Archive for January, 2023
“Endeavour
to gain refreshment from God’s cup of Love – then you will become selfless and
have no will but God’s.”
-Rumi, Masnavi V
In this
chapter Helminski details Jesus’s miracles of healing, nourishment, and
resurrection. Jesus’s reputation as a healer is one of the few things about
which all recorders of his life, Christian and non-Christian alike, agree.
Helminski begins
with the story of the wedding at Cana, detailed in John 2: 1-11. This is a much
beloved story among Christians in particular, although there are many ways to
interpret what is going on here. Some see it as a beautiful portrait of the Son
of God as one who celebrates love and abundance. In seminary I was taught that
the conversation between Mary and Jesus was full of sacrificial overtones
pointing toward the Crucifixion, which brings a helpful context to Jesus’s cryptic
response, “My hour has not yet come.”
When I read
this story now, however, I am thrown into a wonderful ocean of Sufi imagery. Sufi
poets constantly use wine and drunkenness as metaphors for spiritual ecstasy
and divine wisdom. One of my favourite sayings of Hafez, translated by the
Persian artist Rassouli, runs,
“O preacher!
Don’t be upset
that I am
devoted to the master
of the wine
house, for you offered
promises,
but he made them happen!”
Helminski,
being a Sufi scholar herself, immediately makes the same connection:
“The metaphor of drunkenness became indicative of the ‘intoxication’ with God’s love, and annihilation in God – when the wine, the cup (or the flagon), and the Cupbearer become one.”
Through this
lens, Mary’s murmured declaration to Jesus becomes something more than a mother’s
pressing her child into service. Instead, Mary, spiritually mature practitioner
that she is, turns to her son, master of the wine house, and in effect says, “These
people need to take their joy to the next level.” And likewise, Jesus’s answer
might sound more like, “What am I supposed to do about that? It’s not time for
the ultimate ecstasy of the Cross and resurrection yet.” While we’re not given
a sense of his tone, I imagine it as being rather playful, at least while I’m
reading the story through this lens. Maybe it came with a wink. However it
came, Mary enlists the servants to help transform this ordinary home and everyday
celebration of love and union into the wine house, a place where we encounter true,
deep, spiritual union. The promises of religious officials are fully realized
by God, outside of tidy and mediated religion.
“O You
who without a cup gave to the soul
an ecstasy
better than eternal drunkenness,
come, if
only for a moment.
Give us
the blessing of that moment,
so empty
of everything
including
emptiness.
How long must
we wait for that one moment?
Open the
lock of the heart,
walk toward
the treasure.
With this
treasure, you’ll have the answers
to all
the questions in both worlds.”
-Rumi, excerpted
from a ghazal, tr. Nevit Ergin and Camille Helminski
“Where is
the place of the heart? The heart is hidden…The moment the bright light of the
Truth reflects upon the heart, the heart becomes joyful. Then in a moment, that
light disappears, but many times it happens like this so that the heart might
become a heart. It burns, and many times the heart gets broken, until it melts
and only God remains.”
-From Rumi’s
Sun: The Teachings of Shams of Tabriz (tr. Refik Algan and Camille
Helminski)
This is one of the stranger stories of Jesus’s life that we don’t focus on much in church. It doesn’t even have its own feast day! It is included among the Seven Sorrows of Mary and the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary by Roman Catholics.
In this
short story contained only in Luke, Jesus travels to Jerusalem with his parents
to observe the Passover. On their way home, they notice he is not among the
caravan and head back panic-stricken to search for him. The story says he was
missing for three days. Where once Mary sought him and found only the empty
space of his absence, many years later the shock would echo back as three women
sought the body of their teacher and found the empty tomb.
After this
seeking, Mary and Joseph finally find him in the Temple, discussing scripture
with scholars and baffled by his parents’ worry.
There are
deep spiritual layers to this odd story. Helminski connects it to a similar one
Rumi recounts about the Prophet Muhammad, who briefly goes missing from his
wet-nurse when she approaches the Kaaba to return him to his mother and
grandfather:
“Here we have again the story of finding, of rediscovering the shining, pure-hearted one, in proximity with the holy, sacred space of prayer.”
She shares a
powerful passage from the Masnavi, in which Rumi has God speak:
“We have
great affections toward this earth,
because it
lies prostrate in humility…
Its outside
is at war with its inner reality:
inwardly it
glows like a jewel
while outwardly
it seems a common stone…
Its outside
denies it and says the inside is nothing;
its inside
says, “We will show you the truth: wait and see!”
Its outside
and inside are struggling:
divine aid
rewards this patient endurance. …
We are the
Revealer of the mystery, and Our work is just this,
that We
bring forth hidden things from concealment.”
