Now the theme of the crucifixion does not show up in the Thomas Gospel, however some relevant circumstantial notions do show up. In Logion 1 there is mention of "not tasting death" if we understand what Jesus teaches, and e.g. in Logion 13, there is the notion that the apostle Thomas represents to the other apostles that if he told them what Jesus taught him one on one, they'd stone him. So there is the notion that the world (including the apostles) really do not want to hear what Jesus teaches. Hence it is no wonder that he would end up being crucified. And it is no wonder that we want to blame someone else for that also. Anyone, really, but the Jews were just convenient, though there was no historical basis for blaming them, as it was evidently the work of the Romans. This way, Jesus' evident unconcern with religious traditions and teachings in his emphasis on the teaching of love and forgiveness which he represented, was made by those who came after him into a break with Judaism in a way which he never seems to have advocated, he merely did not take man-made rules very seriously, and invited his disciples to a path of inner freedom, and a Kingdom not of this World. That message was immediately destroyed, and made into a message of hate and divisiveness, where the distinction between Jews and Christians, which Jesus had never made, came to be emphasized more and more, and a formal religion was made of a simple teaching of truth. And so a teaching of love became a religion of hate.
Now Nazism was merely a very good example of what hate leads to, and the way it was acted out was an example for all time. And hate is the basis of the crucifixion - my brother is different from me, thus the sonship is many and not one. And so, ultimately, as long as we believe Jesus is different from us, we are once again committing ourselves to the crucifixion. Hatred is the division of the sonship into anything other than oneness, and any judgment or grievance we hold against anyone will do. Nazism, as the poster child for the evils of judgment, sets the gruesome example by actually acting it out on an unprecedented scale, but so does every war, every murder, and every thought of condemnation, even if it is not acted out. Forgiveness as the core teaching of Jesus is merely the daily practice which can serve to undo the thought of murder, and as we do so we can join Jesus in the resurrection.
The First Coming of
Christ is merely another name for the creation, for Christ is the Son
of God. The Second Coming of Christ means nothing more than the end of
the ego's rule and the healing of the mind. I was created like you in
the First, and I have called you to join with me in the Second. I am in
charge of the Second Coming, and my judgment, which is used only for
protection, cannot be wrong because it never attacks. Yours may be so
distorted that you believe I was mistaken in choosing you. I assure you
this is a mistake of your ego. Do not mistake it for humility. Your
ego is trying to convince you that it is real and I am not, because if I
am real, I am no more real than you are. That knowledge, and I assure
you that it is knowledge, means that Christ has come into your mind and healed it. (ACIM:T-4.IV.10)
To
want to choose Jesus, we need to really understand that the ego is that
thought of murder, as gruesome as the worst regimes that ever were, and
worse. For the only way we are motivated to give it up, is because we
finally "get" what it's up to, and we just won't play anymore, but as
long as it holds one grain of attraction for us, we continue the thought
system. One of the most insightful books in that respect just after the
war, was a booklet by a Catholic priest and psychotherapist, titled Hitler within
(Max Picard, Hitler in uns Selbst, 1946). He was one of the first to
point out that the problem was not the Hitler of history, but the Hitler
within, who keeps on making the choice for hatred. Next to that, there
was a fascinating little book by Wilhelm Reich, The Murder of Christ,
which despite the strange contortion of focusing on bodily functions,
is really powerful in its understanding that the crucifixion is not a
one time event, but is a continual choice, which we constantly
reinforce, until we are ready to make a choice for the essence of who
and what we are. Fortunately there is an alternative, of making the
choice for love, one forgiveness lesson at a time. It may take a while,
but the outcome is as certain as God.
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