Thursday, March 27, 2014

1st Passiontide 2009, Holy of Holies

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.”

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.

Rosenkrantz
1st Passiontide
March 15, 2009
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:

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]



[1] Tom Barrett, “What’s in the Temple?” in Keeping in Touch