THE JESUS OF THE SUFFERING
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
Date sent: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 21:26:16 +0000
"Blessed be you POOR, for yours is the kingdom of
God. Blessed are you that HUNGER now, for you shall
be filled... But woe unto you that are RICH! For you
have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are
FULL, for you shall hunger." - JESUS (Lk 6:20-25).
Reflections on THE PASSION and Suffering
-by Adriana Shimabukuro (Brazil).
I´ve read up on Buddhism, and in the past I practiced
transcendental meditation. Most people in there are
trying to avoid sufferingat all costs. Buddha was
someone who didn't suffer much in his life, in fact, the
Hindus and Buddhists say a person with perfect health
came from good reincarnations, so that the ones who
suffer in this life are sinners and bad people. Buddha
was also not poor. And the Hindus live even today in
a "caste" system, in which the rich are seen as the
most evolved spiritually, while the poor are bad and sinners.
But why is Jesus the Savior and the true one? Because
He came for the sinners and for the suffering. He came
to show that we can be suffering and yet we are not
worse than others for that. If you notice, the ones that
loved Him most were the ones that were in great suffering
and could see in Him a comfort to their pain. They didn´t
feel alone anymore, because a man that was God´s
son and so close to God was suffering too.
When a person understands it, this person can start to
love the suffering people, the sick, the poor. This person
can go there and help these people in need. That is why
there is no other religion apart from Christianity from
which come people like Mother Teresa, who lived with
the sick, the poor and helped them. All other religions
have their sacred men in monasteries, isolated from any
pain from the outside world. Many times they do not
work for society, they beg or work only for themselves.
The message of Buddha was not to save others and to
live for others, it was to save yourself and only this!
While Jesus said to live for others, to give our lives to
others, to bear the suffering for others!
I know that the reward we get from helping others is
different from material pleasure. I know also that the
Catholic church has got most of their monks and nuns
living in isolation, sometimes like the Buddhist monks
themselves. But still, through Jesus' example, one can
understand it is to live like He did, to get out of isolation
and to act.
I received something while reflecting about the body of
Christ. It was like flour being poured and that we are the
flour. Jesus would be the water, or the milk or whatever
sticks us together, for He told us to LOVE EACH OTHER
AS HE LOVED US, to give our lives for each other. We
have to gather and help each other. We have to help our
brothers in need. This is what sticks us together and
what makes the bread. We can make the bread grow if
we do what He did. People want to see miracles and
supernatural things to believe. But before the bread
starts to grow, the flour needs to stick together to form
the bread.
I live in Brazil. I am in contact everyday with poor and
sick people. They go through suffering you can't even
imagine. And they still believe in Jesus. They say they
are happy. They help each other. You don´t have to
help each other only in war time; it must be done
always. I know many of you do it. I am glad because
my brother was healed by an American doctor in the
USA. But when I see the competition and hunger for
money, instead of Jesus and loving people, it scares
me to see this change in the USA.
Show them the real Jesus, for He came to make
children pay attention to the weakest, the deaf, the
lame, the sick ones. If you teach them to compete and
that they have to be strong, they will not respect the
weakest. They will not help them. They will not love them.
How can they respect Jesus, who died, who was not
the strongest in material ways? Who lived for the sick,
the weakest?
People here do not have too much money, but there is
plenty of love. Many people I know seek charity projects
to work in. That is because most of us know that our
relatives came from poor origins. There are hard times
for all, but we get together and we see people coming
to help. People here seek for God in great intensity
to bear suffering.