Did St. Paul know about what today are called near death experiences? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. He had at least one himself. It is related several times in the above readings from the Acts of the Apostles. There we see the essential character of near death experiences. There is the great light. There is the voice which no one else hears. There is the complete change of life. There is in fact a body of research on the subject of near death experiences,
In II Corinthians we hear St. Paul talk about another, some 14 years prior, who underwent a near death experience. Likewise, as a trained Pharisee, St. Paul would have been acquainted with the book called The Testament of Levi. In this book the writer also relates a near death experience, where he is taken to the highest of heavens.
How is this all important? Look how St. Paul talks about baptism in Romans 6: 2-8:
St. Paul is saying that in baptism we all undergo a near death experience. Therefore, we should also have seen the light & been transformed into a new person. We see the fullest expression of this in the letter from Ephesians:
You should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires. Be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Put on the new self, created in Mighty Judge’s way in charitableness & the dedicated way of truth.
To a lesser degree we also see this in the Gospel reading, John 6: 24 – 35:
As we read this we must keep in mind that there is a double entendre going on. In Hebrew the word for Flesh, Bashar, and the word for Good News, Gospel, is the same, Bashar. When we eat the flesh of Jesus Christ we are also eating the Gospel, the Good News. In Genesis 9:4 we read that it says the Bashar, the flesh, in the anima, the soul, which is the blood, you will not eat. Anima and blood are said to be the same. The same idea is presented in the Psalms. When we drink the blood of Christ we also take in his anima his way of being. This is taking part in a new life, the life of Christ.
This brings us to the near death experience of a nation & how the Jewish nation came to be a nation rescued from the near death of slavery in Egypt, from the near death of slavery in Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, and Nazi Germany. It has been noted that the Torah, the first 5 books of Moses end before the nation of Israel enters the land of Eretz Israel. Therefore, today’s first reading talks about life before the people enter the land. Likewise, we also have not entered the land of Eretz Israel Eretz Israel refers first, of course to a small country east of the Mediterranean. It also refers to the land of the Second Coming, the Parousia or Presence of God in Greek or the Shekinah or the Presence of God in Hebrew. In a small way, it also refers to the United States. Just as Israel was rescued from Egypt the Americans were rescued from the oppression of Europe, the slavery of the South, and the sweatshops in the north. Chinese were rescued from the sweatshops of the railroad and the coal mines. Our rescue is our near death experience.
The nation of Israel has a foretaste of this with the manna & the quail. We have it to a greater degree in the Eucharist. This is the Presence, the Shekinah of God as he lives in us. Therefore certain things are expected as found in Deuteronomy 5, the giving of the Ten Commandments:
Here we see the light in the form of the fire, the divine voice, & the change of direction. Let us now look at the change of direction. Remember, 'I, the Personal Name, am your Mighty Judge, who brought you out of the land of Oppression, that place of menial labor. To truly remember is to remember what it was like to be there. In Exodus 1 Pharaoh, (Hebrew for the man with dreadlocks, unkempt hair, & abuser) says, "Let us deal shrewdly with them." We remember the abusers in our lives & how they abused us. Dying with Christ, we remember the abuses hurled at Jesus during the Passion. Remember, the Passion was during the feast of Passover, which commemorates the rescue from oppression.
The Jewish community has the concept of the Physical Presence. "The Personal Name, our Mighty Judge, made a brit with us at Mt. Sword; not with our fathers did he make this brit, but with us, all of us who are alive, here, this day." The exodus experience is relived in present time by each succeeding generation in Passover. This concept is taken over each Sunday in the celebration of the Eucharist. It is not the Jewish exodus from oppression, but our own exodus from oppression through Jesus Christ. Therefore, just as Deuteronomy and Exodus constantly remind the Jewish people, "Remember you were once slaves in the land of oppression (Egypt) but were delivered with a might hand & an outstretched arm, so likewise we are called to remember our own oppression.
This remembering brings tangible results. In Hebrew the word for jutice, Tzadic, and the word for charity, Tzadic are the same word. Therefore, when St. Paul says, "You are justified by faith, through grace & not by works." it can also be translated as "You are made charitable by the inner truth." We have this understanding of a near death experience which results in a change of personality, a becoming more charitable, giving, & less concerned with the things of the world. We see the light of the fire. We hear the divine voice as it gives us our mission in life. We undergo the near death experience.
All people who undergo near death experiences become more charitable, less fearful of death, less concerned with the things of this world. We become less involved with the details & rules of this world. We look more to God as our great provider, the one who gives us the manna from heaven. Let us become like St. Paul. Let us no longer live as the Goim do in the futility of their minds. Let us put away the old self of your former way of life. Let us be renewed in the spirit of our minds. Let us put on the new self, created in Mighty Judge’s way in charitableness & the dedicated way of truth. Let us rejuvenate our baptism as we take the Eucharist today.
Readings for discussion: Acts 9 :1 – 8, Acts 2: 1- 11, Acts 26: 2-3, 12-19, II Corinthians 12: 2-5, Ephesians 4:17, 20-24, John 6: 24 - 35
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