3rd August Trinity
Luke 15:1-32
Now many customs officials, despised by the people,
who called them sinners and expelled them from their community, sought to be
close to Jesus. They wanted to listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the
law however were upset by this and said, “This man accepts sinners and eats
with them!”
So he told them this parable:
I tell you, there will be more joy in the heavens
over one human being, living in denial of the spirit, who changes his mind,
than over the ninety-nine righteous who think they have no need of repentance.
Or which woman, if she has ten silver coins and
loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the whole house and search carefully
until she finds it? And when she has found it she calls together her friends
and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had
lost!’
In the same way, I tell you, there will be joy among
the angels in the world of spirit over one human being living in denial of the
spirit who manages to change his heart and mind. “
And he said further: “A certain man had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father, ‘Give me the share of the estate which
falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth
between them. And not many days later the younger son gathered everything
together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in
the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine
came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself
to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd
swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were
eating, but no one gave him anything.
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So he rose up and traveled along the road to his
father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran
toward him, embraced him and kissed him. And yet the son said, ‘Father, I have
sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].’
But the father called his servant to him. ‘Quickly!
Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on
his feet, and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For
this my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.’ And
they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile the older son was in the field. When he
returned home and came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him
the news: ‘Your brother has come home again. So in joy your father has
slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.’
The son grew dark with anger and didn’t want to go
in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He however reproached his
father saying, ‘Look! For so many years I have been with you and have never
neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I
might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten
up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.’
The father however said to him ‘Child, you are
always with me and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be
glad and rejoice, for this your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has
been found again.’
3rd August
Trinity
August 5, 2012
How worrisome it is to lose an object of value. How many
anxious moments do we spend looking for our keys, or our glasses. For these
things are extensions of ourselves. They allow us to work effectively in the
world.
Each of us has both a masculine and a feminine side to our
human nature. Our masculine side has an affinity toward the more static,
mechanical material world. Our feminine side wants to nurture living, growing,
changing beings.
Today’s reading of course has to do with finding lost
things. Yet in this narrative, it is the man who is concerned with a lost
living creature. Is this itself not a picture of the exercise his own feminine
side? A turning of the masculine toward a more feminine, nurturing way?
Similarly the feminine side of our nature has a stronger
relationship with the realm of living, changing beings. Yet in the story, it is
a silver coin, the earthly metal abstract for the value of human work, that she
is to seek. The coin represents a kind of objectivity, achieved through her own
diligent work of lighting the surroundings and sweeping the floor. She becomes
literally grounded in the earthly, developing of a more masculine, grounded way
of being.
Taken together, these two stories show us a way to integrate
the two sides of our nature. Our perhaps one-sided attention to the static and
material needs to also turn toward nourishing and guiding the developing
processes of living beings. And on the other hand our perhaps one-sided
attention to emotional, artistic and spiritual events needs to be brought to
completion by our work in and with the physical and the earthly. And losing
things is perhaps a call to change. As Wendell Berry says,
It may be that when we no longer
know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know
which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not
employed.
The impeded stream is the one that
sings.[1]
