“Jesus is Happening”
“The Last Supper” by Kateryna Shadrina
First, I bit off more than I can chew…and it’s delicious.
Sometime late last year I had the idea to teach through the whole Gospel of John. This Gospel is an odd duck. The other three - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - are call the synoptic gospels because they see things the same way.
Generally, they tell a story of a messiah type dude who did miracles and said some wild theological things about himself, the Hebrew peoples, and God. They all seem to have the same source (“Q”, among others, now lost to the sands of time), and are mostly in the same camp as to who and what Jesus is. That’s generally for the synoptics. Don’t at me, theologian bros.
John, on the other hand, is the trippy distant cousin.
The whole first section is one of the most mysterious and powerful theological statements of all the ancient texts. We’ve got Logos, and light, and the time before time, and grace upon grace, and then a wild dude baptising people in the wilderness, already pissing off the religious corrupt, and saying this is just the start of what was to come.
Jesus appears fully formed (no little stable with donkeys in this Gospel) and off they all go on one of the greatest adventures into God-realized consciousness there’s ever been.
And every time I think I have somewhat of a teeny tiny handle on the material I learn something else about this wild scripture and it rearranges my whole understanding of the Gospel.
You see, John isn’t a story book telling us what happened.
This Gospel is a map of our own spiritual awakening with one of the most sarcastic, anti-BS, powerful healers at the guiding helm. But in John, these healings aren’t called ‘miracles’. They’re called ‘signs’. Signs of what you ask? Signs of what each and every one of us is becoming.
The line I love most in this Gospel is (more or less) "All this you shall do and more.” Jesus says this at his most kind and generous moment. He’s been warning the disciples that he won’t be around forever and is trying to cheer them up by telling them what’s coming next.
First he says, we won’t be separated for long and I’m only going ahead to prepare a place for you. He also says he’ll send something in his place to encourage them along the way (mmm that Holy Spirit).
When Peter asks how they will know where to follow him to, Jesus says they will know by how they themselves will begin to do what Jesus did.
There’s a lot of talk these days about idolizing, pedestalizing, and following Jesus.
But John’s Gospel says, no don’t do that. Instead, awaken the Christ within. That is the path back to the heart of Spirit. And what’s more, Jesus isn’t a person to follow so much as an event to experience.
I was talking with a friend who’s spent a lot of time praying with the Omaha people and was telling me about how the folks he knows pray to Jesus.
It’s less like “Jesus help me” and more like “I connect my prayers with the Jesus energy and at the same time I acknowledge that Jesus is happening right here and now in response to the prayers.” (Somehow in only 4 or 5 words, which is why it’s so humbling and beautiful to learn indigenous languages!)
This is what John is all about; Jesus happening within.
I’ll be writing plenty more in the coming weeks about why exactly John’s Jesus is so important for times like these, but I’ll stop there for today and invite you to check out the new course below.
It’s a deep and transformative mystery just waiting to come alive yet again.
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF LIGHT
This is a foundational course for spiritual seekers ready to see scripture in a whole new way. It’s not a doctrine to defend or a spiritual wound to reopen. It’s a map of your own divine nature.
This course is rooted in the Greek text, embodied through clairvoyant meditation, and integrated into real daily practice. No complicated theology. No beliefs you have to force yourself to accept. Just powerful tools that help you trust what you already know inside.
Whether you are new to mystical Christianity or already walking a contemplative path, this course will awaken your inner Christ light and help you embody ideas like light, healing, and divine identity as your own.
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⫸ Psychedelic guides and ceremony facilitators who work with death, rebirth, and transformation that John maps so well
⫸ Ministers, chaplains, and spiritual directors who are ready to preach and teach from a deeper, freer Gospel
⫸ Exvangelicals who miss the beauty of scripture but won’t go back to restrictive beliefs
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Learn more about the course here ⤵︎
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