It seems a lot of people have been finding Jesus lately.  It comes as no surprise that many of them are politicians on the campaign trail, seeking votes. And  then there all those other public figures; politicians, sports stars, celebrities, and others who have violated the laws of the land and/or   of common human decency—and been caught—who  “find Jesus”, usually before their trial or sentencing—and shortly after they get caught.

    So, a requisite part of their apology includes the mention that they are sorry they got caught—and that they have found Jesus!

    I wonder what “finding Jesus” means to them? Too often, I fear, they are looking for an avatar, a savior, to swoop down and magically turn them into a better person—rescue them from the moral miasma into which they have fallen.
       
    In Western culture the ultimate perfect person is Jesus. But Jesus was not the great exception—he was the great example—our example of someone in touch with the Christ within.

    The Zen Buddhists have a phrase:  “If you see the Buddha on the road kill him.”  That sounds drastic, but the message is simply this: If you think the Buddha, or the Christ, is someone other than yourself, you have completely missed the point, because the Buddha or Christ represents your own true nature—not some external being. 

     Ernest Holmes said, “The thing that interests me now is that every man shall find his savior within himself.  If this is the only place he is going to discover God, you may be sure it is the only avenue through which any wayshower shall lead him to God.  There is no other way.  Jesus knew this, and when they sought to make Jesus, the man, the way, he said that it was expedient he go away that the Spirit of Truth should awaken within his followers the knowledge and understanding of what he had been talking about—that he had come to reveal them to themselves.”

     If ‘finding Jesus’ happens to mean that they have finally discovered, within themselves, the thing that Jesus actually stood for—the Christ, the Higher Self within us all—then they are making progress!