different, they are in essence the same. Spiritually, we are the 1-year-old, while Jesus is the 31-year-old.
M. Scott Peck, in his book Further Along the Road Less Traveled, gives an example of why Jesus wants us to know who he really was and how that relates to us. During a seminar consisting of Christian therapists and counselors, the story was told about Jesus being called to resuscitate the daughter of a wealthy Roman. After telling the story, members of the audience of six hundred were asked whom they related to in the story. Only six of six hundred Christian professionals related to Jesus himself (Peck, 210).
Peck noted a definite problem in that only one out of a hundred identified with Jesus. After all, is not that exactly what we are supposed to do -- act like and try to emulate the actions of Jesus? Could this ideal be behind Jesus' saying, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing."? He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father?" (Jn 14:12-13)
But something very important has been missing from our understanding of how it is that we can become like Jesus doing the miraculous things that he did. Is finding this "something" akin to finding the mythical Holy Grail? And, if so, what and where is it? As previously mentioned, one historian has poignantly linked the Grail to the Shroud of Turin. Is it possible, then, that unraveling the secrets of the Shroud might also lead us to the Holy Grail?
One Shroud historian notes that the author of the seventh century Mozarabic rite wrote, "Peter ran with John to the tomb and saw the recent imprints (vestigia) of the dead and risen man on the linens" (Green, 329). The translation of vestigia is akin to footstep, footprint, trace or marks and has remained unchanged since the time it was written. As a result, it is easy to interpret this passage as meaning that what Mary Magdalene and the disciples saw was a mark or imprint on the burial shroud.
But the object that many believed to be the actual burial cloth of Jesus was deemed heretical and kept "off limits" in Constantinople from 944 to 1204. Only a select few within the orthodox hierarchy were privy to the true nature of the mysterious cloth and its faint markings.
Another possible connecting point between the Shroud and the Grail is in the Latin word "gradalis" meaning "by degrees." One of the legends surrounding the Grail in King Arthur's court was that the worthy knights would uncover the mystery of the Grail by degrees until fully realized. In similar fashion, some early Edessan and Constantinopolitan rituals, involved revealing the image on the burial shroud to congregations gradually, by raising it section by section to also denote a gradual developmental process in uncovering the mysteries portrayed in the Shroud.
Considering these links, it's not hard to surmise that Joseph of Arimathea's linen cloth was the vessel that captured Jesus' blood following the crucifixion. It is interesting to note that at the time the burial shroud of Constantinople disappeared, during the Crusade of 1204, the legends of the Grail began to spread.
I (Benford) recall the insights and revelations I had been given about the Shroud of Turin. Prior to this time I had never even heard of a burial shroud of Christ. I was told that Jesus' death shroud, now called the Shroud of Turin, is authentic. It represents the radiated markings left by the disappearance of Jesus' body after his death.
We have been left this remnant to have a guide leading to our discovery of the spirit in all humans. We will soon possibly be able to replicate this "shroud" effect through advances we are obtaining in physics. At the June 1999 Richmond international Shroud conference, Dr. August Accetta told how he injected himself with radioactive methylene diphoshinate and then had the subsequent emitted gamma radiation photographed utilizing a vertical collimator and gamma camera. Many of the image properties of the Shroud can be replicated in this process, which suggests to him that the source of energy that created the Shroud image derived from what he calls "emitted biochemical bond energy" (Wilson, 11). This experiment further supports the gamma radiation theory of one of the co-author's as outlined in a previous article in this journal (Marino and Benford, 1999). Perhaps, it's not out of the question that when we have exactly replicated the Shroud's markings, we will have possibly mastered the formula and composition of the soul. Thus, we will be able to potentially measure waves and particles emanating from still living humans to ascertain spiritual DNA and levels of spirit in the soul. If this occurred, it would then be plausible to put people on "spirit-gaining" exercises to increase spiritual mass!
I also recalled an early message from Jesus, that we were to learn tolerance of people at various stages of spiritual development. History demonstrates that both the orthodox and heretical sects became so engrossed in the power struggle that they lost Jesus in the process. But, perhaps, it is time for all that to change. Jesus made it very clear to me that he wants the focus to, once again, turn to his true message -- unconditional love.
We would like to end this article by recounting a famous tradition concerning John that was handed down by St. Jerome in the 4th century, which tells about the apostle in his final days living in Ephesus. Frail and invalid, John had to be carried to church meetings by his disciples. At these meetings he would proclaim only one thing, "Little children, love one another!" After a while, the disciples grew weary of hearing this one phrase repeated over and over so they asked, "Master, why do you always say only this one thing?" John replied, "It is the Lord's command and if this alone be done, it is enough!"
