be transformed into the likeness of Christ simply by saying we are Christians and deciding to do good things? Surely, God will honor those who take this first step and stop, but God intended us for much more.

Jesus commanded us to “be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). What a cruel and ridiculous thing to say if were not possible; but it is possible, of course it is. To achieve this, St. Peter witnessed that indeed we need to be “…born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). St. Paul admonishes us that unless we gird ourselves in the Holy Spirit we can’t progress. In order to grow in the likeness of Christ we must be protected from ourselves and the forces around us:

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-12, 18) 

Jesus commands us to be perfect as God intended us to be and has shown us and given us the method by which we embark on this journey. To achieve the command of God to be like the Son; we must move beyond our self-effort to improve and give ourselves over to be improved by God. Not by our effort, but by our humility is the way to theosis.

The blind, old man said, “I know this for I have looked as well and have seen nothing, you must see as I see and know this as well.”

The first step in this journey is to see ourselves and the world differently.
 
Next week, we begin.

On the path of enlightenment,
Fr. Bill+