1st Passiontide 2022, Go There Now

First Passiontide

Luke 11:14-36 

Ravenna

Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was mute.
And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons." Others sought to test him by asking for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power. 

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against house. And you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now, if Satan divides [were to divide] his powers within himself, how will [would] his kingdom be able to stand? You have not considered this when you claim that I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub. If I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub, with what power do your sons do it? Your sons will be your judges. But since, in fact, I encounter the demons with the authority of God's hand, it follows from this that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.               

"When a strong man in full armor guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted and divides it up as spoils. 

"Whoever does not unite with my being is against me, and whoever does not gather in inner composure with me [or, work for inner composure with me] scatters. 

"When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it says, 'I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.' When it returns to this dwelling, it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that person. And their final state is worse than the first." 

1^st Passiontide

March 20, 2022

Luke 11:14-35  

We all have a home, a space we live in. We may share it with others.
We may also invite guests for a visit. But it would be a strange situation if, at the end of the visit, the guest announced that they were planning to take up permanent residence and refused to leave. For we know that it should be our own choice whom we live with. 

Our body is also a kind of home, the home for our spirit. The deaf-mute’s spirit evidently suffered from one of those permanent guests who had decided to make his body its dwelling place. It had even succeeded in binding and gagging him. The Gospel identifies this “guest” as a demon. And Christ describes the nature of such beings: they need a human body in which to dwell; they are able to gain entrance if someone is not strong enough to protect themselves. And even if they succeed in ejecting the demon, it won’t give up; it will return— with reinforcements if necessary. 

For demons feed off of what the human being has inside—the precious light of human thoughts, the warmth of human feeling, their strength of will. Christ goes on to proclaim what it is that protects us from being invaded: the wisdom that acknowledges the existence of the Son of Man and the willingness to do the work necessary to invite Him in as a guest, to furnish Him a dwelling place in our inmost heart. 

The poet Tom Barrett says: 

Pause with us here a while.

Put your ear to the wall of your heart.

Listen for the whisper of knowing there.

Love will touch you if you are very still. …

 

If you had a temple in the secret spaces of your heart,

What would you worship there?

What would you bring to sacrifice?

What would be behind the curtain in the holy of holies?

 

Go there now.*

---

* Tom Barrett, “What’s in the Temple?” in Keeping in Touch

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

1st Passiontide 2021, Bring Light

 

First Passiontide

Luke 11:14-36

Jesus was driving out a demon from a
man who was mute. And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons." Others sought to test him by asking for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power.

 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against house. And you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now, if Satan divides [were to divide] his powers within himself, how will [would] his kingdom be able to stand? You have not considered this when you claim that I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub. If I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub, with what power do your sons do it? Your sons will be your judges. But since, in fact, I encounter the demons with the authority of God's hand, it follows from this that the Kingdom of God has already come to you. 

"When a strong man in full armor guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted and divides it up as spoils.

"Whoever does not unite with my being is against me, and whoever does not gather in inner composure with me [or, work for inner composure with me] scatters.

"When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it says, 'I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.' When it returns to this dwelling, it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that person. And their final state is worse than the first."

As he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, "Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you."

But he said, "Truly blessed are those who hear the divine word in their hearts and tend it there."

And as the crowds increased, Jesus began

Queen of the South, Upper Rhenish

to speak. "This generation is a stranger 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 lamp and then puts it in a hidden place or under a vessel, but rather sets it on a lampstand, so that all may see the light shining. The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye looks at the world clearly, then all your body is light. But when it is evil, your body is also dark. [or, But if, however, the eye's desire sees the world separated from the Spirit, darkness will pour itself into you.]

See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it shall be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays."

1^st Passiontide

March 7, 2021

Luke 11:14-35

As is well-known, every coin has two sides. And although it has a center, it is flat; there is very little depth. A sphere, however, has an infinity of sides and a maximum of depth.

Ahriman and Lucifer, Arild Rosenkrantz

One side of the coin of our human
nature longs for wild enthusiasm, yearns to escape ourselves in ecstasy. And another side sneers in critical derision, binding us in unbelief. These are two sides of the coin of our nature—polarities, but without depth.

Christ, however, encourages us to expand our depth, become spheres. He encourages us to develop more flexibility in our thinking, to grow beyond our natural default settings of either/or, black or white. Ideally, we could look at things from a multiplicity of points of view, without settling into one extreme or another.

In the Gospel reading, Christ uses ordinary logic and common sense to refute those who would put him on either side of the good/bad coin. He widens the scope of thinking.

And his parables of the strong man guarding

Ninetta Sombart

his palace and the one who removes evil spirits from his house are a warning to us. He encourages us to remain in our center, to be present in the ‘house’ of our own being, our own bodies. We are to use our capacity of thought neither to escape ourselves nor to be bound in hopelessness. We are to become like spheres, expanding our points of view, developing thoughtful depth. From this deep place in the center of our humanity, we can connect with Christ. He is the Light of the World in the depths. In uniting with Him, our whole being can ignite. We can illuminate and warm. We can become a globe of light in the worlds we occupy.

In the words of John O’Donohue:

 

May the light of your soul bless the work

You do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.

May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal

to those who work with you…*

---

*John O’Donohue, “For Work”, in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 146.

  

For more resources, go to https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/