In this episode I interpret Christmas as a proclamation of nonduality. There is a lot in the Christmas story that speaks of nonduality. I deal briefly with three aspects of the story: the Virgin Birth, the Visit of the Wise Men, and the doctrine of Incarnation.
In this episode I interpret Christmas as a proclamation of nonduality. There is a lot in the Christmas story that speaks of nonduality. I deal briefly with three aspects of the story: the Virgin Birth, the Visit of the Wise Men, and the doctrine of Incarnation.
A Nondual Christmas
It is Advent on the Christian calendar, so I thought I would pause from discussing the Gospel of John and talk about Christmas for one episode … maybe more. I am entitling this “A Nondual Christmas.” Those of you who are Christians or come from a Christian background likely celebrate Christmas. Even if you don’t, it is hard to avoid Christmas in the United States.
Christmas is not the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. That honor goes to Easter. It is not my favorite holiday. That is the Baptism of the Lord, also called Theophany, celebrated in January. That minor holiday, which celebrates Jesus’s spiritual awakening, is unfortunately mostly overlooked in Christianity. But Christmas, on the other hand, is a big deal in our culture, so I thought I would interpret it as a proclamation of nonduality.
There is a lot in the Christmas story that speaks of nonduality. Today I am going to deal briefly with three aspects of the story: the Virgin Birth, the Visit of the Wise Men, and the doctrine of Incarnation. Each of those could command a whole episode.
First, the Virgin Birth. Even though most Christians take this supernatural conception literally, it should be obvious that this is symbolism. It is about spiritual birth, not physical birth. It is saying that Mary was spiritually awakened. The Eternal Christ was born in her spiritually. She came to know that God is in her. God was incarnated in and through her life.
I am not saying that a young woman named Mary was not pregnant and did not give birth to a baby boy named Jesus. That historically happened. But the miraculous conception is not really about Jesus. It is about something that happened in Mary spiritually. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Mary was born of the spirit. A divine birth happened in her life. The Virgin Birth is about spiritual birth, born of the Spirit, which is one of Jesus’ terms for spiritual awakening. Jesus’ mom was enlightened! Imagine what it would have been like to have a mother like that! It is no accident that her son grew up to be a proclaimer of this spiritual reality. That is why it is proper for Christianity to celebrate Mary. Most of my Baptist brothers bristle when too much attention is given to Mary, but I celebrate her as the nondual forerunner of Jesus. Anyway that is enough about the Virgin Birth for now.
Second is the Epiphany, known as the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. We know it as the story of the Wise men or Magi journeying from the East to visit the Christ child in Bethlehem. There are a number of nondual truths here.
First is the fact that Christ was honored by holy men from the East. The magi were Zoroastrian priests from Persia who followed the prophet Zoroaster or Zarathustra. Islam considers Zoroaster as a true prophet and forerunner of the prophet Muhammad. The fact that these Iranians are pictured as worshipping and honoring a Jewish Messiah who was the savior of Gentiles points to the unity of all religions.
Their journey from the East represents the spiritual search of humankind. People of all faiths are on the same journey. Sometimes religions are pictured as different paths up the same mountain. I prefer the metaphor of the Star of Bethlehem. Different religions are all following the same star in the sky. They may be in different lands in different centuries, but it is the same timeless star. As the proverb says, the moon reflected in a pail of water in different lands is the same moon.
The journey may bring people to different earthly teachers born at different times in different cultures with different expressions of Eternal Truth, but in essence it is the same spiritual truth. This is the Perennial Philosophy known as Nonduality.
The star of Bethlehem points to the heavenly origin of the One Eternal Logos. Like stars transcend the world, so does the Eternal Christ transcend lands and races and spiritual traditions. When we follow the lead of the Magi, we are willing to honor the embodiment of truth in spiritual traditions other than our own.
On the other hand King Herod in the story represents the powers of darkness that see such spiritual teachers as threats and oppose them wherever they are found. Yet the forces of darkness cannot defeat Truth. As the prologue of John, “Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not been able to overcome it.”
The gifts of the magi represent the worldly resources we use in service of spiritual truth. Some see the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh as representing the three aspects of the human being – body, mind and spirit. Or the three faculties of the human soul – intellect, emotion, and volition. Some say they represent sat-chit-ananda; being, consciousness, bliss. Traditionally Christian preachers interpret these as gifts fit for a priest, a king and one who is going to die. We can interpret this symbolically in a variety of ways.
In any case these men bow in worship and present their gifts to the Christ, even though he was not of their race or kingdom or religion. The religions today would be much better off if we could do the same thing – if we could acknowledge the spiritual validity of other religions rather than seeing them as rivals or enemies. Imagine how wonderful Christmas would be it that truth were proclaimed in Christian churches across this land on Christmas Eve.
Let’s move on to the doctrine of the Incarnation. This is the theological heart of the holiday. Christmas is not just about remembering the birth of a baby who grew to become a great spiritual teacher. It is about incarnation – the embodying of divinity in a human being. As the Prologue of John puts it. “The Word [the Eternal Logos, the I AM] became flesh and dwelt among us [literally “dwelt in us”] full of grace and truth.”
The word dwelled means literally “to pitch one’s tent.” It is the word used for tabernacle in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is the translation that all the New Testament gospels quote from. This is John’s way of connecting the Christmas story to the Hebrew story of God dwelling in the tabernacle during the forty years of the wilderness wandering.
God dwelled in Jesus the way that God dwelt among his people in the tabernacle and the temple. Jesus uses this imagery later when teaching in the temple and refers to his body as the temple of God. The apostle Paul then picks it up and refers to our bodies as temples of God. In using the word tabernacle, John may also be hinting that Jesus was born at that time of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is in the fall and not winter, which would certainly change our way of thinking about Christmas. That was the time of year when shepherds were outside keeping watch over their flocks by night – not in the bleak midwinter, when it was too cold.
Christmas is more than the idea that God was incarnated in one baby born in Bethlehem. John says in his Christmas poem that we call the prologue that “The Word became flesh and dwelt in us.” God is incarnated in us. Colossians speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Paul speaks of the “Christ who lives in me.” Paul says, “Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.” Christmas is not just about God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. It is about God in us reconciling us to himself. It is about our union with God. God was in Christ and dwelt on earth to show us that God is in us. Jesus taught, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”
That means that not only is the Christ child special, but every child is special. Every baby is the Christ child. I once read about a Jewish custom centuries ago before the birth of Jesus. At the birth of every child, the mother would say, “Perhaps this is the Messiah.” Well, every child is the Messiah. That is why people love Christmas so much more than Easter. We know intuitively that Christ comes in every child that is born. Christ comes in our birth, and is recognized in our rebirth when we become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God.
The Virgin Birth, the Wise Men, and the Incarnation all proclaim the nondual reality at the heart of Christmas. So celebrate Christmas in this spirit. Merry Christmas. And grace and peace to you.