5th Trinity I, (6th Sunday Before Easter), Thaw The Holy

Trinity I

6^th Sunday before Easter (Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11 

Tissot

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience
the tempting power of the adversary. 

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word." 

Jesus answered, "It is written, 'The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God." 

Tissot

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand
on the parapet of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 

Jesus answered him, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." 

Tissot

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give to you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord." 

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship
[pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.' " 

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld the angels again as they came to bring him nourishment.

5^th February Trinity

March 6, 2022

Matthew 4:1-11 

To inhabit a human body is to be subject to very basic needs: every infant first needs food, for to be in a body is to be hungry and to depend on others to supply nourishment.

Another need is for safety—the body reflexively protects itself against injury.

And a third need is for power, the ability to be effective. To fail to respond to a child’s cries is to sow seeds despair in its soul.

At his Baptism Christ entered into a human body for the first time. His spirit, like a child's, encounters the body’s basic needs, which in the hands of the Adversary become demands. But coming as He does from the heart of God, He counters the Adversary who plagues humankind from within. And because He did, we can. For Christ has become the medicine for the sickness of sin, our separation from God, that the adversary engenders in us. He makes us whole. He re-establishes for us our connection with God.

For it is God and his angels who satisfy our deepest hungers. It is God who protects us both from harm and from an inflated sense of self-importance. It is in aligning ourselves with God’s will, rather than merely our own self-will, that we achieve true power; for the power that lies in freedom from earthly compulsions creates true effectiveness. Christ gives us that power.

Tissot

As Teresa of Avila said,

…God is always there, if you feel wounded.  He kneels

over this earth like

a divine medic,

and His love thaws

the holy in us.*

 

---

*St. Teresa of Avila, “When the Holy Thaws”, in Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, versions by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 290.

 

  

5th February Trinity 2020, Dawn Comes

February Trinity

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-9

Fra Angelico

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There, his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone as bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly, they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror. And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.” And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

5^th February Trinity

March 8, 2020

Matthew 17: 1-13

This gospel reading shows us the moment when the spirit of Christ, the glorious radiance of God’s love, penetrates the life and soul of Jesus. He shines like the sun. He has reached the transparent stage of enlightenment.

Had he been a Buddha, this moment of fulfilled enlightenment would have meant that he no longer had any need to remain in the body. He could have ascended to heaven. Instead, Christ chooses the path of descent. He steps back onto the earth. He touches his disciples. He comes down from the mountain with them and consciously walks his way toward his coming torture, his sacrificial death, his descent into the underworld. He does so with confidence and trust. For the setting of his sun would be followed by another greater sunrise.

Christ Jesus is the archetype of our being fully human. We can pattern our responses after him. After every high point, we can consciously bring ourselves back to earth. We can accept our sufferings with willingness. We can face our own demise with confidence. For as the poet Tagore said, 

Death is not the extinguishing of the light, but the putting out of the lamp, because Dawn has come.

5th February Trinity 2019, Let It Go

Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34 (adapted from Madsen)

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

[Jesus, looking at him, loved him… Mk 10:21] When Jesus heard this, he said,  “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

5^th February Trinity

March 3, 2019

Luke 18: 18-34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are anticipating the richness of spring and the fullness of summer; but below the equator, it is turning into autumn and winter is approaching. This great balance over the whole earth is a picture of a great truth that also exists on the soul level:  over the whole of a lifetime, no matter what our inner or outer riches, we must pass through loss and death to arrive at a new life.

In the gospel reading, Christ brings this home to the rich young man.

Heinrich Hoffman

The young man is rich, both inwardly and outwardly; he is in the summer of his development.  But Christ is asking him to take the next step—the step into an autumn shedding, the step into a winter sleep. The episode ends before we find out whether the rich one does carry out Christ’s request. At this moment in the gospel story, the young man is very sad—he already anticipates the grief of loss.

But when the young man summons the courage to follow through, he will leave behind his wealth for others and lay down his life. His loss and death will be real and complete. But so will his completely new and unforeseen life. He is to become a Lazarus. Christ will call him forth to a whole new level of being.  And Christ will intimately and continually accompany his further development – through loss and death, and into a further life. 

The recently deceased poet Mary Oliver* says:

Every year

everything

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation

….

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.

*Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods.”

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5th February Trinity 2012, Morning Star

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

February Trinity, 5^th Sunday before Easter

March 4, 2012

Matthew 17: 1-13

When the sun is hidden, either at night, or behind clouds, the earth seems dark and the heavens distant. But when the sun shines, it envelops the earth with its light and warmth. Heaven and earth are re-joined in an embrace.

Today’s reading shows us another level of how heaven and earth are rejoined. The Sun-God came down to earth. He embraced earthly life. At the top of the mountain, He revealed Himself by shining like the sun, and He converses with Moses and Elijah in the heavenly world. The disciples hear the voice of the Father resounding from the sun-bright realm.

When they come back down, they ask about Elijah’s return as the forerunner of the Messiah. But Christ tells them that Elijah has already come and gone. They are given to understand that Elijah had reincarnated as John the Baptist.

