Matthew
7, 1-29
2nd
August Trinity
“Do
not judge your fellow man, so that your judgment will not someday be visited
upon yourself. For with the judgment that you pronounce you also speak your own
judgment, and the measure by which you measure will be the measuring rod for
your own self. Why do you look to the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do
not become aware of the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your
brother: “Wait, I will pull the splinter out of your eye”--but mark it well,
there is a log in your own eye. You hypocrite, first remove the log from your
own eye, and then you may be able to see how to remove the splinter from your
brother’s eye.
Ask
from the heart and it will be given to your heart; seek and you will find;
knock and it will be opened to you; for he who asks in uprightness will
receive; he who earnestly seeks will find; he who knocks, to him will be
opened. Or are there among you those who when his son asks for bread would give
him a stone; or when he asks for a fish would offer him a snake? If then you
who in spite of wickedness know how to give good things to your children, how
much more goodness will your Father in the heavens give to those who earnestly
ask him for it.
All
that you want that men should do for you, do first for them. This is the true
content of the Law and the Prophets.
Walk
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the path is easy which leads
to ruin [the abyss] and many are they who walk it. But narrow is the gate and
difficult the path that leads to Life, and it is only the individual who finds
it.
Be
on your guard against false prophets of healing. They come to you in the
garments of peaceful lambs, but inwardly are rapacious wolves. You shall
recognize them by the fruits of their deeds. Never will you harvest grapes from
a thorn bush, nor figs from thistles. Every noble tree brings forth good fruit,
but a wild tree only forms unusable fruit. A noble tree cannot bear bad fruit,
and a wild tree cannot form good fruit. A tree that does not bring forth good
fruit will be cut down and put in the fire. Therefore, recognize them by the
fruits of their deeds.
Not
everyone who addresses me with “Lord! Lord! “ can be taken up into the kingdom;
only he who accomplishes the will of my Father in the heavens. In the future,
when the light of God breaks over the earthly darkness, many will call to me.
They will say, “Lord! Lord! have we not worked in advance for your revelation?
Have we not driven out spirits of destruction in honor of you? Have we not
gathered multiple powers for your word?”
Then
I will freely say to them, ‘I do not know you. My paths are not your paths.
Depart from me, for you serve the forces of chaos [the downfall of the world].’
Everyone
who hears such words from me and acts accordingly will be like a man who wisely
built his house on bedrock. The clouds burst, the waves rose, the winds blew
and beat against that house. But it did not totter, for it was founded upon the
rock.
He, however, who hears such words from me
and does not act accordingly is like a man who foolishly builds his house upon
sand. The rain comes down, the floods rise, the winds blow and beat upon the
house, and it collapses with a great crash.”
When Jesus had
completed saying this, the people were greatly moved, for he spoke to them out
of spiritual authority, as if the powers of creation themselves spoke out of
him, and not like their teachers of the law [canon-lawyers].
2nd August/September Trinity
July 29, 2012
Matthew 7: 1-14
In ancient times, caves were often places used for certain kinds of initiations, through tests of courage. Even today, being in a cave, or any dark tight space, often brings one face to face with oneself. Often caves are places where the only light is the one you bring with you.
In ancient times, caves were often places used for certain kinds of initiations, through tests of courage. Even today, being in a cave, or any dark tight space, often brings one face to face with oneself. Often caves are places where the only light is the one you bring with you.
Our lives can also bring us to tight dark places, where the
only light seems to be what we can bring to the situation ourselves. They often
involve tests of our courage and our faith.
Today’s gospel reading is a kind of instruction on
‘soul-caving’. It encourages us to enter our perhaps dark and tight soul space.
We are encouraged to notice the hindrances to seeing that exist within our own
soul-eye; to turn our powers of discernment inward into ourselves, rather than
on our fellows; to avoid the cynical, the broad and easy.
For what is to be learned is the courage to face one’s own
inner darkness; to bring our inner light to bear upon ourselves. We generate
light of trust toward the beneficence of our God. We generate the light of
nourishing kindness toward our fellows. As Naomi Nye says:
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness....[1]
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness....[1]
