Showing posts with label Matthew 5:37. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew 5:37. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2014

3rd Easter 2008, City of Peace

3rd Easter
John 10: 1-21

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, he is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.
When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee, because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”
Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.
I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal, and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, he sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.
Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.
That is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up anew. No one can take it from me.  But in full freedom I myself offer it up. I have the power to give it away and also the power to receive it anew. That is the task given to me by my Father.”

Then there again arose a division among the people because of these words. Many of them said, “He is possessed by a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?” Yet others said, “These are not the words of one who is possessed. After all, can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

3rd Easter Sunday
April 6, 2008
John 10: 1-21

A door has two functions. It can open to allow us to move from one space to another. Closed, that access is denied.

In life we often find ourselves at thresholds, a new phase of life, a new job, or even the ending of something. Doors open to us—or close. We have the choice to walk through such an opening—or not. We have the choice to try to create an opening—or not.

Our soul too has its own door. It is our ability to say yes, or to say no, to what comes to meet us. Saying yes, we open our soul to what wants to enter our inner space—an event, a person, a course of action. Sometimes it is necessary to say no and to close our self to something, say, unhealthy.

This capacity to choose, to say yes or no, is a gift from the Creator, in whose image we were made and in whose image we are remodeling ourselves. It is a function of the Self. That this is so is underscored by Christ’s own self-description—My I AM is a Door.

He who functions as the great Yes and the great No, the archetype of choice, can help us in our own yes’s and no’s. Together with Christ, our choices can be healthy ones. Together with Christ our decisions can be clear and move us fully along from one inner space to another. Christ encourages us: “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes, and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one,” He says. Mt 5:37.

One of the saints said:
We should probably pause,
and discover where we stand and if
we at least stand facing
in the most likely direction.
Have we yet left our
fallen city, have we so much
as exited the gate?
…Have you, like me,
advanced, say, several
miles, and then retraced
the same distance in reverse?
Have we come so far
as the Holy City itself,
The City of Peace?
Have we entered its open
gate, or do we stand
cowering outside, unable
to enter it?[1]

Ironically, even with regard to the soul’s own relationship to Christ, the relationship between the little door of the soul to the Great Door, there exists a paradox. He who is himself the Door of the Self, has chosen to wait outside the door of the soul’s choice, the door of our heart. He knocks and waits to be admitted. For Christ Himself respects our freedom of choice. With Him too, our soul faces a choice. Will our heart choose to say yes, and open the door to Him? Will our heart say yes and cross the threshold into the space of His great heart, into His City of Peace?




[1] Dorotheos of Gaza (c. 490- c.560, “Where We Are”, in Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns, p. 66.