First Passiontide
Luke 11: 14-35
Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was
mute. And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man who had been mute
spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, “He drives out
demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” Others sought to test him by asking
for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any
kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against
house. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? And you
claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now if I were to drive out demons
by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers do it? Therefore, they shall be your
judges.
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, it
follows that the kingdom of God has already come to you.
When a strong man in full armor guards his palace,
his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him,
the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted, and divides it up
as spoils.
He who does not unite with my being is against me;
and he who does not gather in inner composure with me [work for inner composure with me] scatters.
When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders
through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it
says, ‘I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.” When it returns
to this dwelling it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven
other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that man. And
his final state is worse than the first.”
As he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised
her voice and said, “Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you.”
But he said, “Truly blessed are those who hear the
divine word in their hearts and tend it there.”
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| Jacob Willemsz de Wett |
And as the crowds increased, Jesus began to speak.
“The men of this generation are strangers to their true being. They look for
signs and outer proofs of the spirit, but none other will be given to them but
the sign of Jonah. For just as once Jonah shared the experience of the spirit
with the inhabitants of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man share the experience of
the spirit with this present generation. The Queen of the South will rise in
the time of great crisis and decision against the men of this present
generation and judge them, for she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon. But know this: here is more than Solomon.
The inhabitants of Nineveh will rise up in the days
of crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and will
pronounce judgment over them. For they changed their ways after the
proclamation of Jonah. But know this; here is more than Jonah.
No one lights a light and then puts it in a hidden
place or under a vessel, but rather sets it on a lamp stand, so that all may
see the light shining.
The light of your body is your eye. When your eye
looks at the world clearly and impartially, the processes of your whole body
will be inwardly filled with light. If however the eye’s desire sees the world
separated from the spirit, darkness will pour itself into you.
Protect yourself that the light does not become
darkness in you.
If your body is now filled with light, so that it
no longer takes part in darkness, everything will be completely illuminated, so
that, with lightning brightness, the light irradiates you completely from
within.
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| Rosenkrantz |
1st Passiontide
Luke 11: 14-35
We all have a home, a space we live in. We may share it with
others. We may also invite guests for a visit. But it would be a strange
situation if at the end of the visit the guest announced that he or she was
planning to take up permanent residence and refused to leave. For we know that
it should be our own choice whom we live with.
Our body is also a kind of home, the home for our spirit.
The deaf-mute’s spirit evidently suffered from one of those permanent guests
who had decided to make his body its dwelling place. It had even succeeded in
binding and gagging him. The Gospel identifies this “guest” as a demon. And
Christ describes the nature of such beings: they need a human body in which to
dwell; they are able to gain entrance if someone is not strong enough to
protect himself. And even if one succeeds in ejecting the demon, it won’t give
up; it will return— with reinforcements if necessary.
For demons feed off of what the human being has inside—the precious
light of human thoughts, the warmth of human feeling. Christ goes on to
proclaim what it is that protects us from being invaded: the wisdom that
acknowledges the existence of the Son of Man, and the willingness to do the
work necessary to invite Him in as
guest, to furnish Him a dwelling place in our inmost heart.
The poet says:
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| Rosenkrantz |
Pause with us here a while.
Put your ear to the wall of your
heart.
Listen for the whisper of knowing
there.
Love will touch you if you are very
still. …
If you had a temple in the secret
spaces of your heart,
What would you worship there?
What would you bring to sacrifice?
What would be behind the curtain in
the holy of holies?
Go there now.[1]
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