The Dharma Revelation

Chapter 3

Carl Peterson sat in the back of church. It wasn't his first time at St. Joseph's parish, but he still felt a bit self-conscious. The only thing he had in common with the rest of the congregation was his desire to hear Father Daniel. Carl was not a member of this church, nor was he even Catholic.

He recalled yesterday, sitting in his BMW, following the instructions he was given. He had been watching Daniel for more than two weeks now, reporting his findings. Daniel had looked at him—right at him.

Carl was close to blowing his cover.

He'd heard the stories of how this priest had grown in popularity, how he'd angered the church officials. Oftentimes those two things went hand in hand, Carl thought sarcastically. But what made this priest special was something else, and that was why Carl was here.

The church was fairly crowded. From what Carl could gather, it had been this way ever since Daniel became pastor.

Services proceeded along as they always had, and Carl went along rather mechanically until Daniel gave his sermon. He had heard him preach already, but Carl hadn't quite found what he was looking for. Yes, the passionate sermons—Daniel's urge to speak his mind—to connect with the audience. These are things that made him popular, but it was only part of the puzzle. Drake gave Carl specific instructions on what to look for. Sheppard was on a short list—a list of important people. If events played out the way Drake predicted, it was quite possible Carl would have to make a move quickly.

He listened intently.

"What a great word 'salvation' is! It includes the cleansing of our conscience from all past guilt, the delivery of our soul from all those propensities to evil that now so strongly predominate in us. It takes in, in fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more than that, for God's salvation makes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It finds us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parent, defiled, stained, accursed. It first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes away our curse, it puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and having thus done, at last it lifts our heads far above all principalities and powers, to be crowned forever with Jesus Christ, the king of heaven."

Daniel paused, letting those words wash over everyone, adding to the drama.

"That's not good enough," he said finally.

"People, I could fertilize every yard in this community with these shiny, sparkly words!" Daniel said. "Open any book, tune any television to an evangelist; you can drink this in and go about your life, forgetting all about your true spiritual health. The only thing you will gain is an immunization to the truth.

"But Father, salvation is what Jesus preached, salvation is why we come to church,'" he said sarcastically.

"Is it really? Or is the real reason we are all here to whet our appetites enough to keep us from living these words when we walk out those doors? And for the clergy, do we live the words that we preach?"

He lowered his tone a bit, "Immunization," he said. "We come here for our weekly shot in the arm, and the sad part is that this immunization keeps us from the truth. You and I feel satisfied enough with coming here for an hour every week that we don't see what is around us every day. Immunization that blinds us because we've done enough, heard enough, that we don't need to live our lives the way we know we should."

Daniel paused, "When the Israelites celebrated Passover, they were forbidden to use leavened bread. In their society, leaven was a symbol of moral corruption. They couldn't even have it in their homes during Passover. Leaven was actually made by taking a piece of bread and placing it in a damp, dark place until it decayed. Well fast forward to today's gospel, we heard how Jesus described the kingdom of God; he used the word 'leaven.' Luke, Chapter 13, 'The Kingdom of God is like a leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.' What? What is he saying? What on earth did his disciples think? 'Is this man saying that evil is good?' And by the way, that is a boatload of dough. It's the same amount Abraham's wife, Sarah, provided for the three angels at the oaks of Mamre, Genesis 18.