St.
Johnstide
John
1: 19-39
This
is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He
confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”
Then
they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am
not.” “Are
you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then
they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent
us? What do you say about yourself?”
He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”
And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”
This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.
The
next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God
who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I
said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I [for he is ahead of me].’ [After
me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know
him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human
souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”
 |
| Sombart |
The
next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him.
And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through
whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”
The
two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned
and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”
They
answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you
staying [where
do you live] [where do you take refuge]?”
He
said, “Come and you will see!”
John 1: 19-39
There are two forces,
two streams that flow side by side within our human constitution. One is the
instinct for self-preservation. The other is for the perpetuation of the
species. These two streams rise from deep within our soul-bodily constitution.
They are symbolized by the twin serpents of wisdom, twining upward around our
spinal column. They guard and protect our selfhood, our life, and ensure the perpetuation
of the human race.
John takes pains to speak what he sees: in Christ Jesus,
John sees and proclaims that there is a new image arising in the constitution
of man, the image of the lamb. He is seeing the emergence of a new human
archetype.
 |
| Memling |
The old double serpent is being metamorphosed into the lamb.
The wise serpent of self preservation is metamorphosing itself into an image of
outspreading and self-sacrificing life. And the wise serpent of the generative
force that perpetuates family and tribe is metamorphosing and rising into the
innocent purity of an outpouring love for all of humanity.
John says ‘The lamb in
us must increase; the serpents must decrease.’ Naturally we don’t like
metamorphosis or self-sacrifice; for us, they are hugely threatening; it feels
too much like a death. It takes courage to change one’s whole disposition. It
takes courage to say with the poet:
I praise life's bright
catastrophes,
and all the ceremonies of grief.
I praise our real estate - a shadow
and a grave.
I praise my destroyer,
and will continue praising
until hours run like mercury
through my fingers, hope flares a
final time
into the last throes of innocence,
and all the coins of sense are
spent.[1]
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