The Divinity of Our Oneness
by Rev. Cory Coberforward
John 10:22-39
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
Responsive Reading - Psalm 82:6-8
I said, ‘You are “gods”;
you are all sons of the Most High.’
But you will die like mere mortals;
you will fall like every other ruler.
Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations are your inheritance.
Read the written message below with music videos
It’s surprising to see how many times it says that people in Jesus’ community sought to “unalive” him (the new, TikTok friendly term for murder). This was typically because Christ would speak about his perceived oneness with Divinity, the “Father.” In today’s reading alone it comes up twice and we’re only in John 10! What I find most captivating though is that when Christ quotes the Psalm where David (quoting God) calls those receiving God’s words “gods” multiple times, we see no immediate reaction, it is only when Jesus says outright, “I and the Father are one,” and “understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father,” that they immediately try to kill him. There’s something about distorted religiosity in every religion that seeks to distance our unity with God, indeed it often carries an unaliving anger at the very idea. We might call God “the Compassionate,” as does Islam, but say that God shines as our compassion and be careful! Moreover, most of us tend to centre from an idea that we are distant from God, whether we think that actively or not, but this is a lie that we subtly carry that effectively blinds us to the reality of who we are and the life all around us (which can only truly shine in our shared consciousness, or so says quantum physics!).
Take a moment to look within. What lies do you carry that paint your lived experience? Take your time, what are some of the core ideas that paint how you look at yourself and the world? Also, what questions about the world do you carry forward? Looking at our lies and our questions is a tactic that I picked up from an interview I saw with Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, and although I’m not too familiar with his ministry at Agape, I found this reflection to be quite illuminating! When we look, we can notice the subtle lies about ourselves that have become our modus operandi, and seeing them, we can compare them to our intentionally held beliefs about ourselves. This allows us to shine a light on some things that don’t serve us, but that have continued to operate within because we haven’t yet challenged them and exposed them with the healing power of our God-given light.
When Christ quoted the Psalm that called people “gods” he was speaking to a crowd that knew the scripture well. But often, when it comes to scriptures that live close to us in our traditions, we become complacent about their meaning, carrying in our heads the ideas that have been added to a tradition and not the ones that come from the source! This is why some Christians today will use Paul’s letters (selectively), but not as much Christ’s direct quotations. Our religiosities can become, as Christ called the Pharisees, “whited sepulchers,” outside presenting as healthy and beautiful, but inside full of unalivement.
It's only when Christ goes as far as to say that he is one with the Father that they take offense. They hadn’t taken the scriptures to their obvious conclusion and subtext: we have life, goodness, gifts, form, breath, love, wisdom, compassion, and perception from the God known by many names, so we must ultimately be (or become) one with them! As Swedenborg wrote, God is beyond gender or form since it is infinite form, goodness, and truth, but it does present itself as all things. And it is a One.
Calling God “One” can be confusing for some, because it implies that there are others that are not part of this “One.” Perhaps this is why Hindu scholars and teachers often will say that they are neither monotheistic nor polytheistic because all is the I Am. Even Christ’s works and words seem to imply that there are some who are not part of God but should “become children of God” as he is. You could say that this is a teaching tool because teachers must use terms and concepts that will be received by their students. Look at it this way, the scriptures make it clear that evil does not exist, but is like a passing dream, a delusion that we carry both in our understanding AND IN ACT, which is also passing. The only “thing” that truly exists is God, today, yesterday, and forever. Thus, to “become one with” God we must allow our selfish tendencies to pass.
So how can there be a heaven, an afterlife, reincarnation, or whatever, if only God exists? How can we all go on forever? It is because the things of heaven, the forms of use and goodness and truth, are all mirrors of the Infinite, the Goddess that shines through all life and being. These things will last forever in infinite forms with infinite life. The evil acts and false understandings, on the other hand, have a very limited shelf life. This is why it says that “the evil” will be ground to dust, cast out into utter darkness, and will be viewed as if they were a passing illusion and dream. We ourselves experience just this when we undergo trials that separate us from our more selfish and destructive leanings; the felt-pressure in our lives is always meant to make a better diamond. But when we reach true Buddhahood or Christ-consciousness, the same tough situations can happen, but they will hardly bother us. Or so those two ruffians would have us believe! Further, the sages tell us that the tough things are much less likely to happen to us then because there is no idea of a “separate person” to get caught by them.
What a trip, so you mean to tell me that Jesus wanted us to believe that we are one with God as well? Yes! I believe this is why he tasked us with finding our unity with him and the Father (which he says in various ways), and also why he called us children of God and quoted the Psalm in today’s reading. He said that he was one with the Father, which he also said made him “God’s son.” He also said that we should be one with the Father, which he further said would make us Children of God. Tell me if I’m missing something here.
But like the Christ’s audience in John 10, our minds not only tend to immediately reject this idea, but they also like to reject this idea. It seems to get us off the hook. It keeps us in the safe cage of fitting in. I mean, does anyone like to be crucified in one way or another? Our minds sure don’t, which is why they try to prolong their addiction to selfish thinking and hurtful modalities of separation. But, and I hate to tell you this, these lines of thought are a sinking ship, a flooding nation, a drowning Egyptian army (shall I continue with the Biblical analogies here?).
You can reassure your mind, however, because despite what your mind thinks spiritual reformation might entail, the crucifix that Christ asks us to carry does not involve the needless torture that he himself went through. Instead, it tells us that his burden is actually quite light. Indeed, to separate from our mind’s false perception of life (that we are separate from God, that we are unworthy, etc.) actually takes us letting go of our need to fight our minds. It involves coming to see that the heart of our perception and will actually observes our actively thinking mind and empowers it by taking it seriously!
“Be still and know that I am God.” As the good book says, instead of centering from our mind’s endless worries and judgments, let’s start to settle in God’s providence in all things. Come to see and accept that the Buddha, Krishna, Anandamayi Ma, Jesus, Swedenborg, and so many others are right when they say that all is governed by the I Am, by Divinity, and perhaps all is even one with God. Swedenborg wrote, “God is the substance of all things,” and we ourselves have an intuitive knowledge that all things are interconnected even if just by being a part of the same interacting “universe.” The quantum physicists have even proven that nothing takes shape without entering consciousness, how can this be? How can consciousness be the key to even making the material universe material? There must be something fundamental about it, about life, something that allows our universe’s reality to depend on life’s light, this light must be part and parcel with something whole, unified, and centre to all life and being, something Divine, something One.
Blessings,
Cory