Earth and heaven are united for each human soul. We sojourn in the heavenly worlds in sleep, in death; we return to earth at birth, and each morning, bringing with us radiant gifts from heaven. And Christ is the Sun that shines both on earth and in the heavens; He is the one who guides us in both realms. For as He says, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.[1] I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death….[2] I am…the bright Morning Star.’[3]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Matthew 28:20

[2] Rev 1:18

[3] Rev 22:16

Picture: Fra Angelico, The Transfiguration

5th February Trinity 2009, Sun-Orb Sings

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

  

Archangel Raphael, Woloschina

5^th February Trinity

March 8, 2009

Matthew 17: 1-13

The sun sings. Most of us do not hear the song; it is what the ancients called the harmonious music of the spheres. The poet Goethe, in Faust, has the archangel Raphael say:

The sun-orb sings, in emulation,

Mid brother spheres, in his ancient round:

His path predestined through Creation

He ends with step of thunder-sound.[1]

Today’s Gospel reading enables us to see the sun orb singing. Christ descended from the Cosmos. He is the great out-pouring Spirit of the Sun, which creates life. He now shines in radiance from within Jesus. Two others, like planets circling, are with Him; one is Moses, the great leader of his people down into spheres of earth. The other is Elijah, the prophet, half angel, who works in sun, wind and air. They are singing together with Christ, singing past, present and future into existence. A fourth voice joins them from a cloud, the voice of the Father. ‘This is the son of my love; My love is visible in Him. Hear Him; take him in.’ Matthew 17: 5 . Goethe continues:

He ends with step of thunder-sound.

The angels from his visage splendid

Draw power, whose measure none can say;

The lofty worlds, uncomprehended,

Are bright as on the earliest day.

We have come to a time in human history when we must begin to hear, to see, and to understand what happens next, long ago, and now. Next Sunday Passiontide begins. Today’s reading is a wake-up call—keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Watch what happens next. Christ sings to us: ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ Matthew 17:7 Christ comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his own transformation.

Goethe’s poem goes on; and now it is the archangel Michael who speaks:

Archangel Michael, Woloschina

And rival storms abroad are surging

From seas to land, and land to sea.

A chain of deepest action forging

Round all, in wrathful energy.

There flames a desolation, blazing

Before the Thunder's crashing way:

Yet, Lord, thy messengers are praising

The gentle movement of Thy day.

Around us there is desolation and frantic action. On Good Friday the sun’s light will go out. All will be wrapped in the silence of the tomb. But on Easter Sunday, the joyful singing light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each human being will receive a spark of new life. Will we see it? Hear it? Will we understand? Will the archangels sing:

Though still by them uncomprehended,

From these the angels draw their power,

And all Thy works, sublime and splendid,

Are bright as in Creation's hour.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Goethe’s Faust, Part 1

5th February Trinity 2007, Do Not be Afraid

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Transfiguration, Lewis Bowman

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

5^th February Trinity

March 4, 2007

Matthew 17: 1-13

In Southern California at this time of year, the pruned rosebushes are woody and full of thorns. They are just beginning to leaf out. But we could not claim to know this plant by only seeing what we see now. We will only know it fully when we have seen the blossoms and the fruit. The glory of the blossom and the concentration of the fruit, unfolding in a process over time, reveals the rosebush in its full nature.

In today’s Gospel reading we see Christ Jesus’s transfiguration. He becomes like a great radiant human blossom, shining in the light and love of his Father. He is blossoming as a human form suffused with heavenly light. This suffusion of the human with heavenly light is the completion of one of the goals of our true human nature. He shines before us as our future. The intensity of this is terrifying to those who see Him.

We are all in awe and terror of our future. Yet just as it flashes up in our awareness, overpowering us, Christ touches us and says: do not be afraid; for I am with you always.

Because He himself has already gone through them, he can walk us through our most terrifying changes. He shines before us as the light on our way, the illumination of our process. He assures us that He holds the full truth of our being for us. He assures us that even in apparent death, He is leading us into His Father’s cycles of life. For His eternal life in us keeps our lives eternally. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

5th February Trinity 2014, Divine Angelic Nature

J. Kirk Richards

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Arild Rosenkrantz

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

5^th February Trinity

March 9, 2014

Matthew 4: 1-11

Storms can cause floods. Rivers jump their banks; trees and boulders are loosened. Sometimes the river’s course is changed forever as a new channel is cut.

We are all on a course toward developing our own divine angelic nature. For long stretches things flow along as usual. But sudden events and changes can divert our course, for good or for ill. Sometimes things open up, and we are propelled forward. Or sometimes we discover that we long ago strayed into some side channel and are no longer on the main route.

Christ began his life on earth with what is our goal: a fully developed divine nature. His path was to become fully human. And just after he arrived, after His Baptism, he experienced the flooding. The adversary tries to overwhelm Him with the novelty and power of the world seen from inside a human body. The adversary’s intent is to alter His course, to steer Him into a backwater existence or to strand him onshore. Christ avoids these dangers by steering His course firmly by the star of His own divine origin and purpose. He remains living within God’s own creative power; He quietly but firmly refuses to follow a false path of worship or of arrogance. And all the while He steers intently toward His own death. For He set as his task to cut a new channel forward out of the backwater, the mire, the death into which humanity had strayed.

Arild Rosenkrantz

Christ’s temptations are the temptations that beset every human being. Christ has made himself into a vessel, a ship by which we can keep to our own course through the deeps and shallows of life. He helps us steer through the floods, avoiding the sandbars and backwaters. He is our guide as we make our way toward our divine goal, through all of our lives. He helps us steer with confidence into and through our deaths.

www.thechristiancommunity.org