You Are Risen

Four gospels, four stories -- four variations on the winding path toward arising.

In the Mark story, you encounter your fear. The powers that be are coming after you. If you try to reconnect with the part of you that feels separated, you fear you will be punished for it. You simply run. You tell no one. Yes, that’s a true story; that’s one way the story truly does unfold.

In the John story, you go in solitude to see the empty tomb – and no frightening or reassuring guy in white or angel is there. You return from the tomb and speak to some trusted others. You speak with a confidant, a teacher, a spiritual guide, who goes with you back to the tomb, and then leaves you there alone again, crying. Then you turn around, and there it is. Right there in front you – the wholeness that is your birthright. Even then, you mistake it for the gardener. But it calls your name:
“Mary!”
(or “Maria!” or “Jose!” “Arthur!” “Clarice!” “Chang!” “Laura!” "Ahmed!" whoever….)

Once I was in a one-on-one interview with a Zen teacher, and I was floundering with the koan he had given me. I see it this way, I see it that way, I was saying. He was looking at me decidedly unimpressed. Suddenly he interrupted my explanatory ramble with a shout:
“Meredith!”
Oh.
I saw it then. Called to myself, the emptiness of the tomb vivid, the point of the koan was suddenly clear.

So the banished part of you calls your name, and in that moment it is realized. That's a true story.

The Easter story is that if you go and look, you will discover a possibility of new life, new connection with a part of you that you thought was dead.

In the Matthew story, you encounter enemies that discredit that story. They tell you that there is no new life for you discover. They have been bribed by their own needs for the comfort of the familiar status quo to say, “There is no transformation, there is no greater wholeness. Those parts of you that you need for wholeness were carried away in the night and will remain dead and gone from you.” But you know better. You have seen a new life that they cannot imagine. That’s a true story.

In the Luke story, it’s not your enemies but your friends. You go to speak to them about the discovery – this frightening yet promising new reality you have discovered. And they don’t believe you. Liberation? Wholeness? It is an idle tale, they think. And it’s OK that they think that. They have to see for themselves, as you have to see for yourself. You can’t take anybody’s word for it. That, too, is a true story.

You stand in the meadow, between the Golgotha hill of crucifixion and the cave of the tomb. You stand in that open field of transition, on the verge of discovery that the tomb of what you thought was dead in you is empty.

What’s the meadow for? What’s the metaphor? It is that open space from which you can step toward new life and new wholeness.

Happy Easter.

You are risen.

Amen.

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Part 6 of "What's the Meadow For?"
Previous: Part 5: "Go and Look"
Beginning: Part 1: "Easter Stories"

Go and Look

What part of you seemingly has died and is laid in a tomb?

An Australian nurse, Bonnie Ware, worked in palliative care for several years, caring for patients in the final months of their lives. She has written about what she learned from those patients, and the phenomenal clarity many people gain at the end of their lives. When she asked them if they had any regrets or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Five such themes were most common. (See Guardian article  here; Bonnie Ware's blog post is here.)

Most commonly, they say, “I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Second, almost all the men and many of the women said, “I wish I hadn't worked so hard.”

Third, “I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.”

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

Fourth, “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”

Fifth, “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”

"Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

So I ask again, what part of you seems laid in the tomb? What heart’s yearning is nailed to a cross of familiarity? What longing for wholeness and connection has withered away in public view? What is the passion story of your passion? Go and look.

Of course, you will think, “my god, there’s no way I can roll back that stone.” Go and look.

Go by yourself in the predawn dark.
Go with a single friend.
Go with two friends.
Go with a group of supportive presences as the day dawns and the sunlight begins.
Just go.
Look.
When you get there, you will see
the stone obstacle you feared is rolled back.

So look inside.
Peer into the darkness of your interior.
It’s empty.

The part of you that you long for,
the part you thought was dead,
is not there in that place where dead things lie.

You cannot take my word for this.
You cannot know it until you go and look for yourself.
Be still and quiet and look.

Easter morning is a metaphor for every morning.
Every morning, take some time to be still and quiet and look.
Notice every part of you. They’re all still there, still alive.
Start each day with the first-hand experience that the tomb is empty.
The you that you long for is not sealed up in there.

So where is it?

* * * * *
Part 5 of "What's the Meadow For?"
Next: Part 6: "You Are Risen"
Previous: Part 4: "John's Easter Story. And Yours."
Beginning: Part 1: "Easter Stories"

John's Easter Story. And Yours.

