33. God Introduces Me To Jesus | Dramatic Adaptation Of God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher [Part 33]

"You need to know him. He can help you in your work and in your life."  

Welcome to God: An Autobiography, The Podcast. A dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin.

He was a lifelong agnostic, but one day he had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered- in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions, and God had a lot to tell him.

Read God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher.

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Transcript

JLM (NARRATOR)             ----    Jerry Martin

JERRY                      ----   Jerry, a human

GOD                        ----  A mystery

JESUS                      ----  The embodiment of Love

JLM

It is one thing to hear, or think you hear, the voice of God. It is another to encounter Jesus or at least his image. That also happened to me, very early, even before I was asked to be a "new Elijah" and "tell God's story."

As unusual an experience as it was, it did not actually feel strange. I was driving home from work, stopped at a red light, and a somewhat transparent image appeared beyond the windshield. 

It was the face of a man, thirtyish and, oddly enough, fair (shouldn't he have been darker?) and clean-shaven (shouldn't he have had a beard?). He had extraordinarily kind eyes. Somehow, I seemed to know who he was. I asked (not out loud), 

JERRY

You are Jesus?

JESUS

Yes.

JERRY

You are God?

JESUS

Yes.

JERRY

You want something of me?

JESUS

I want you to believe in me.

JLM

I felt surrounded by the presence of love and asked:

JERRY

What does that involve?

JESUS

Having faith in me.

JERRY

To do what?

JESUS

To heal, to touch, to save, to love.

JLM

He looked very sweet, almost feminine.

JERRY

Are you androgynous?

JESUS

Yes, you might say so. I combine the elements of my Father and the elements of my divine Mother.

JERRY

Mary?

JESUS

No, my divine mother, the feminine aspect of the Godhead.

JLM

He would not have shown up, I thought, unless there was something he wanted of me. 

JERRY

Is there something you want me to do?

JESUS

Yes, I will tell you later. That's all for now. But I give you my healing grace.

JLM

When I got home, I asked God:

JERRY

Lord, did You send Jesus to me?

GOD

Yes.

JERRY

"Why?"

GOD

Isn't it obvious? You need to know him. He can help you in your work and in your life. He is the pure embodiment of love, a great resource and treasure for mankind, for all who believe in him--including the Jews, if they will but make use of him.

They don't need to give up their Jewishness, their traditions, their historicity, to do this! Or their rejection of Christian and other persecutions or their honoring of those persecuted.

JLM

God seemed to be responding to my anxiety about upsetting my Jewish wife.

(MUSIC)

JLM

A few days later, Jesus appeared again. I guess I didn't recognize him because I asked:

JERRY

Who are you?

JESUS

I am Jesus of Nazareth.

JERRY

Are you God?

JESUS

Yes.

JERRY

Are you the only one who's God?

JESUS

Yes.

JERRY

Why are you in this world?

JESUS

I have a face. You can see it. God is too distant. It leads to great misunderstandings. He cannot appear directly to people. I can.

JERRY

You said 'He' as if God were other.

JESUS

He is both other and me. You need to revamp your concepts. They are not adequate to the facts.

JERRY

What else do you want to tell me?

JESUS

Keep looking at me. What do you see?

JERRY

You look soft, gentle, loving, slightly feminine.

JESUS

Yes, I am love. I have a combined nature of God the Father and my Mother, the Healing Force of the Universe.

JERRY

You also look sad, a heavy look.

JESUS

I carry many burdens and I care about those who suffer.

JERRY

Did the crucifixion hurt?

JESUS

Of course.

JERRY

Do you 'carry the suffering of the world'?

JESUS

Yes.

JERRY

What does that mean?

JESUS

Think about it. I suffer for all mankind. I carry the burden of the fallenness of the world, of its rending, its being torn. I would like to heal it, but I can't do it alone. I need your help, the help of all mankind.

JERRY

What caused 'the Fall'?

