Do we really Reap what we Sow?

“What goes around comes around.”

“The other shoe is going to drop!”

“For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction.”

“We reap what we sow.”

The idea of “Karma” is everywhere. And the word “Karma” is chic. It rolls off the tongues of billionaire talk show hosts and gossiping teenagers. Its truth makes self-evident common sense: we do reap what we sow, the other shoe does drop, and what goes around does come around. Karma explains everything. So it seems.

But… if I must reap what I have sown, what will come of those broken promises and compromised intentions in my past? What hope do I have when Karma demands an exacting payback for all our mishaps and white lies?

Yet… suppose one human being lived a perfect life? Wouldn’t that person qualify for pure goodness in return? And what if that one person lived with such love that he chose to exchange his karma for mine?  Christians believe this happened in the life of Jesus of Nazareth who not only lived perfectly but died that he might offer his perfection in exchange for our folly.

Mark Herringshaw’s The Karma of Jesus explains the relevance of Jesus’ life using New Age language and resolves the perplexity of “Karma” by explaining the relevance of Jesus’ life. It follows the tradition of bold Christian communicators who dare to borrow pagan language to communicate sacred truth. It presents a classic interpretation of Christ’s atonement using the language of modern New Age spirituality. In the process it offers a creative and surprising solution to the inflexible condemnation that Karma levels against us.