March 13, 2003

The John and Jesus Episode

I have always felt that there is an imprint, a natural design in our DNA, that creates a need to know our heritage.

I'm told that genealogy is the fastest growing hobby among Americans today. Most all of us have an interest in our family tree. Why not? Maybe we're related to a King ... or something.

There is even a greater need for adopted people to find their biological parents. Even if they have been given a wonderful life by their adoptive parents, there is still the "need to know" just who it was that biologically brought them into the world.

This same need exists at even deeper levels. Spiritual levels. I think we all wonder sometimes, "Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Is there life after this life? What is life really all about?"

People who spend their whole life analyzing these things, sometimes get a little weird. Those who look honestly and sincerely at these questions, often find real answers.

During the early to mid 1970's, I was a youth pastor in North Hollywood, California. These were the days, my friends, that brought us the psychedelic euphoria of LSD. In fact, Dr. Timothy Leary, a Harvard professor, taught kids that it would be a wonderful thing if everyone in the whole world was on LSD. Barry McGuire (lead singer in the musical HAIR and soloist who gave us the 70's smash hit, "Eve of Destruction") told me personally that he once believed that if everyone was on drugs, we would truly have world peace.

Clearly LSD and other chemicals were not the answer, but those days did create a new awareness and a need to know what life was really all about.

In 1977, John Lennon, the Beattle, claimed he had been "born-again." This had happened while Lennon was living as a recluse in New York's Dakota Building. Evidently during that time he became an avid viewer and reader of several American television ministers.

As you might imagine, this caused quite a stir. At least two people have written about this episode in Lennon's life.

Robert Rosen wrote the book, Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon (published by Soft Kull Press) and Geoffrey Giuliano wrote the book Lennon in America (published by Cooper Square Press). Both mention that Billy Graham and Pat Robertson had significantly impacted on this searching, seeking young man. They both write that Lennon's everyday conversation was filled with, "Praise the Lord," and "Thank you, Jesus." They both say this period was brief.

Both writers base their information on sources close to Lennon and on the singer's personal dairies, which circulated shortly after his death and then were quickly retrieved by his widow Yoko Ono. A lot of people have known about the dairies, but legal problems have precluded authors from quoting directly from the dairies.

Interestingly, Robert Rosen, a New York journalist, was briefly employed by Ono. He says, "One day [Lennon] had an epiphany -- he allowed himself to be touched by the love of Jesus Christ, and it drove him to tears of joy and ecstasy." He said, "He drew a picture of a crucifix; he was born again, and the experience was such a kick that he shared it with Yoko."

Giuliano, who has written extensively about the Beattles, pinpoints this experience to a Palm Sunday and says that Lennon was so moved by a series about Jesus, broadcast on CBN, that he broke down in tears. In following weeks, he attended church services and took his son, Sean, to a Christian theater performance. He even called the 700 Club help line to request prayer for his health and troubled marriage.

Ono, whose first husband Anthony Cox who became an evangelical Christian in the early 1970's, was upset with Lennon's new found interest in Jesus.

Geoffrey Giuliano claims that Lennon began to challenge her interest in the occult and was disappointed she wouldn't join him in watching Billy Graham's telecasts.

Giuliano says he believes, "she panicked over John's new found interest in Jesus and was afraid that this would clash with her own ideas about spiritualism and would further threaten her iron hold over him."

In the end, Ono won. In his final years, the man best known for his lines, "Imagine There's No Heaven, It's Easy If You Try," was living a life dictated by astrologers, numerologists, clairvoyants, psychics, herbalists, and tarot-card readers.

The one song that Lennon wrote during his "Jesus" period has never been released. "You Saved My Soul," which tells of his attempted suicide and the prevention while staying in a Tokyo hotel, is known only to Beattles bootleggers. (Research citation: Steve Turner).

So close. So very, very close.

I'm reminded of a time long before the 1970's. A well-known, controversial teacher, prepared to speak to the immense crowd that had gathered to hear him. His usual method of teaching was to tell people stories. This day was no exception.

His story went something like this:

"Listen! A farmer decided to sow some grain. As he scattered it across his field, some of it fell on a path and the birds came and picked it off the hard ground and ate it. Some fell on this soil with underlying rock. It grew up quickly enough, but soon wilted beneath the hot sun and dried because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. Then seeds fell among thorns that shot up and crowded the young plants so they they produced no grain. But some of the seeds fell into good soil and yielded thirty times as much as he had planted -- some of it even sixty or a hundred times as much."

The crowd was curious and asked, "What does this teaching mean?"

The teacher continued:

"The farmer I talked about is anyone who brings God's message to others, trying to plan good seed within their lives. The hard pathway represents the hard hearts of some who hear -- Satan comes at once to try to make them forget it. The rocky soil represents the hearts of those who hear the message with joy, but like youth plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep, and though at first they get along fine, as soon as persecution begins, they wilt. The thorny ground represents the heart of people who listen to the Good News and receive it, but all too quickly, the attraction of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God's message from their heart, so that no crop is produced. But this good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God's message and produce a plentiful harvest for God -- thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as was planted in their hearts."

Jesus.

There is a great deal for all of us in this John and Jesus episode.

Imagine there is a heaven -- it makes sense if you try.

Imagine there is a God who, in the beginning, created mankind in His image and likeness. It makes sense, if you think about it.

Imagine that He sent His Son Jesus to restore mankind because we had gotten confused and lost our way.

Imagine that as we receive His Son, we are restored and adopted into His family.

It makes sense if you think about it.

Imagine, through Jesus, I can be part of the "family of God."

Imagine the weight of guilt and confusion and fear and loneliness is lifted when I'm adopted into God's family.

Imagine you can have a life that is full of joy and meaning and purpose.

Imagine that you will actually life forever, with God in heaven.

Imagine that there will be no tears, no sorrow, no pain, no problem. And you will be united with friends and family who have in Christ gone on before you.

Imagine that you represent the "good" soil and your heart will receive God's message.

Imagine a life that abundant.

Oh, one more thing.

Jesus left a message for you. John actually heard him say this and wrote down these words: "The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life; and that they may have it more abundantly."

Quoted by Saint John 10:10

Imagine that