The Heartbeat of Christ

Celtic spirituality makes a great deal of the image set forth of John the disciple reclining against Jesus when they gathered for the last time in Jerusalem before the crucifixion.  As the Celtic tradition unfolds this image, it speaks of John being so close to Jesus that he was able to listen to His heartbeat. (John 13:21ff)   It is indeed a powerful image upon which Celtic spirituality has stood through all the centuries.  When this image is linked to the one about which John writes as he says that Jesus is one "who is close to the Father's heart."  (John 1:18), it becomes even more powerful. 

As John leaned against Jesus, it could be said that he heard a heartbeat that was an echo of the very heartbeat of God.     One of the things we long for in our spiritual journey is a sense of intimacy with Christ; yet, even as we silently confess this longing, there is fear within us of the very thing our soul seeks.  It is one thing to have this walking relationship with Christ and still another to live so close that His heartbeat and our own merge.  Of course, this is not to suggest a physical merging of heartbeat, but a merging of our spirit, our will, and the whole of our own life into the life He lives before and seeks to live through us.  

Our living in sync with the intentional will of Christ is not a thing made possible by our own determination, but of our willing to have no determination except that which determines an emptiness He is then allowed to fill.  This heartbeat of Christ gives life to our spiritual journey as the Spirit is allowed to do the heart work He has in His heart to accomplish in us.  As long as we hold tightly to any part of our life as a way of maintaining a measure of control, we cannot really hear and know the rhythm of the heart of Jesus for it can beat in us only as we have died to whatever it is for which we live.