What Jesus Asks

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Jesus does not call us to be perfect. He calls each of us to do only her personal best. No matter who you are-- no matter how weak, wounded, uneducated, or challenged-- every person can always do her personal best.

Jesus says that his load is easy and his burden light. He does not call upon anyone to wrestle with monsters or to accomplish supernatural feats. Instead, he calls us to do what we most deeply and truly want to do-- love ourselves and each other.

He recommends forgiveness, which might not be something that we do as much as it is many things that we stop doing! He does call upon us to love even our enemies, which is tough, but, again, this Love is the most natural part of human psychology. And, technically, it is not something that "you do." It is allowing the Holy Spirit of Love to move through you. Deep down, everyone really wants to be loved, and everyone realizes that the only Way to be loved is to love.

Love and forgive. That is all that Jesus asks of us, and he asks us kindly, tenderly, and gently, as a very loving older brother. He has no complex doctrines, complicated teachings, or involved rituals. He demands no great intellectual accomplishment. His sweet and very simple teachings are understood by the simplest farmer, and the most illiterate person. (It is the Church that has made many libraries of these simple teachings, turning them into something intricate, convoluted, and ugly.)

To love is to follow Jesus. To love yourself and others is his Way. There is nothing more-- nothing that really matters. Jesus does not "belong to," or recommend, any modern church or religion. How could he? They did not even exist during his time.

Jesus does not command religion, but the much easier, more refreshing and inspiring, spirituality.
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