By Jessenia Nozzolillo
Jesus died for the sins of humanity. What's that really mean?
We can only control what we are accountable for. Being accountable means we have the power to shift the decisions that created the issue we were taking accountability for. You can't change anything that isn't yours. You can't heal what you are denying.
For example, we can blame ”conspiracy theorists” and ”anti-science” groups for the continued global warming crisis. We can claim that it's their fault for spreading and enticing false news. But, we can't change anything in blame. What we can do is acknowledge our contribution to the issue. Did we cut plastic out of our personal lives? Are we reducing our carbon footprint? Are we using reusable and sustainable materials in our lives?
Once we have a clear list of ways to hold ourselves accountable, we finally make change instead of pushing blame.
Accountability is hard. It's a tough monster to face. To see the ways we could have been more supportive of ourselves, our loved ones, our goals. And then realize those aspects we held so dear no longer exist because of the actions we took. It's hard. Very difficult to manage. Overwhelming even.
And if you are always trying to see the world as ”black vs white” or ”wrong vs right” then accountability will continue to hurt. It will continue to stab at you, leave open sours and voids in the places you took blame for pain and suffering you were responsible for. It will feel more like victimization and self-sabotage than healing. It will feel heavy. But accountability requires something to make it work. It requires forgiveness.
We need to continually remind ourselves that accountability doesn't work on its own. It has nothing to do with wrong vs right. It is all about acknowledging what we can control so that we can shift that dynamic for eternity. It is about absorbing the pieces of ourselves we lost in blame, shame, trauma, pain, because when we take accountability for our human nature outside of blame and see where maybe this was a direct answer to our actions somewhere, on some timeline, in some reality. We stop looking for the ”right be wrong” grounded in current events on this playing field. We now comprehend we are living in a vast, limitless cosmos, and somewhere out there, balance will always be struck. Always. Trying to count rights and wrongs is like counting grains of sand. Instead of counting grains of sand, we simply see what is. If I pull something into my reality, it is a direct reflection of my energy, in some reality. Somewhere, some point and time-- it simply is.
Then and only then are we are more open to the idea that all humans are deserving of the same right. We begin to see ourselves in others' failures, pains, traumas and therefore understand them better in us all.
So when Jesus absorbed the sins of humanity, he was simply taking accountability for the human nature we all have within us. The parts of us we denied. Repressed in shame. Hid in fear. Closed off to protect. He accepted his role in all those emotions hoping that he could be an example of how others should heal and view their lives—by first, taking accountability for all the actions that brought that behavior to him so that he may forgive and heal through accountability, action, forgiveness, and compassion.
But it starts within.
Copyright protected Jessenia Nozzolillo 2020
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