Showing posts with label Mark 16:1-18. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark 16:1-18. Show all posts

Sunday, April 17, 2022

Easter Sunday 2022, I Am Not I

 Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-18 

And when the Sabbath was over,

Julia Stankova
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" 

And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe, and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, "Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him. But go and say to his disciples and Peter, 'He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.'" 

And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them, and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced. 

When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it. 

Julia Stankova
After this, He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either. Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and their hardness of heart because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One. 

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites their heart with it and is immersed in me will attain salvation. But whoever closes themselves against it [or, does not let the power of selflessness into his heart, or, does not let the power of My Self into his heart] will meet their downfall. And spiritual powers will stand by those who unite themselves with it and will attend their path: Through the power of my being they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick and give healing forces to them."*

Easter Sunday

April 17, 2022

Mark 16:1-18 

Sombart
Christ Jesus was entombed in a cave with
a large stone rolled over the entrance. When He rose, His rising was accompanied by an earthquake. The foundations of the world were shaken by this mighty event, for Death itself had been infused with a new form of Life. An angel rolls back the stone, revealing the place where the transformation of the world had taken place. The earth shone with a new light.
 

The cave is also a picture of the human heart. Each year Christ dies into us, is buried in each and every one of us. And every year at Easter, He rises in and through us. 

Who rolls away for us the stone from the tomb of the heart, the stone of hardness of heart, the stone of not wanting to believe and trust that He lives? 

He who was entombed is now alive, in us, and everywhere. He lives in the very light that shines, in the very air we breathe. He walks in the spirit before us. We seek to find Him, for He is the very meaning and essence of our true being. We know that without Him, we are not complete. We know, in the words of the poet: 

Corrine Vonaesch
I am not I.

                I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see,

Whom at times I manage to visit,

And whom at other times I forget;

The one who remains silent when I talk

The one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,

The one who takes a walk where I am not.

The one who will remain standing when I die.* 


The One who walks beside me, before me—He whom I do not see—because of Him, I know that the grave is empty. Because of Him, the heart is full. In Him, I too will rise, through Him, into new life.

 https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/christian-festivals/



*Traditional translation: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name, they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well."

**“I Am Not I,” by Juan Ramón Jiménez, in Risking Everything, ed. By Roger Housden, p. 19.

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Easter Sunday 2021, Dreaming the Meaning

 

Easter Sunday

Mark 16:1-18

And when the Sabbath was over,

Julia Stankova

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?"

And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe, and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, "Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him [his body]. But go and say to his disciples and Peter, 'He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.'"

And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them, and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced.

Julia Stankova
When He had risen
early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it.

After this, He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either. Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and their hardness of heart because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One.

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites their heart with it and is immersed in me will attain salvation. But whoever closes themselves against it will meet their downfall. And spiritual powers will stand by those who unite themselves with it and will attend their path: Through the power of my being they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick and give healing forces to them."

Easter Sunday

April 11, 2004

April 4, 2021

Mark 16: 1-18

When we are asleep, we dream. Images, pictures pregnant with feeling tones unfold before our inner eye. These images are sometimes nightmarish, sometimes marvelous.

The poet Antonio Machado* describes this. He says:

Last night I had a dream–

Tracy Silva Barbosa

…I dreamt of a hive at work

deep down in my heart.

Within were the golden bees

straining out the bitter past

to make sweet-tasting honey,

and white honeycomb.

Sometimes dream images picture a higher reality, for our hearts are indeed a center of teeming activity. It is in our hearts that our old failures and mistakes are digested. In our hearts, they are transformed into the "white honeycombs," the breeding places for new life. In our hearts, errors and failures are transformed into sweet nourishment for the Self we are to become.

He goes on:

 Last night I had a dream–

J. Hahn

…I dreamt of a fountain flowing

deep down in my heart.

welling up with new life

 

Last night I had a dream–

I dreamt it was God I'd found

deep down in my heart.


This morning we are awake. And the dream has come true. The Sun-God has arisen in our hearts. We can feel His transforming power, making our errors fruitful, His new life welling up as strength and joy. We have awakened and it dawns on us—Christ is risen to us as the meaning of the earth.

 

*Antonio Machado, "Last Night I Had a Dream," translated by Alan Trueblood.


Sunday, April 12, 2020

Easter Sunday 2020, Light Seeds



Easter Sunday
Mark 16:1-18 (adapted from Madsen)

St. Albans
And when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb just as the sun was rising. And they said to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?”

And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back—and it was very large. And they went into the tomb. There they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clad in a white robe, and they were beside themselves with amazement. And he said to them, “Do not be startled; you seek Jesus of Nazareth the Crucified One. He is risen; He is not here; see, there is the place where they laid Him [his body]. But go and say to his disciples and Peter, “He will lead you to Galilee. There you will see Him as He promised you.”
And they went out and fled from the tomb in great haste, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them, and being awestruck, they were unable to say anything to anyone about what they had experienced.

When He had risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had driven out seven demons. And she went and told those who had walked with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, their hearts could not grasp it.

Way to Emmaus, Albert Bloch
After this, He appeared in another form to two of them on the way as they were walking over the fields. And they went back and told the rest, but they could not open their hearts to their words either.
Afterward, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were celebrating the meal. He reproached them for their lack of openness and their hardness of heart because they had not wanted to believe those who had seen Him, the Risen One.


And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the new message from the realm of the angels to the whole of creation. Whoever unites his heart with it [believes] and is immersed in me [baptized] will attain salvation. But whoever closes himself against it [does not let the power of selflessness into his heart, or, does not let the power of My Self into his heart] will meet his downfall. And spiritual powers [these signs] will stand by those who [believe] unite themselves with it and will attend their path: Through the power of my being [in my name] they will drive out demons; they will speak a new language; serpents they will make upright, and poisons they are given to drink will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick and give healing forces to them.

Easter Sunday
April 12, 2020
Mark 16: 1-18

Grunewald
In the week before His death, Christ Jesus said “unless a kernel of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

At His crucifixion, the living power of Christ’s blood entered the earth to keep it alive. And His body was placed into a cave in the earth, the earth’s communion. He, the great Light-Seed, died into the earth.

On Holy Saturday, like a seed, he rooted himself firmly into the earth, descending to the dead.

On Easter morning, the first new shoots of His new Life broke forth from underground. New Life, capable of reproducing itself infinitely, began to grow.

This happens again every year.

Ninetta Sombart
At Ascension, He will open himself wide to the cosmos, while still remaining connected to the earth. And so this new Life will blossom again into the whole world. At Pentecost, His manifold light-seeds will fall into the hearts of those who love him.

And now, today, we rejoice because new Life is flashing forth from death. It is emerging from its apparent demise; it flares up from the ground of our hearts. The Light-Seed is quickening in the earth, in us. For today, as the poet says,

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our Beloved -

A harbinger of joy,
The harbinger of Light.*




*Hafiz, “Guardians of His Beauty”, in The Subject Tonight is Love -- versions by Daniel Ladinsky