-Rumi, Masnavi
IV
Helminski
affirms,
“This search for the Beloved is ongoing and at the core of our human experience. …It was here [in the Temple], centered within the heart, that [Jesus] was “found” by the One Finder (Al-Wajid), the One within whose Hand is such abundance of support, who restores us and opens our hearts with gratitude.”
How long so
many of us spend searching madly for the Beloved only to be greeted by the playful,
even impertinent question: “Why were you searching for me? Did
you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Where is the Father’s house, one might ask. The religious official is
likely to say the temple, or the church, or the mosque. The mystic says, “It’s
in your very own heart.”
“O
Beloved Protector, Friend, O Truth!
I, a
mother, come to You
kneeling,
softly calling
You
to come
quickly to me
with Your blessing
and protect my children…”
Helminski
goes on to recount Matthew’s story of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.
Here is yet another theme that weaves the three faiths of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam together: early and formative experiences of
persecution, exile, and the establishing of a new home.
Judaism’s
fundamental story is, of course, the story of the Exodus – God’s great
liberation of Their beloved people from slavery, the great gift of the
Covenant, and the promise of a new home. Not only did this impact the two
succeeding faiths thematically, but both experienced their own oppression
because of their faith. Many Christians found themselves regularly harassed and
executed by the Roman rulers for refusing to sacrifice to idols or pledge
loyalty to empire. Likewise Muslims struggled in the early years of their faith
at the hands of polytheist tribes who sought to limit their freedom of worship.
While Christians built up a reputation of enduring persecution, torture, and
execution, many simply fled to seek safety, and the Prophet Muhammad led his
own followers on the same path, fleeing first to Egypt and then to Ethiopia,
where they were sheltered by a Christian king who offered them protection. They
also received protection during their second exile from Mecca, this time from
Jewish communities in Medina who shared their homes and food.
Though human
beings are known for their forgetfulness, this shows us that care for the
stranger and the refugee is at the heart of all three faiths. We would do well
to remember Rabbi Hillel’s words when asked to summarize the Torah standing on
one foot: “That which is harmful to you, do not do to your fellow. This is the
whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and learn.” (Talmud, Shabbat, 31a).
It was not
only fellow human beings who offered sanctuary to these three great families of
faith. Helminski writes,
“All three Abrahamic faiths are joined in the experience of persecution and the seeking of refuge. And again and again, we witness the natural world rising up in support of those seeking to align with the Eternal Source of Beneficence[.]”
We see this
reflected in the story of Hagar and Ishmael being saved by the sudden eruption
of the Zimzam spring, the miraculous waters of Meribah in the wilderness, and
folk tales of the Holy Family being shielded by juniper and rosemary bushes and
also sustained through the sudden outpouring of springs.
All of these
stories are illustrations of God’s boundless compassion and care for all
creatures.
“God is
enough for us; and how excellent a Guardian…
And they
returned with God’s blessings and bounty,
Without
having been touched by harm:
For they
had been striving after God’s goodly acceptance –
And God
is limitless in [Their] great bounty and grace.”
(Surah al-‘Imran, 3:173-74)
“Until
the tender-throated babe is born,
how should
the milk for it
flow from
the mother’s breast?
Go, run
across these hills and dales,
so that
you may become thirsty and hunted by heat;
then,
from the thundering cloud,
you will
hear the voice of the water of the stream[.]”
– Rumi, Masnavi
III
After the
birth of Jesus, Mary observes a time of separation to bond with the baby and respect
the ancient purity codes while her body recovers from the birth. Traditionally,
this period lasted for forty days after the birth, and was brought to an end
with the presentation of the child in the Temple as well as a sacrifice to God
in thanksgiving and dedication.
Helminski links
these forty days to stories in the scriptures of all three Abrahamic faiths as
well as the time required for the development of a fetal heartbeat.
In the
Christian tradition, the Feast of the Presentation is observed on February 2nd,
where we light candles in honour of the prophetic proclamation that Jesus would
be a “light to enlighten the nations.” Luke 2:22-40 tells the story of Simeon
and the prophet Anna meeting the Holy Family in the Temple. Simeon gives Mary joyful
and rather ominous news:
“This child
is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign
that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and
a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
(Luke 2:34b-35)
In Muslim tradition,
the story is a bit different. The Quran possibly echoes a short proclamation in
the Syriac Infancy Gospel, possibly composed in the 6th or 7th
century.