We've reviewed the Easter story in Mark and Matthew (two days ago) and in Luke (yesterday). Today we look at the Easter story in "The Gospel According to John." Mary Magdelene traveled to the tomb with two other women (Mark), with one other woman (Matthew), or with a group of at least four (Luke). In John, she comes alone. And she comes, not when the sun was up (Mark), or at dawn (Matthew, Luke), but in the pre-dawn darkness. As in Mark and Luke, she arrives to find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. This time there’s no guy in white, or two guys in white, or an angel. Nobody. And no body.

Mary goes back and reports to Simon Peter and another disciple:

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him” (20: 2)

Mary and the two disciples go back to the tomb and see nothing but

“the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head . . . rolled up in a place by itself.” (20: 6)

Then Simon Peter and the other disciple leave.

“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying.” (20: 11-12)

The angels ask, “Why are you weeping?” Mary answers that “They have taken my Lord, I don’t know where.” Then she turns around and sees Jesus, but doesn’t recognize him:

“’Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’
Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father.”’” (20: 15-17)

Later that evening, Jesus appears to the other disciples:

"Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’ . . . He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (20: 19-22)

Jesus shows up again a week later where the disciples are gathered:

“Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you,’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” (20: 26-27)

The John story has a surreal, dreamlike quality quite different from the other three. In the surreal logic of John, bodies reanimate, yet wounds remain unhealed. Apparitions say, “Peace be with you.” The ghostly Jesus asks not to be touched, then convinces “doubting Thomas” by letting him touch the wounds. It is a dreamlike realm, unconcerned with persecution from worldly powers.

The resurrection is about you. Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John give four different stories: four metaphors for what each of us encounters. In these metaphors, Mary Magdalene is you. Jesus is also you. Jesus is the part of you that you thought was dead. You mourn its loss. But these stories are here to tell you: it’s not dead.

It’s not dead.

Easter is the time for soul-searching. Go, as Mary, and look. Look to find your self.

What part of you seemingly has died and is laid in a tomb? Go and look.

Are you stuck in a deadening job? Does it seem that the part of you that yearns for creative, rewarding contribution to the world lies dead? Go and look.

Are you stuck in a dysfunctional relationship? The part of you that would dance in celebration of love and connection and intimate play seems like a cold and motionless corpse? Go and look.

What part of you has been persecuted, battered, humiliated? What part of you with its dying words asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” Arise on the morning of a new day, and go and look.

* * * * *
Part 4 of "What's the Meadow For?"
Next: Part 5: "Go and Look"
Previous: Part 3: "Luke Easter Story"
Beginning: Part 1: "Easter Stories"

Luke Easter Story

Today let’s look at “The Gospel According to Luke.” This time it’s a group of women. Luke doesn’t say exactly how many. The group includes Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Joanna, and the rest of the women who were close followers of Jesus. As in Mark, there is mention of spices and ointments for preparing the body, but they can’t do that until Sunday, after the Sabbath. Also as in Mark, when they get to the tomb, it is already open.

“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.’” (24: 2-5)

So far, it’s like Mark, only more populated. More women, and two men instead of one in dazzling clothes. The women are terrified, just as in Mark – and there’s no mention of that fear being mixed with joy as in Matthew.

Then the Luke story goes its own way. In Luke the women, perhaps because there are more of them and they are able to borrow courage from each other, rise above their fear. In Mark, they ran away and didn’t tell anybody, but in Luke:

“Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.” (24: 8-9)

In Mark, the women never tell the disciples. The Matthew and in John, the women tell the disciples and are instantly believed. There is no hint in Matthew or John that the disciples had any doubts about what the women say. But in Luke, we read:

“Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.” (24: 10-12)

Only Peter believes the women. He checks it out himself, but apparently he says nothing to the other ten. The other “men refused to believe the story until two of the men happened to be walking to another village, and suddenly there is Jesus walking along with them, except they don’t recognize him. They get into this long conversation with Jesus, and finally Jesus says, Hey guys, you idiots, it’s me. Finally, the men believe, and they go back and tell the other men, who finally believe what the women have told them.” (Dan Harper)

The Luke story has no sense of the ongoing repression that was so prominent in Mark and was, to a lesser extent, present in Matthew. It was politically dangerous to be a follower of Jesus, but you couldn’t tell that from Luke. What you can tell in Luke, is that the women understood, and the men were slow on the uptake.

* * * * *
Part 3 of "What's the Meadow For?
Next: Part 4: "John's Easter Story. And Yours."
Previous: Part 2: "Mark and Matthew Easter Stories"
Begginning: Part 1: "Easter Stories"

Mark and Matthew Easter Stories

In the story in "The Gospel According to Mark," there are three women:

"May Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome." (16:1a) 

They had

“bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.” (16:1b)

There is a tone of concern about how they are going to pull this off:

“They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?' When they looked up, they saw that the stone which was very large, had already been rolled back.” (16:3-4)

That’s not good. What are they walking into here? Have the Romans laid a trap to arrest more of the rebel Jesus’ followers?

