Jesus and Zen
There is a story in the Gospel of John in which Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them. Jesus goes on to say, "And you know the way to the place where I am going."
To which Thomas says, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"
Jesus says, the a very misused line these days, "I am the way."
Many people understand this text to be one that tells us the way to heaven is only through Jesus. That is to say if you want to see heaven, follow Jesus.
When we think like this, we split our attention. We have one eye on heaven and the other eye on Jesus. Which sounds like a good thing, but this is really not the point of what Jesus is talking about. Jesus wants his disciples to not focus on the destination, because they know where Jesus is going, rather Jesus wants the disciples to focus on the way.
Which reminds me of a Zen teaching, which I think speaks just as much Truth as Jesus is talking about in John.
A young, but earnest Zen student approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years . .”
The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast — How long then?”
Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.”
“But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student.
“Thirty years,” replied the Master.
“But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”
Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”
Christians can learn a great deal from this. What would it look like if we took Jesus' words seriously. We know where he is going, so stop worrying or thinking or trying to see it.
Rather focus on the path, the Way, Jesus and trust that it takes you where Jesus is.
Cooking Christian
Everyone needs to eat. As such, people need to cook. When I cook something I "get fed" and I feel good about my cooking. I get new recipes to try them out, discover there are somethings that I like and others that I do not like. I get a measuring cup to ensure I use the right amount of oil, I have an oven thermometer to ensure the temperature is correct and I get a scale to ensure my cakes are not too dense but remain fluffy. I get some books that talk about cooking and begin to work on my knife skills and even master flipping things in a pan. I am able to provide for myself as I cook and I believe that the point of cooking is to provide food.
There are many of us Christians who view the Christian faith in this way. We go to church and Sunday school. We read some books and drop an occasional prayer at Thanksgiving or during a crisis. We believe that the point of doing these things is to be "fed". When worship does not "feed us" we do not attend. When Sunday school is not "nourishing" we bail. When the church does not give me the "recipes" for living a good life or when the "recipes" that are heard do not work - we think church is point less. When the church no longer meets my "needs" I find it difficult to lift my head off the pillow on Sunday morning. For many of us, the point of Christianity is to be fed and feed others. Why else would you go though all those spiritual disciplines if you do not "get something out of them"?
I am not sure if the point of Christianity is to be "fed". I am not sure the point of Christianity is to learn how to live life in such a way that we get our needs met. I am not sure the point of Christianity is to learn how to cook.
I wonder if the point of Christianity is to learn to be a chef.
It is foundational for all chefs to learn to cook, but not all cooks are chefs.
The point of many chefs is not just to be fed, but rather to bring new and beautiful and tasty things into existence. The chef is aware that the creation is not something that she did on her own, the chef is aware of the dependence upon others we all share. She did not grow the food or water it or even harvest it. She did not process or even deliver the food. The chef however, did co-create something wonderful and appetizing that only existed in part before she worked her "chef magic".
Chefs cook with trust and faith and failure and hope and anticipation and guts in order to bring something of beauty into the world.
Cooks just make food.
Christians are those who strive to be chefs and will not settle for cooking. And there are many people in the world who are wonderful chefs, who do not take the name Christian.
The call for Christians is to stop looking to be fed by being a "cooking Christian". Rather, create something beautiful, enliven the world with textures, infuse flavors in your relationships.
For goodness sake, be a chef and you will be fed.
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.