JESUS

Sin. Men and women are quite extraordinary, beautiful creatures. They reflect the glorious handiwork of God. And we love them deeply. But they are also terribly flawed. That was a disappointment. We did not realize the implications of their finitude--that these magnificent energies could lead them into such error and neglect of God. 

The will is both their strength and their weakness. The terrible force of sexuality is both God's greatest blessing and greatest curse, because it leads to such troubles.

The mending will lie in my erotic power, which is the power of union, the power to make whole, to create connections where they are now frayed. But it is not easy because people enjoy not being whole, not being healed and connected to God. 

They constantly work both toward and away from God. That is their privilege and their curse.

JERRY

How do you help?

JESUS

By love. I love mankind, as does my Father, but I love them visibly, in the flesh, as one human being to an other. I have literally felt their pains, suffered their wounds, felt the sorrow of separation from them.

JERRY

Does that mean that people must 'believe in you' or they cannot be 'saved'?

JESUS

That is nonsense. They can believe in God and relate to Him directly, or indirectly in many ways. But they can get the benefit of my love only if they are open to it.

JLM

I knew I was not open to it. Jesus represented the maudlin, bloody, unconvincing Christ of my childhood. I had left that Jesus far behind and had no interest in returning. But when I prayed again to God, I was told:

GOD

Listen to Jesus. He can help you. Do not forget his abiding, healing presence. You need what he has to offer, radiant love. Talk to him now.

JERRY

Jesus, please give me your love, and Abigail and my family as well. What would you have of me, Jesus?

JESUS

Have peace in your soul. All will be revealed. Everything is unfolding according to God's plan. You are worried about me, about Abigail's reaction, but also from feelings lingering from your childhood. Do not be afraid. Abigail is a special friend of mine. She understands me as few do.

JLM

Abigail is Jewish, and loves the people of Israel and the Hebrew Bible, but also loves country gospel, the New Testament, and Jesus--not to mention Gandhi.

JESUS

Your own childhood experience (of religion) was crude and fragmentary. Do not cling to it (in your rejection of it). Start anew in your understanding of me. Abigail will guide you. Talk to her about me.

I am no threat to Jews. I fulfill part of God's promise to them. The fact that my own followers have persecuted them is no sign of my lack of love of them. I am a Jew and their Messiah. It is all right with me if they do not accept that. I do not hold it against them. They are doing their best and they--the religious ones--are keeping their covenant with God. The others are no better--and a bit more fallen--than other secular people. They had more to lose, a precious gift they are throwing away. 

But my heart remains open, and after many wounds are healed, their hearts will open too.

Do not neglect my story as Messiah. It is a key part of the overall picture you are being guided toward. There are many sources of inspiration, but I--my love--is central to them all.

JLM

Praying to God, again, I asked:

JERRY

Lord, what is the meaning of this emphasis on Jesus and on letting him into my heart?

GOD

You can't write about his message and role without experiencing it, any more than you could have written about the Atman without experiencing it. The task is transformational, not just a third-party look at the structure of the universe. The heart of reality is transformation--just as the eye is to see, the universe is to heal.

JLM

At this early stage, I was still uncomfortable with anything that sounded weird.

JERRY

Lord, I am feeling resistant. How can I go about opening my heart?

GOD

You know how. Relax and practice and give it time. Keep at it.

JLM

I turned to address Jesus. 

JERRY

Jesus--gosh, what I feel when I address you!--almost tearful. What would you suggest?

JESUS

Just relax. Remember that I am in your heart already.

JLM

Then I went back to God. 

JERRY

Lord, I feel my inner recesses opening up, as if my heart were building more conduits. My soul's inner arteries or membranes are filling up with Your spirit or love. Connecting with the Atman seems to take one out of oneself (a withdrawal) whereas Jesus' love brings something in: we have to flow into God and let God flow into us, East and West combined.

GOD

Yes.

(MUSIC)