4th St. Johnstide 2013, We Forget

John the Baptist

St. Johnstide

Matthew 11: 2-15

When John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are awakened, and those who have become poor receive the message of salvation. Blessed are those who are not offended by my Being.”

When they had gone, Jesus began to speak about John. “Why did you go out into the desert? Did you want to see a reed swaying in the wind? Or was it something else you wanted to see? Did you want to see a man in splendid garments? Those in splendid garments are in the palaces of kings. Did you go to see a man who is initiated into he mysteries of the spirit, a prophet? Yes, I say to you—he is more than a prophet. He it is of whom it is written:

           

            Behold it well: I will send my angel before your face;

            He shall prepare the way of your working in the hearts of men

            So that your being may be revealed.

The truth I say to you: among all who are born of women, not one has risen up who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist, and even more now, the kingdom of heaven will arise within human beings through the power of the will; those who exert themselves can freely grasp it. The deeds of the prophets and the content of the Law are words of the spirit that were valid [worked into the future] until the time of John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

4^th St. Johnstide

John in Prison

July 21, 2013

Matthew 11: 2 – 15

It may seem amazing that John the Baptist has doubts. After all, he witnessed the Holy Spirit descend and remain on Jesus at the Baptism. He witnessed him as the Lamb of God who bears the burden of humankind’s guilt. Yet it is as though he begins to question what he saw – ‘Are you the one who was to come?’

John is imprisoned; imprisoned in a jail; imprisoned perhaps in the popular expectations of what the Messiah would be; imprisoned in his temporal, mortal body.

Yet Christ is not offended by John’s questioning. Rather than answer directly, he points to the healing fruits of what he is doing. And he continues to speak lovingly and affirmingly of John.

Christ is the ever-faithful friend of our soul. He gazes ever upon our eternal self.

It is in the nature of our spiritual experiences that they come and go. They are born, they die away; they are buried in the everyday. And when they disappear, doubt arises.  But for Christ, this does not matter. He is not offended, for he operates in a realm outside of time’s annihilation.

And he holds fast to what is eternal in us, to the eternal facts of our experiences. What dies away for us is resurrected in Him. Although John, and we, forget what we saw, what we knew, he holds them for us. Christ is the loving and objective witness of our soul.

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