2nd Epiphany 2021, Truth at Every Moment

2^nd Epiphany

Luke 2:41-52
 
Every year his [Jesus'] parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they took him with them. Now, after they had gone there and fulfilled the custom during the days of the feast, they set off on their way home. But the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought he was among the company of the travelers. After a day's journey, they missed him among their friends and relations. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 

Durer

After three days, they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the
teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And those who heard him were amazed at his mature understanding and his answers.
 
And when they saw him, they were taken aback, and his mother said to him, "My child, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."
 
And he said to them, "Why did you look for me? Did you not know that I must be and live in that which is my Father's?"
 
But they did not understand the meaning of the words he spoke to them. And he went down with them again to Nazareth and followed them willingly in all things.
 
And his mother carefully kept all these things living in her heart. And Jesus progressed in wisdom, maturity, and grace [or, favor] in the sight of God and humans.

2^nd Epiphany
January 17, 2021
Cynthia Hindes
 
You are likely familiar with the fairy tale in which what was raised as a duckling turns out to be a swan. In today’s gospel reading, the boy Jesus undergoes the first of his many transformations.

William Holman Hunt

He comes into his own swan-hood: wise, mature, and beautiful. His parents don’t understand how unexpectedly he could turn into something so different from what they had known him to be.

There is a part of all of our souls that is like the boy. Our parents, our family, our society has laid certain expectations on us. But our true identity is swan-like. The boy Jesus is the archetype for how we deal with the possible conflict between the imperatives of our higher, our developing swan-nature, and the demands of our family and surroundings.

The young Jesus willingly follows both. And we too can firmly tread the path of our own higher development. And at the same time, we can respect and honor those to whom we are responsible.

Soon enough, the boy will leave home and embark on a world-shattering journey. But for now, despite a dawning self-awareness, he continues to develop quietly, inwardly. Perhaps he prays the words of Psalm 121:

I look deep into my heart,
to the core where wisdom arises.

Alexsandr Antonyuk

Wisdom comes from the Unnamable
and unifies heaven and earth.
The Unnamable is always with [me] you,
shining from the depths of [my] your heart.
His peace will keep [me] you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
When [I} you find him present within [me] you,
{I} you find truth at every moment.
He will guard [me] you from all wrongdoing;
he will guide [my] your feet on his path.
He will temper [my] your youth with patience;
he will crown [my] your old age with fulfillment.
And dying, [I] you will leave [my] your body
as effortlessly as a sigh.*
 
* Psalm 121, (adapted) from A Book of Psalms, trans. and adapted by Stephen Mitchell

2nd June Trinity 2019, Helping Guide

June Trinity

John 4, 1-26 (adapted from Madsen)

At this time the Lord became aware that it was rumored among the Pharisees that Jesus was finding and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, though his disciples did.) Therefore he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

Now he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was also there. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat down by the well. It was about midday, the sixth hour.

Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, “Give me to drink.” For his disciples had gone into town to buy bread.

Then the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” For the Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew how the divine world now draws near to men, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me to drink’, you would ask him, and he would give you the water of life [the living water].

“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where will you draw the living water? Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him, his thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty again and need never come here again to draw.”

He said to her, “Go call your husband and show him to me.”

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You have well said that you have no husband. Five husbands you have had, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that only in Jerusalem is the place where one should worship.”

Vonaesch

Jesus answered, “Believe me, o woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship a being you do not know; we worship what we do know. That is why salvation had to be prepared for among the Jews. But the hour is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father with the power of the spirit and in awareness [knowledge] of the truth.”

Then the woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will teach us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I AM he who stands before you and speaks to you.”

2^nd June Trinity

June 23, 2019

John 4: 1-26

If we wish to journey through an area foreign to us, we may engage a guide. The guide knows where best to stop for food and water, for shelter. We depend on the guide’s familiarity with the terrain to get us safely through to our destination.

There is a certain sense in which our own five senses are guides.  They each offer specific information about where we are. Taken individually each sense gives such different information that we cannot depend on them singly. We ourselves need to sift through what we receive from them. And further, their information is limited to the earthly, sense-perceptible world.

In the non-material world, the world of life and living beings, in the world of love, we need another guide; someone who knows the territory, who will nourish and shelter us on the way; who will see us to our destination. The Act of Consecration of Man (communion liturgy) speaks of One who is our helping guide through the territory of our freedom.

The Samaritan woman meets him by the well. In tradition she is called Photina,

‘the luminous one’. In her conversation with him she realizes that relying only on the guidance of her five senses, (her ‘husbands’) is not taking her where she wishes to go. Her soul is parched. Christ offers himself as the living water, and as her guide on her journey. She recognizes that he knows, in fact He is the way; that he stands before her and speaks to her of where she truly wishes to go; that He is her helping guide.

Psalm 121 speaks of this guide:

….The Unnamable is always with you,
shining from the depths of your heart.
His peace will keep you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
When you find him present within you,
you find truth at every moment.
He will guard you from all wrongdoing;
he will guide your feet on his path….*

*A Book of Psalms, trans. and adapted by Stephen Mitchell

2nd Epiphany 2015, Wise, Mature and Beautiful

2^nd Epiphany

Jesus with the Teachers, Durer

January 18, 2015

Luke 2: 41 – 52

Every year his [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they took him with them. Now after they had gone there and fulfilled the custom during the days of the feast, they set off on their way home. But the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought he was among the company of the travelers. 

