5th November Trinity 2018, Beholden

November Trinity 

Matthew 25, 14 – 30

“Again, it [the kingdom of the heavens] will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received one went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s silver.

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your money in the earth. See, here you have back again what belongs to you.’

Burnand

“His master replied, ‘You bad and idle servant! You claim to know that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not distribute? Well then, should you not all the more have put my money on deposit with the money changers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. To him who has shall be given, and he shall have in abundance. To him who has not, even what he has shall be taken. Cast the worthless servant out, into the darkness of external existence, where there is only wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

5^th Nov Trinity

Nov 25, 2018

Mathew 25: 14-30

This gospel reading seems perhaps to be strangely materialistic and somewhat severe in tone. But like all the parables, it is a metaphor.

When we are born, we are each given a certain amount of inner riches, according to our karma. These riches are entrusted to us as talents, as opportunities that come our way, perhaps even as burdens. In the parable, the man going on the journey, who entrusted his wealth, is gone for a long time. This is perhaps an image of our experience of God, who leaves us space, withdraws from our awareness, so that we can concentrate on working with and turning to the good what he has entrusted to us. For it is our task to work with these gifts, these opportunities and burdens, to make the most of them. At the end of our lives, we want to be able to give a positive accounting of what we have done with what we were given.

Tissot

It is interesting that the single gift of the one who had acted out of fear, disrespect, and perhaps even laziness, is taken from him and given to the one who already has the most. This seems perhaps unfair until one realizes that the one who receives even more is, at the same time, tasked with an even greater responsibility in the future. For our inner riches are not our possessions. They do not belong to us. They belong to the human race in general and are distributed to those who can best bring the whole of humanity forward. Perhaps my apparent enrichment stands on the shoulders of another’s failure and impoverishment.

On this last Sunday of the liturgical year, we would do well to recall the words of our funeral service: We are beholden to the spirit for all that we do, all that we think, all that we say. In the words of the poet Scott Cairns:

To behold the sublime, one must first

accede that one is also held, beheld,

beholden to. One must first agree.

To behold the sublime, one must first

forgo all hope of standing clear,

of standing far apart. One must see.

To behold the sublime, one must first

suspend long habits of self-

sufficiency,….*

* Scott Cairns “Anaphora on Orcas Island”

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3rd Easter 2008, City of Peace

3^rd 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?”

3^rd 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?

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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

3rd Epiphany 2008, Sweetness of Soul and Body

3^rd Epiphany

Matthew 8, 1-13

When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. And behold, a man with leprosy approached him, and kneeling down before him said, “Lord, if you are willing, you are able to make me clean.”

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.”

And immediately he was cleared of his leprosy. And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one. But go and show yourself to the priests and offer to them the gift that Moses commanded as a testimony of your cleansing.”

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a Roman captain, leader of a hundred soldiers, approached him, pleading with him and saying, “Lord, my boy lies at home, paralyzed, suffering great pain.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The centurion answered, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Just say a word, and my boy will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. If I say one word to this one—‘Go, ’ he goes, and if I tell another ‘Come,’ he comes. If I tell my servant ‘Do this,’ he does it.

Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, the truth I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great power of trust. And I tell you, that many will come from the east and from the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the darkness of [godforsaken] external existence, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go home.  Let it be done to you as you have believed.”

And the boy was healed in that hour.

3^rd Epiphany 

January 20, 2008

Matthew 8.1-13

At a certain point in the life cycle of a plant, the carefully protected seeds are ejected and separate from where they had been harbored. Without this separation, there is no possibility of new life.

Lepers were forced to the very edges of their community—despised and rejected. Yet this individual leper in the gospel reading bears the seed of a new life. He takes the initiative to find his way back into community again. He does so by approaching the source of healing itself—Christ, who in turn reaches out to touch him. Drawn by the World Physician the leper is integrated back into community again.

We are all outcasts in this life, feeling separated from all friends, relations and the divine beings who live in the spiritual world. That is why Christ came to us—because we could not enter the higher community. Now, because He has come, and is here, we can help form together and enter the higher community from here on earth. Christ heals the rift between soul and soul, spirit and spirit, within and among us.

St. Francis of Assisi speaks of his own healing:

This is how our Lord allowed me

to begin my healing: While I yet walked

in sin, the mere sight of lepers was as

a bitterness I could not bear. Therefore

the Lord Himself drew me to life

among them, and so doing gave me

to have mercy on them. By the time

I left them, the bitterness had turned

to a sweetness of soul and of body.[1]

Separation is a phase of life. But as St. Francis says, through Christ’s healing in one’s destiny, the bitterness becomes mercy and the sweetness of a new life for soul and body.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] “Mercy”, St. Francis of Assisi, in Love’s Immensity, Scott Cairns, p. 80.