Luke 3: 7-18
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“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
John answered, “Let the man with two tunics share
with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,”
they asked, “what should we do?”
“Do not collect any more than you are authorized to
do,” he told them.
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we
do?”
The people were waiting expectantly and were all
wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ, the Messiah.
John answered them all, “I wash you with water. But
one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy
to untie. He will wash you with the breath of the Holy Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the
wheat into his barn, while he burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
And with many and various exhortations John
preached the good news to the people.
2nd
St. July
6, 2008
Luke
3: 7-18
There
are certain parts of the soul that we share with the animal kingdom: the need
for food, for reproduction, the need to exert power and defend our territory.
If these animal parts of the soul rule us, they can become insatiable beasts
who overtake our lives and enslave the self. Our truly human task is to tame the
beasts; not to kill to them, but to become master over them.
John
the Baptist encourages us to put ourselves through a change of heart and mind,
that is, to work at recalibrating the balance between the head, the lower
nature and the heart.
The
mind, the rational, clever intellect, is gifted in supporting our own
interests. But it can become a servant of the beasts, a ravenous taker and
collector, even a destroyer.
The
heart’s great joy is in giving. The heart enjoys pouring itself out. In
extremes, it can foolishly empty the giver.
In
this reading, John suggests establishing a balance between giving and taking,
between heart and head. He suggests that we set limits to our taking and
collecting. Let the one who has more than they really need give to those who
have none. The soldiers and the tax-collectors, who in those days were not
regulated, were enjoined to take no more than was in truth their due.
To
set self-limits in food and clothing, and in the exercise of power is to begin
to tame the wild beasts of the soul’s desire. Increasing the capacity for self-control
strengthens the sovereignty of the self over the greedy beasts of our lower
nature. Paradoxically, it is this sovereignty of the self that strengthens the
capacity to give of ourselves. For without self-possession, there can be no
true giving, no balance between self and others, between head and heart.
Without self-possession there can be no brotherhood or equality. For it is the sovereign,
enlightened self which wisely chooses when to give and when to take.
This
balanced, sovereign self can then come to recognize that other, greater Self,
the I AM, He who was and is and is coming. He it is who, in the words of St.
Francis, is
…Our true and living
Master.
Love and lover
manifest.
Wisdom and the wise.
The humble and the
patient,
Beauty beckoning. Gentle
shelter.
The peace and joy and
hope of all.
Just and moderate, you
are our
treasure, all
sufficient. Protector
and the shield of our
souls.[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1]
St. Francis of Assisi ,
( 1182 – 1226), “The Reach to Speak His Name.” in Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns, p. 81.
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