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.”
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.
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| Nikolaus Knupfer |
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.
1st
Passiontide Sunday
Luke
11: 14-25
On a cloudy day, the
shadows things cast are barely noticeable. But when the sun shines brightly,
ironically the shadows gain more substance, and deepen toward black.
Although days are
lengthening, and the welcome outer light is growing, inwardly we may be feeling
more than usually tired and at the same time, restless. It is as though an
exhausting battle is going on just below the level of our consciousness.
As today’s gospel
reading indicates, there is indeed a battle going on, a battle for the
possession of the human body and soul. The gospel speaks of demons who throttle
the human creative capacity of speech; of demons who, when ousted, are apt to
return with reinforcements.
The adversarial forces
are busy, particularly at this time of the year,
trying to set up their own
kingdom, independent of the kingdom of the heavens. And if they can gain
possession of the magnificent and strategic castle of the human body, they
acquire the potential to perform enormous evil.
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| Blake |
Christ Himself warns
us of the battle going on behind our conscious awareness. He warns us to
maintain self-possession of body and soul, to remain at home within, centered
in body and soul, so that the light of our spirit illuminates the whole. The
great danger is that we let down our guard, through distraction or
unconsciousness.
No wonder we are tired
and restless. And as we enter Passiontide, we feel weak as well. For there is
only so much we can do by ourselves. We need to invite Another into our abode,
the One who will stand by us and fight alongside us, adding His strength to
ours. When called upon, He will come.
As Isaac of Nineveh
said,
Just as the strength
of a flowing spring
is not hindered by a
handful of earth,
so the compassion of
the Creator is not daunted
by the wickedness of
His creatures.[1]
[1]
St. Isaac of Nineveh ,
(† 700
A.D.) “The Measure of His Mercy,” in Love’s
Immensity: Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 75.