“As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.” (16:5)

Is he secret police? Is he a Roman agent?

“But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.’” (16:6)

These words do not reassure the three women. They turn and run away from this creepy guy.

“So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” (16:8)

That’s how the Gospel of Mark ends: right there, with three scared women running away. They don’t tell anyone; no one else comes to check out the tomb. End of story. The last three words of the Gospel of Mark are, “they were afraid.”

If you check your Bible, you’ll probably see a dozen additional verses, but if it is a scholarly edition, you’ll also see a note that indicates those extra verses are doubtful. Scholars believe the extra verses were added later. The Gospel of Mark originally ends starkly -- in uncertainty and fear. Maybe the ethical movement founded by Jesus will continue. Yet it’s clear that fear of political repression will be an ongoing reality for that movement.

Now let’s look at the story in "The Gospel According to Matthew." This time it's two women rather than three:

“After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said’ . . . So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” (28:1-6, 8)

With fear and great joy. In Mark, the women were simply scared. This time they have a mix of fear and joy. A key point here is that in Matthew, but not in Mark, there are guards. Mary and Mary can see that the guards are scared stiff. If the Roman guards are scared, then this white-clad guy is evidently not, himself, a Roman agent. So the political repression fear that was predominant in Mark is mitigated in Matthew.

Just as the two Marys are leaving the tomb, they encounter Jesus, and he speaks to them briefly:

“Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to then, 'Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." (28: 9-10)

Some of Jerusalem's rulers catch wind of the news that Jesus' body has gone missing. They concoct a story, which they bribe the guards to affirm, that some of Jesus' followers came in the middle of the night and took the body away. Only in Matthew do we get this strange little story about bribing the guards to say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep” (28:13). Maybe that’s exactly what did happen, and the Matthew storyteller is trying to discredit that by attributing it to the lies of bribed guards. Still, overall, Matthew's is the most straight-down-the-middle Easter story of resurrection. The fundamental optimism is much clearer than in Mark. Yes, there are still some swirling political realities that put Jesus’ followers at risk -- but the basic point is the good news that Jesus did not really die.

Tomorrow: Luke.

* * * * *
Part 2 of "What's the Meadow For?"
Next: Part 3: "Luke Easter Story"
Beginning: Part 1: "Easter Stories"

Easter Stories

Happy Easter. Hallelujah!

He is risen, she is risen, they are risen, and we are risen. OK, everybody up? Excellent. Now what? For the resurrection is yours. What are you going to do with it?

For our Easter reading, let’s look at this fascinating and helpful story – or rather stories.

An insightful and compassionate teacher was put to death. He died on a Friday, too late in the day to bury him. The next day, Saturday, was the Jewish Sabbath. Jesus and all his followers were good, observing Jews, so the body could not be properly prepared and buried on the Sabbath. They had to wait until Sunday for the burial. The body was placed in a temporary tomb – a small cave cut into the side of the hill. The doors were heavy stone circles that ran on a track.

Showing the circular stone on a track.

On Sunday morning Mary Magdelene went by herself (John). Or two women, Mary Magdelene and “the other Mary,” went to the tomb (Matthew). Or three women, Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went (Mark). Or an indeterminate number of women – at least four -- went to the tomb (Luke).

She, or they, took spices to prepare the body for burial. Mary went in the pre-dawn darkness (John). Or the women went when the day was dawning (Matthew and Luke). Or when the sun had risen (Mark).

When Mary, or the women, got there, they found the stone already rolled back (Mark, Luke, John). Or they arrived just in time to see an angel roll it back (Matthew).

Three women entered the tomb and saw “a young man dressed in a white robe” (Mark). Or a group of four or more women saw “two men in dazzling robes” (Luke). Or two women saw an angel and some guards (Matthew). Or Mary Magdalene, alone, saw no one at all until after she returned from the tomb, told two of the disciples that the body was missing, all three of them returned again to the tomb, still saw nothing but linen wrappings, and the disciples left Mary alone crying. Then she looked into the tomb and saw "two angels in white" (John).

However we tell it, the tomb was empty.

What had been taken for dead, wasn’t.

And a whole new world of possibility was suddenly open.

