3rd Johnstide 2022, God's Appalling Goodness

Johnstide

John 1:19-34

 

Tissot

This is John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 

Freely and openly, he confessed. He did not deny but confessed, "I am not the Christ [the Anointed]." 

Then they asked him, "Who are you then? Are you Elijah?" 

And he said, "No, I am not." 

"Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." 

Then they said, "Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [or, inmost self]." 

And those sent by the Pharisees asked him, "Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" 

John answered them, "I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals." 

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 

Grunewald

The next day he [John] sees Jesus
coming to him and says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: 'After me comes one greater than I  for he existed long before me. Even I did not know him; but for this, I have come, and have baptized with water so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being." 

And John testified: "I saw how the Spirit descended upon him like a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the (breath of the) Holy [or, Healing] Spirit.' And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God's Son." 

3^rd Johnstide

July 14, 2022

John 1:19-34 

Both illness and recovery are mysterious processes. Out of the blue, it seems, we “catch” a cold. We run a fever. No matter what we do, we don’t recover until the illness has run its course. Then healing, equally mysterious, arrives too, on its own. We can experience healing as grace. 

In the seasonal prayer, St. John the Baptist speaks in words of flame. His flame words are first described as health-bearing: all human souls are suffering from an illness, the sickness of being separated from their own divine origin. John’s health-bearing flame word is like a soul-fever, designed to aid the process of healing.

His flame words are also ‘guilt-conscious.’ In the light and heat of the fire of his words, we become aware that we are ill. We were created in God’s image and likeness. Our illness means that we are failing to live up to our truly divine human nature and task. The sickness of sin has laid us low. As one of the mystics, Blessed Angela of Foligno, describes it: 

When I enter that darkness, I cannot

recall a bit about anything human,

or about the God-man.* 

Once awareness does arrive, burning shame and guilt are the result. 

But John’s words are also ‘grace-divining.’ In our state of illness, we look for medicine and healing. And it has indeed been given us. It is in the descending of the true Spirit of the human being, the Healing Spirit, into Jesus, the Christ. He takes upon Himself the burden of the sin, the separation of the world from its divine origins. He is the medicine for our illness. 

The burning fever of the longing for healing is found in the depth of the heart. It is this flame of longing that begins the process of purification, in which the heart rises in love toward our Healer. Health-bearing, guilt-conscious, grace-divining describe the interaction between the human and the divine. 

Again the mystic: 

The [healing] embrace of God puts fire to the soul,

by which the soul entire is felt to burn

for Christ, accompanied by a light so great the soul

suspects the immensity of God’s appalling goodness.**

 

*Blessed Angela of Foligno, “The Darkness,” in Love’s Immensity, by Scott Cairns, p. 89.

**Ibid, “His Blazing Embrace,” pg. 88.

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3rd Johnstide 2021, Kindness is Eternal

 

Johnstide

John 1:19-34

This is John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 

Freely and openly, he confessed. He did not deny but confessed, "I am not the Christ [the Anointed]." 

Domenico Ghirlandaio -

Then they asked him, "Who are you then? Are you Elijah?" 

And he said, "No, I am not." 

"Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No." 

Then they said, "Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [or, inmost self]." 

And those sent by the Pharisees asked him, "Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" 

John answered them, "I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals." 

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 

Notre Dame

The next day he [John] sees Jesus
coming to him and says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: 'After me comes one greater than I  for he existed long before me. Even I did not know him; but for this, I have come, and have baptized with water so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being." 

And John testified: "I saw how the Spirit descended upon him like a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the (breath of the) Holy [or, Healing] Spirit.' And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God's Son."

3^rd Johnstide

July 11, 2021

John 1:19-34 

Each of us, at the core of our being, has an eternal self. Over time, this eternal Self clothes itself in different personalities, each with its own particular time and destiny. Our self-awareness is usually limited to our current incarnation. The eternal core self is hard to find, hard to recognize. 

When John the Baptist is asked who he is, he answers from an awareness of his temporal self. ‘I am not Elijah, not the Christ, not the prophet.’ At the same time, he is clear about his personal destiny—that he came to baptize. 

He is also clear about Jesus’ identity. He sees past Jesus’ earthly personality to His eternal core as the Lamb of God, upon whom the Spirit of God descended and remained. And John is aware that his own destiny is to serve Christ Jesus. 

Carracia

Awareness of one’s own eternal core Self is a gift of grace. Perhaps it is more important to develop an awareness of the eternal selves of others than it is to look for our own eternal core. Perhaps it is more important for us to stand as witnesses for each other—to recognize, as John did, the eternal self of the other, to witness and accompany their destiny. Perhaps this is part of the change of heart and mind that John advocates: that we turn away from self-involvement, toward a humble support of others. 

Something like this is hinted at in Psalm 15:

Those with a passion for justice,

who speak the truth from their hearts;

who have let go of selfish interests

and grown beyond their own lives;

…Their compassion lights up the whole earth,

and their kindness endures forever.* 

 

The Psalms, translations by Stephen Mitchell

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

3rd Johnstide 2020, Burden of Love

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Johnstide

John 1:19-39

This is the testimony of John when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly, he confessed. He did not deny but confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”

Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

John the Baptist, Hieronymous Bosch

Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”

This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this, I have come, and have baptized with water so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”

And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him like a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me

Julia Stankova, Baptism of Christ

to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit.’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” They answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?”

He said, “Come, and you will see!” And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and remained with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock].

3^rd Johnstide

July 12, 2020

John 1:19-34

Tissot, John the Baptist Preaching

Today’s reading begins with questions about identity. The Hebrew leadership asks John the Baptist who he is. In all humility, he acknowledges that he is not the Messiah, the anointed one of God. They ask him if he is Elijah, who was to precede the coming of the Messiah. And although Christ says later that ‘ he is Elijah who was to come,’* either John no longer remembers his previous existence, or else he is making the claim that he is no longer working in the grandiose style of the great prophetic leader of the Hebrews. Instead, he claims to be a single voice, speaking from a lonely and deserted place, saying: Make preparations.  John is who he is; he voices what needs to be said in the moment. He awakens our sense of personal responsibility.

In fact, John the Baptist epitomizes the state of the modern soul. We are who we are, now. We no longer remember previous lives—we may not even remember our current yesterdays! John in us is the single voice in us, speaking in the now, telling ourselves that we must prepare ourselves so that Christ can enter into us and abide in us.

We need to strengthen and create order in our thoughts, in our feeling life, so that an inner space arises, a space that stretches into a path for the entry of the Lamb of God. Christ came as the Lamb in order to carry the burden of human separation from the divine. This separation from the divine has created our capacity for our sins, our failings, our weaknesses. It creates our errors and our denials of the divine.

Christ, the divine Son, the God, would enter our souls so as to overcome our lonely separateness, and to reunite us with humanity’s Father. We open our souls to him. We strengthen and order our souls’ forces so that our thinking, our feeling, and our willing can become strong, weight-bearing, enduring; so that we, with Christ, can peacefully and lovingly carry the burden of the sin of the world. For as the poet says:

The weight of the world

John the Baptist, Anton Mengs

is love.

Under the burden

of solitude,

under the burden

of dissatisfaction

 

the weight,

the weight we carry

is love.**

 

---

* Matthew 11:14

** “Song”, Allen Ginsberg, in Collected Poems 1947-1980

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