John 3: 22-36
After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of
Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at
Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and
people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.
Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John
and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to
him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness –
here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual
power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You
yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent
before him.’
“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But
the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled
with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must
increase, but I must decrease.
He who descends from above, out of the spiritual
world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth,
whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.
He who comes from the heavens is elevated above all
who have arisen from the earthly. What he has seen and heard in the world of
the spirit, to that he can bear direct witness, but no one accepts his
testimony.
But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to
this: that God is true [truth] [that there is
no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with
the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not
according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens
in man.
The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love,
and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son
within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.
Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within
will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world
must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”
John 3: 22-36
To plant a seed is an exercise in trust – we trust that this tiny hard
little thing we stick in the ground has the power to develop into something
quite different. We trust that the seed will grow up out of the earth, into the
light and air, and will undergo its enormous changes of form. These changes are
generated by the life-giving power of the sun.
Something similar takes place within us. Our lives, our souls, undergo
tremendous changes and development. The powers that be have planted us here on
earth. They have tremendous faith in our ability to develop. They have even
given us all the potential. It all depends on our capacity to trust in the
power of God’s Son within us.
“Whoever trusts in the power of the Son within himself, he grows out of
earthly life into timeless life.” John 3:36
If the seed were too afraid to stretch into the light and air, it would
remain in the earth and moulder away. If our souls and lives are ruled by fear
and anxiety, we remain chained to the earthly.
“Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within will not behold
the world of life. John 3:36
The Son God is the power behind our becoming. He is the power that gives us the
courage to proceed through all our changes, to keep growing, ever higher, ever
deeper. We don’t need to be so anxious, so full of our own efforts. We have
help.
Catherine of Sienna wrote:
The sun hears the fields talking about effort
And the sun smiles
And whispers to me
“Why don’t the fields just rest, for
I am willing to do
Everything
To help them grow?”
Rest my dears, in
Prayer.[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1]
Catherine of Sienna, “Rest in Prayer,” in Love
Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky. P. 195.