After a day’s journey they missed him among their friends and relations. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And those who heard him were amazed at his mature understanding and his answers.

And when they saw him, they were taken aback, and his mother said to him, “My child, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”

And he said to them, “Why did you look for me? Did you not know that I must be and live in that which is my Father’s?”

But they did not understand the meaning of the words he spoke to them. And he went down with them again to Nazareth and followed them willingly in all things.

And his mother carefully kept all these things living in her heart. And Jesus progressed in wisdom, in maturity and grace [favor] in the sight of God and man.

2^nd Epiphany

January 18, 2015

Luke 2: 41 – 52

Finding the Boy Jesus in the Temple, William, Holman Hunt

You are likely familiar with the fairy tale in which what appears to be a duckling turns out to be a swan. In today’s gospel reading, the boy Jesus undergoes the first of many transformations. He comes into his own 'swan-hood': wise, mature and beautiful. His parents don’t understand how their ‘duckling’ could turn out so differently than they had known him to be, so unexpectedly.

There is a part of all of our souls which is like the boy. Our parents, our family, our society has laid certain expectations on us. But our true identity is swan-like. The boy Jesus is the archetype for how we deal with the possible conflict between the imperatives of our higher, developing swan- nature and the demands of our family and surroundings.

We firmly tread the path of our own higher development. And at the same time, we respect and honor those to whom we are responsible.

Soon enough the boy will leave home and embark on a world-shattering journey. But for now, despite a dawning self-awareness, he continues to develop quietly, inwardly. Perhaps he prays the words of Psalm 121:

I look deep into my heart,

to the core where wisdom arises.
Wisdom comes from the Unnamable
and unifies heaven and earth.
The Unnamable is always with [me] you,
shining from the depths of [my] your heart.
His peace will keep [me] you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
When [I] you find him present within [me] you,
[I] you find truth at every moment.
He will guard [me] you from all wrongdoing;
he will guide [my] your feet on his path.
He will temper [my] your youth with patience;
he will crown [my] your old age with fulfillment.
And dying, [I] you will leave [my] your body
as effortlessly as a sigh.[1]

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[1] Psalm 121,  from A Book of Psalms, trans. and adapted by Stephen Mitchell)(further adapted also by CH.)

2nd June Trinity 2014, Helping Guide

June Trinity

John 4, 1-26

  

At this time the Lord became aware that it was rumored among the Pharisees that Jesus was finding and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, though his disciples did.) Therefore he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

Now he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was also there. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat down by the well. It was about midday, the sixth hour.

Then a Samaritan woman came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, “Give me to drink.” For his disciples had gone into town to buy bread.

Then the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” For the Jews avoided all contact with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew how the divine world now draws near to men, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me to drink’, you would ask him, and he would give you the water of life [the living water].

“Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where will you draw the living water? Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks and herds?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I will give him, his thirst will be quenched for all time. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up as true life for eternity.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may never be thirsty again, and need never come here again to draw.”

He said to her, “Go call your husband and show him to me.”

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You have well said that you have no husband. Five husbands you have had, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that only in Jerusalem is the place where one should worship.”

Jesus answered, “Believe me, o woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship a being you do not know; we worship what we do know. That is why salvation had to be prepared for among the Jews. But the hour is coming and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with the power of the spirit and in awareness [knowledge] of the truth.”

Then the woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming who is called Christ. When he comes, he will teach us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I AM he who stands before you and speaks to you.”

2^nd June Trinity

June 22, 2014

John 4: 1-26

If we wish to journey through an area foreign to us, we may engage a guide. The guide knows where best to stop for food and water, for shelter. We depend on his familiarity with the terrain to get us safely through to our destination.

There is a certain sense in which our own five senses are guides.  They each offer specific information about where we are. Taken individually each sense gives such different information that we cannot depend on them singly. We ourselves need to sift through what we receive from them. And further, their information is limited to the earthly, sense-perceptible world.

In the non-material world, the world of life and living beings, the world of love, we need another guide; someone who knows the territory, who will nourish and shelter us on the way; who will see us to our destination. The Act of Consecration of Man (communion liturgy) speaks of One who is our helping guide through the territory of our freedom.

The Samaritan woman meets him by the well. In tradition she is called Photina, ‘the luminous one’. In her conversation with him she realizes that relying only on the guidance of her five senses, (her ‘husbands’) is not taking her where she wishes to go. Her soul is parched. Christ offers himself as the living water, and as her guide on her journey. She recognizes that he knows, in fact is the way; that he stands before her and speaks to her of where she truly wishes to go; that He is her helping guide.

Psalm 121 speaks of this guide:

 ….The Unnamable is always with you,
shining from the depths of your heart.
His peace will keep you untroubled
even in the greatest pain.
When you find him present within you,
you find truth at every moment.
He will guard you from all wrongdoing;
he will guide your feet on his path….*

*A Book of Psalms, trans. and adapted by Stephen Mitchell