1st Passiontide
Luke 11: 29 - 35
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.
1st Passiontide
February 28, 2016
Luke 11: 29 - 35
In last week’s Gospel
reading, we beheld the light form of the transfigured Christ Jesus, shining on
the mountain like the sun. The light that shines from him is the revelation of
the Father’s love. In today’s reading
the life of the light continues its progress; for the light of the Father’s
love wants to work from within each of us.
Christ chides the people
of this generation for not actively seeking the light of wisdom; he chides us
for not doing what John the Baptist had encouraged us to do: to change our way
of thinking and perceiving.
The Father kindled the
light of Christ in the man Jesus, so that all could see the light of love and
take it into themselves. The Father would like the same thing to happen within
us: that we would take in the light of Christ; that we would look out into the
world with the eyes of a clear, impartial, but warm love. The Father would like
us to take in with our eyes the being who is the Light of the World, so that
our eyes can in turn radiate and shine the brightness of objective love back
out into the world.
As the poet
Hafiz says:
God
pours
light
into
every cup,
quenching
darkness.
….
God
pours light
and
the trees lift their limbs
without
worry of redemption,
every
blossom a chalice.
….as
light
pours
like rain
into
every empty cup
set
adrift on the Infinite Ocean.*
* Hafiz, Interpretive
version of Ghazal 11 by Jose Orez