* * * * *
Part 1 of "What's the Meadow For?"
Next: Part 2: "Mark and Matthew Easter Stories"

An Easter Story Story

This is the story about the story: the story about what happened to the story about Yeshua. Yeshua taught people about a new way to live in love with each other. After he died, Yeshua’s students and followers began gathering together in communities that they called churches. They gathered to share the stories about Yeshua, to try to try to attain this Kingdom of God that Yeshua talked about.

Soon, however, the story started changing. Very different ideas started to be added on.

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER: When Yeshua said Kingdom of God, did he really mean that the Kingdom was right here – that the Kingdom was created whenever people lived together with love as their law? Some people started to say, “Oh, what Yeshua really meant was that the Kingdom of God is a happy place that your soul goes to after your body dies, but only if you’ve been good.”

SUNDAY SCHOOL PUPIL [precocious, impertinent]: That’s probably not what Yeshua meant.

TEACHER: They started to say that Yeshua was God.

PUPIL: Why would they say that? Yeshua didn’t say that.

TEACHER: In those days, anyone who was very important was said to be a god. For instance, the Romans said that Augustus Caesar was God. Yeshua’s followers also started starting saying Yeshua had a miraculous birth.

PUPIL: I’m sure it was. Every birth is miraculous.

TEACHER: They said only Yeshua had this particular kind of miraculous birth, that his mother was a saint.

PUPIL: I’m sure she was. Mine is.

TEACHER: According to the story, Yeshua’s Mom was special and holy like no other woman ever. And Yeshua’s father was not a human being at all, but was God.

PUPIL: But you said they said Yeshua was God.

TEACHER: Yes.

PUPIL: So . . . he was his own father?

TEACHER: Well, no. . . .

PUPIL: Oh, then there were two Gods: one was the father of the other.

TEACHER: No, they always said there’s just one God.

PUPIL: Then, how . . . ?

TEACHER: I don’t know. I’m just telling you what they said.

PUPIL: What else did they say?

TEACHER: They said that after he died, his body was laid in a tomb on a Friday afternoon, but then on Sunday morning he came back to life.

PUPIL: So he wasn’t really dead, then?

TEACHER: No, he was really dead. But then he came back to life.

PUPIL: What part of “dead” do you not understand?

TEACHER: I’m just telling you what they said. Besides, there are lots of stories in which the dead come back to life.

PUPIL: Uh, yeah, like Zombie stories. Do you mean Yeshua was undead?

TEACHER: Don’t say that! Have some respect!

PUPIL: I’m just trying to understand what the story is saying.

TEACHER: And I’m trying to tell you. A lot of different stories started being told about Yeshua.
In some of those stories, they say Yeshua died to take your sins away.

PUPIL: My sins? That’s awfully nice of him, but how does one person dying take away sins of another person? Also: I wasn’t born yet, so I didn’t have any sins back then. Oh! And didn’t you say that he died and then came back to life two days later? Does that mean that my sins come back in two days?

TEACHER: You ask a lot of questions.

PUPIL: Is that OK?

TEACHER: Yes, my dear. It’s wonderful.

Over the last 2000 years, a lot of different ways of telling the Yeshua story have come along. Some of those stories are all about how he was born and what happened after he died. The things he did in between don’t matter so much.

There are also people who consider themselves followers of Yeshua – Christians -- who pay no attention to anything supposedly special about Yeshua’s birth or his death, or after death. For them, the only Yeshua story is the story of what Yeshua did, how he lived, and what he taught. They also call themselves Christian because they try to live as Yeshua taught. They try to live as though God, or love, lives within us and among us, and the better we know that, the better we can love.

An Easter Story

Once upon a time, long before there was the internet or video games or even electric lights, before there were e-books – before there were books – back when stories were preserved only on scrolls and in memory – the world was different yet also very much the same. For instance, today there are poor people and rich people – and so were there then. A child was born into a poor family. His name was Yeshua: a quiet boy, with bright eyes, curious and kind.

When Yeshua was 12, his family traveled into the big city for the festival. In the big city, Yeshua got separated from his parents. They searched all over for him for three days, worried sick. When they found him, he was sitting with a circle of grown-ups next to the temple. The wisest elders in the whole city were gathered, and Yeshua was paying careful attention and asking questions.

YESHUA: Why are some people rich and others are poor? Why is there suffering? Why do we make mistakes that hurt others or ourselves? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to bad people? Is there really any such thing as bad people or good people? How can we learn how to be more kind and more loving?

Every elder had a different answer because nobody was sure.

When Yeshua became a grown up, he was still trying to find the answers. He read all the scrolls, and asked every teacher he could find. He went into the desert to get away from other people and be alone to think and to feel, to hear the quiet message of his own heart, and to experience more deeply the Earth and the sky.