In Surah 19,
Mary returns to her people “in time,” carrying the baby. Those who see her
believe that Jesus is an illegitimate child, and say, “O Mary, you have come to
us with something amazing! O descendent of the prophet Aaron, your father was
not an evil man nor was your mother unchaste.” (19:27-28)
Mary says
nothing, for the angel who brought her water and dates in the desert has instructed
her to remain silent. Instead, she points to the baby. The people are baffled
until he speaks!
“I am a
servant of God. [God] has given me the Book and made me a prophet, ad made me
blessed wherever I may be, and [God] has enjoined upon me prayer and charity as
long as I live, and has made me kind toward my mother. And [God] has made me neither
arrogant nor bereft of grace. And so peace is upon me the day I was born, and
the day I shall die, and the day upon which I will be resurrected to life once
again.” (19:30-33)
Helminski
writes,
“When God allows Jesus to speak, he manifests [Mary’s] spiritual power as well as his own. It was through Mary’s profound fortitude and trust in God that the voice of Jesus opened, in support of them both, to uphold Truth. …With the speech of this holy infant, came the arrival of justice through Mary’s surrender and love, God’s Love.”
This story,
like that of Simeon and Anna, is a story of unexpected and powerful
truth-telling, a foretelling of the remarkable life that Mary’s son would lead.
“Mary,
dear Mary,
what Beauty
was rapt
in her
presence,
that she
heard
Your
Voice
and was
still –
handmaiden
to Your
Will,
and, yet,
her own
strength –
with which
You
gifted her
to stand
strong
before the
people
to affirm
Your
Holiness
she carried
in her
arms.”
“[They
asked her,] ‘You who are highly favoured, tabernacle of the Most High,
unblemished, we, all the apostles ask you… Tell us how you conceived of the
incomprehensible, or how you carried him who cannot be carried, or how you bore
so much greatness.’
But Mary
answered, ‘Do not ask me concerning this mystery. If I begin to tell you, fire
will come out of my mouth and consume the whole earth[.]”
-Gospel of
Bartholomew 2:4-5
(Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. I, p. 492)
In this
chapter we come to the glorious mystery of the Incarnation. Despite the way
Christmas pageants harmonize the biblical narrative, only Matthew and Luke
contain birth stories, and they don’t necessarily agree on the details.
The Quran also
contains a birth narrative for Jesus. In Surah 19, Mary, having already spoken
with Gabriel, ventures out into the desert, and while there, goes into labour.
She leans against a palm tree and wails: “Alas! I wish I had died before this,
and was a thing long forgotten!” (19:23)
A voice responds,
“Do not grieve! Your Lord has provided a stream at your feet. And shake the
trunk of this palm tree towards you, it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.
So eat and drink, and put your heart at ease.” (19:24-26a). The Quran claims
that the angelic voice rises up “from beneath” Mary, which leads Helminski to connect
it to a verse in Surah al-Bayyinah which refers to rivers flowing beneath the
Garden of Paradise. Mystics also say that the palm tree, barren and dead when Mary
came, sprouted again when she touched it.
This story echoes
an account in the Proto-evangelium of James in which Mary sits to rest on a
rock on the way to Bethlehem, and a spring of clear water bursts forth. This
place became the site of the ancient Church of Kathisma, which seems to have
contained both altar and mihrab, welcoming Christians and Muslims to
offer prayers to Mary there.
Helminski
writes,
“In both the Quran and in the Bible the account of Jesus’s birth, whether in a stable, in a cave, or in the desert under a palm tree, is related to have taken place in a lowly, simple place, with nature awake and aware, the stars witnessing with their light, or the fertile grace of the palm with water bubbling up from beneath her to quench Beloved Mary’s thirst.”
These two
stories of erupting springs also mirror the story of Hagar and Ishmael, rescued
by angels in the wilderness. That spring still exists to this day in the city
of Mecca, which grew up around it. Pilgrims on the hajj drink from it as
part of their rituals.
In all three
Abrahamic traditions, the bubbling up of “living” water is a symbol of God’s
abundant grace. It’s an image the adult Jesus uses when he speaks with the
Samaritan woman:
“The water
that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal
life.” (John 4: 14b)
Helminski writes,
“In the Quranic birth scene, God miraculously provides food and water to Mary (as had been bestowed upon her when she was in the sanctuary of the Temple) just after she expresses a desire for her own death. For many mystics…Mary is an example of how we must die to our limited self, empty out our own egoistic desires or inclinations, that we might be filled with God’s abundant, beautiful sustenance, with the breath of God[.]”
“Our body
is like Mary.
Each of
us has a Jesus inside.
If a pain
and a yearning shows up inside us,
the Jesus
of our soul is born.”
-Rumi, tr.
Omid Safi