Kundalini Splendor

They said to him,
"Come and let us pray today,
and let us fast."
Jesus said, "Which, then,
is the sin I have committed,
or in what have I been vanquished?
But when the bridegroom
leaves the bridal chamber,
then let them fast and pray."
(Logion 104)


Commentary by Cynthia Bourgeault

If you took my other e-course on The Gospel of Thomas, you're already well aware of Jesus' wariness of external spiritual observances. In his famous Logion 6, when his disciples batter him about what particular practices he recommends -- fasting, prayer, tithing, abstinence from particular foods -- he responds by dismissing the whole program and offering in its place only two sweeping inner commands: "Stop lying and do not do what you hate."

So too, in our logion for today, his response to the pious request to pray and fast is simply "Why?" Has he committed a specific sin, hamartia or "missing the mark?" Has he wandered off-course and lost touch with the power of wholeness that comes from staying in alignment with his essential being? Clearly his understanding of ascetical observance is remediative, not preventative. Its purpose is to repair specific breaches and course cavitations, not to furnish the means to stay on course in the first place. That power comes from deeper within.

This unconventional attitude toward traditional spiritual disciplines certainly landed him in trouble with the religious professionals of his days. He was constantly at war with the Pharisees for their prioritizing of external observances over purity of heart. But his casual approach to the traditional Jewish purity codes was equally a stumbling block to the most earnest and devout seekers of his time. As we will see next week, his behavior seems to have posed a real conundrum for the disciples of Jesus' one-time mentor John the Baptist, who were sincerely confused about how a spiritual teacher who drank, danced, dined with tax collectors and sinners, and counted women among his closest friends and followers, could possibly be the "One to come" whom the prophets had foretold.

But for Jesus, the celebration was real. He knew only too well that "the bridegroom was in the bridal chamber." Now -- right now -- was the time that the prophecy was being fulfilled, that the marriage vow between heaven and earth was being consummated in the hidden garden of the human heart. In him, and through him, God was bringing to pass the great promise made to the prophet Ezekiel: "A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you." (Ezekiel 36:26). The task before his followers was not to store up merit for some future day of reckoning, but to open their hearts to see what was actually taking place right before them.

Advent is traditionally understood as a time of fasting and inner preparation -- admittedly a custom "more honored in the breach than in the observance." And this understanding is correct as long as we keep in mind what Jesus' core notion of spiritual preparation is all about. Fundamentally, it's not about external observances, but about a deeper, more alive way of being. It's about removing the veils that harden and scar the heart, so that we can at last see the divine radiance dancing in all things, inviting us to the dance . . . waiting patiently for us to find the courage to say "yes."