5th Easter,
John 16,
1-33
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| Ascension, Kate Greenaway |
“All these words I have spoken to you so that you will
not be offended because you discover what destiny falls to you through being
connected with me. For they will exclude you from their communities, and the
hour will come when those who rob you of your earthly existence and kill you
will think they are offering service to the progress of the world. They will do
so because they cannot raise their knowing to knowledge of the Father, nor to
knowledge of my being and working. All these words I have spoken to you so that
when the time comes you will remember that I said them to you. I did not speak
to you in this way in the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going
away to him who sent me; yet, none of you has yet the strength and courage to
ask me about the realm into which I now enter. Your hearts are full of grief
and therefore closed to the things I have said to you.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is for your
salvation and healing that I go away, for if I did not go away, the Comforter,
who will stand by you in all trials, the Spirit upon whom you can call for
assistance at any moment, would not come to you. But because I go, I will be
able to send him to you. When he comes, he will bring to the world a
consciousness of how the nature of the sickness of sin works, of how people can
be reconnected with the divine world in which there is no sin, and of how the
decision about human error can be brought about. Sin is human beings not really
being able to trust in my being and in that which works out of my being within
them. The balancing of sin holds sway in my going to the Father and in not
remaining limited to appearing outwardly. Judgment works in the decision that
has already been made about the prince of outer world.
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| Holy Spirit Dove |
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now
bear. But only when the Spirit comes, through whom the Truth can reveal itself
to the world, will he lead you to the Truth that Embraces All. For he will not
speak only out of himself, but he will speak what he hears in the realm of the
Spirit, as the speaking of the eternal reality, and he will tell you what is
yet to come. Thus will he reveal me among men, for out of what he takes from my
being he will proclaim to you. In the realm in which my Father works, there I
also live. That is why I can say, ‘He will take from my being and proclaim to
you’.
In a little while you will see me no more, and then after
a little while you will see me.”
Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he
mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more’, and then, ‘after a
little while you will see me’, and ‘because I am going to the Father’? They
kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not understand what
he is saying.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this, so he
said to them, “You are wondering what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while
you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.’ Amen, amen, the truth I say to you, you will
weep and deeply mourn, and the world will rejoice in this. You will be filled
with sorrow, but this your sorrow will be turned into unceasing joy. A woman
giving birth must bear pain, for her difficult hour has come. But when the
child is born, she no longer considers the anguish because of her joy that a
child has been born into the world.
So it is with you. Now is your time of grief. But this your
grief will become the power of Spirit-Birth, for I will see you again and your
heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day, you
will be so deeply united with me that you will no longer need to ask me
anything.
Amen, amen, I tell you the truth; from now on what you
ask of the Father in my name, He will give to you. Until now, you have not been
able to ask anything in my name. Ask and you shall receive, and your joy will
be complete.
Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart
so that your joy may be fulfilled.
All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the
hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures, but will tell
you openly and unveiled about my Father, so that you can grasp it in full,
knowing consciousness. So will I proclaim to you the being of the Father. On
that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask
the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself will love you because you
have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the
Father. I have come forth from the Father and I have come into this world.
I leave the sense world again and return to the world of
the Father, of which you say that it is the world of death.”
Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking in clear
thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you
and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us
believe that you came from God.”
Jesus answered, “Do you now feel my power in your heart?
Behold, the time is coming, and has already come, when you will be scattered,
each to his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. But I am not
alone, for the Father is eternally united with me.
All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find
peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage.
I have overcome the world.”
5th Easter
May 3, 2015
John 16: 1 – 33
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| Christ the Vine, Wiki Commons |
When we know that we will be separated from a loved one,
we may give them a photo, to help them remember us. Before He died on the
cross, Christ gave his disciples images of himself. He knew he was going away
for a time, and so he gave word-pictures of himself: I am the Good Shepherd of
Souls. I am the Doorway into the heavenly realms. I am the true Vine,
connecting and holding you all. I am He who shows you the pathway to Truth in
Life, the Way to real, true Life.
He hoped that in
their time of grief and sorrow after His death, they would remember the
pictures and would find comfort and trust in them.
These images have been repeated again in the readings
since Easter. And just as they were given beforehand, as a comfort for the
impending events on Golgotha, so do they now precede yet another death, another
loss. For on Ascension Thursday, Christ’s Resurrection Body, the body in which
he appeared to his disciples for forty days after his death, this body will
undergo yet another change of form. It will become another body, expanding to
become the true life, the living Vine of the whole world. And they will lose
sight of Him yet again.
We too do not always see Him. In fact, most moderns have
not yet seen Him. This, as He says, is humanity’s time of separation and grief, our time of
laboring and pain. But He assures us that our labor is not in vain. We will
bear fruit. As Rilke compares us to trees in an orchard,
… even though the burden
should at times seem almost past
endurance.
Not to falter! Not to be found
wanting!
Thus must it be, when willingly
you strive
throughout a long and
uncomplaining life,
committed to one goal: to give
yourself!
And silently to grow and to bear
fruit.
Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Apple Orchard.”
Pentecost 
