GET WISDOM EVEN IN THE BUCKET

CAN WE WISE UP HERE?

"Parables, such as the stories Jesus told, are a wisdom genre belonging to mashal, the Jewish branch of universal wisdom tradition. Jesus not only taught within this tradition, he turned it end for end. Before we can appreciate the extraordinary nuances he brought to understanding human transformation, we need first to know something about the context in which he was working.

There has been a strong tendency among Christians to turn Jesus into a priest—“our great high priest” (see the Letter to the Hebrews). The image of Christos Pantokrator (“Lord of All Creation”) dressed in splendid sacramental robes has dominated the iconography of both Eastern and Western Christendom.

But Jesus was not a priest. 

He had nothing to do with the temple hierarchy in Jerusalem, and he kept a respectful distance from most ritual observances.

 Nor was he a prophet 
in the usual sense of the term: a messenger sent to the people of Israel to warn them of impending political catastrophe in an attempt to redirect their hearts to God. Jesus was not that interested in the political fate of Israel, nor would he accept the role of Messiah continuously being thrust upon him.

His message was not one of repentance  and return to the covenant.

 Rather, he stayed close to the ground of wisdom: the transformation of human consciousness.
He asked timeless and deeply personal questions: What does it mean to die before you die? How do you go about losing your little life to find the bigger one? Is it possible to live on this planet with a generosity, abundance, fearlessness, and beauty that mirror Divine Being itself?"

Shortened comments of Cynthia Bourgeault

These are big questions being raised,  but they are questions that are essential and that we must  seek to answer.  One thing is certain: whether we  consciously ask ourselves these questions or not our lives will provide our answers.

LIFE IS THIS CONSTANT WEB OF EVENTS THAT PROVOKE US.  

Every day like it or not we show ourselves in the choices that we make and the attitudes we maintain.  WE talk about sudden changes, but maybe they were coming in subtle ways before they showed themselves. For example, when the thief asks Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom, that may be the first time he had said those words aloud but the attitude of respect that produced them was forming  inside him.
 He had already showed himself in his refusal to  join in with the other thief to mock Jesus.  It might have  been that  turnaround that  has  actually been developing for years in  that man.

So is it with all of us. 
WE are  the sum of our choices. Good choices that we make that seem very small, if they are  movements towards the light, will in fact lead to more such choices in larger matters.  We choose every moment of our lives.  And those choices  become larger and more momentous until  they form a large mountain of good choices  on which we can stand.

  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
                   And it will be opened to us

 THIS VERY DAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.