Yeshua stayed in the desert many days with very little food.

One day in the desert a gazelle walked up to him.

GAZELLE: Why are you here, human?

Yeshua didn’t know if he was imagining, or if a Gazelle was really talking.

YESHUA: I want answers.

GAZELLE: What are the questions?

YESHUA: Why is there suffering? Why are some rich while others are poor? Why do we make hurtful mistakes? Why do bad things happen?

GAZELLE: Why, why, why.

Gazelle left. She came back the next day. Yeshua looked at her and repeated his question.

YESHUA: Why?

Gazelle looked at him, and spoke quietly.

GAZELLE: What do you already know?

YESHUA: Everybody I ask gives a different answer.

GAZELLE: There are many different reasons then.

Gazelle left again. The next day, the sun was sinking low before Gazelle trotted by where Yeshua was sitting. Yeshua looked up.

YESHUA: There are many different reasons.

GAZELLE: Yes, many reasons.

YESHUA: So how can we learn to be kinder?

GAZELLE: Good question. Much better than the other ones.

Gazelle left and did not return. A week later, Yeshua left the desert and returned to the villages of people. He began talking to people and teaching them.

YESHUA: I know that you suffer, and are poor, that you have made mistakes and are sorry, and others have made mistakes that harmed you. I have some good news.

CROWD: What? What? What is the news?

YESHUA: The kin[g]dom of God is within and among you.

CROWD: What did he say? What was that word?

PERSON 1: He said "Kingdom" of God. Like God is the King and will rule over us.

PERSON 2: No, he didn’t say "Kingdom" of God. He said the "Kin-dom" of God. Like we’re all kin – we’re all related to each other. When we know we are kin, that’s when we live in a holy way, like God.

YESHUA: The good news is the kindom of God. It is where love rules. Where love is the only law. Love is inside you, and love is among you. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you.

Wherever Yeshua went, he tried to teach people how to be kinder. One day a man approached him.

PERSON 3: How can I live from love and for love?

YESHUA: Follow the rules and follow the love, for the rule is love.

PERSON 3: What’s the rule?

YESHUA: There are really only two. The first is: love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And the second is like the first: love your neighbor as yourself.

PERSON 3: My neighbor as myself?

YESHUA: Your neighbor as yourself.

PERSON 3: Who is my neighbor?

YESHUA: Let me tell you a story. Once there was a man who was robbed and beaten and left by the side of the road. Two people passed by and did nothing to help. A third person went to the man, bandaged his wounds, brought him to an inn and took care of him, paid for his care. So who was a neighbor to that robbed and beaten man?

PERSON 3: The one who showed him mercy.

YESHUA: Go, and do likewise.

Another time, another man approached Yeshua.

PERSON 4: How can I live from love and for love?

YESHUA: You know the commandments: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie.

PERSON 4: I have kept the commandments since my youth, yet my heart is not satisfied. How can I have a larger love?

Yeshua looked at the man and loved him.

YESHUA: Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.

When the man heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Wherever he went, Yeshua talked to people and taught them to have hope in each other, taught them to care for each other, and how to be together in a community where love is the only law – a community that he called the kingdom, or the kin-dom, of God.

PERSON 5: Sounds like a liberal.

Yeshua especially emphasized taking care of the poor: providing everyone with housing, and food, and health care.

PERSON 5: Yep. Definitely a liberal.

- - - - -

Sources (from NRSV):
When Yeshua was 12 . . .
Luke 2: 40-48:

The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." [No parallels in other gospels]

He went into the desert
Mark 1: 12-13:

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. [Parallel passages: Matt 4: 1-11, and Luke 4: 1-13]

The news
Luke 4: 43:

But he said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose."

Luke 8:1:

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

Luke 17: 21:

For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among (Or within) you.

Compare:
Deut 30: 11-14:

Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

Love your enemies...
Luke 6: 27-28:

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse your, pray for those who abuse you." [Parallel passage: Matt 5: 44]

The rule is love
Matthew 22: 37-40:

He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. [Parallel passages: Mark 12: 28-31, and Luke 10: 25-28]

Compare:
Deut 6:4-6:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

Leviticus 19: 18:

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Who is my neighbor?
Luke 10: 29-37:

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." [Parallel passages: Matt 22: 34-40, and Mark 12: 28-34]

Sell what you own, give to the poor
Mark 10: 17-22:

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing: go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. [Parallel passages: Matt 19: 16-22, and Luke 18: 18-23]

Luke 12: 33:

Sell your possessions and give alms

Luke 14: 33:

So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.