5th February Trinity 2014, Divine Angelic Nature

J. Kirk Richards

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Arild Rosenkrantz

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

5^th February Trinity

March 9, 2014

Matthew 4: 1-11

Storms can cause floods. Rivers jump their banks; trees and boulders are loosened. Sometimes the river’s course is changed forever as a new channel is cut.

We are all on a course toward developing our own divine angelic nature. For long stretches things flow along as usual. But sudden events and changes can divert our course, for good or for ill. Sometimes things open up, and we are propelled forward. Or sometimes we discover that we long ago strayed into some side channel and are no longer on the main route.

Christ began his life on earth with what is our goal: a fully developed divine nature. His path was to become fully human. And just after he arrived, after His Baptism, he experienced the flooding. The adversary tries to overwhelm Him with the novelty and power of the world seen from inside a human body. The adversary’s intent is to alter His course, to steer Him into a backwater existence or to strand him onshore. Christ avoids these dangers by steering His course firmly by the star of His own divine origin and purpose. He remains living within God’s own creative power; He quietly but firmly refuses to follow a false path of worship or of arrogance. And all the while He steers intently toward His own death. For He set as his task to cut a new channel forward out of the backwater, the mire, the death into which humanity had strayed.

Arild Rosenkrantz

Christ’s temptations are the temptations that beset every human being. Christ has made himself into a vessel, a ship by which we can keep to our own course through the deeps and shallows of life. He helps us steer through the floods, avoiding the sandbars and backwaters. He is our guide as we make our way toward our divine goal, through all of our lives. He helps us steer with confidence into and through our deaths.

www.thechristiancommunity.org 

4th February Trinity 2011, Listening

2^nd February Trinity

Luke 8:14-18

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:

A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky (air) ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered, because it had no moisture. Still other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. When he had said these things, he called out:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said:

To you it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking. The meaning of the parable is this:

The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterwards the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts, so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them.

Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial they fall away.

What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity.

And the seed which fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit.

No one lights a light and hides it under a vessel or under a bench; instead he places it on a lamp stand so that all who come in see the light. For nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing is secret which shall not be known and proclaimed.

So attend to how you listen. For he who has enlivened in himself the power to bear the spirit, to him more will be given. He however who does not have this power, from him will be taken that which he thinks he has.

4th February Trinity

February 27, 2011

Luke 8; 14-18

Before a gardener plants seeds, he makes sure that the soil is fertile and well tilled. Otherwise the seed has no chance to grow, thrive, and bear fruit.

In today’s reading, the seed that is sown is God’s Word—not just those words recorded from two thousand years ago, but also His speaking now. We ourselves are the gardeners responsible for fertility; for it is the ground of the heart in which the word seeds are sown.

Christ’s words in this parable are themselves seed words. They give us a hint about how to prepare the ground to receive His word-seeds: pay attention to how you listen[1], He says.

There are many ways of listening. We may pay no attention at all, so that we forget immediately. We may listen without depth of purpose, so that when things get tough, we abandon what we have begun. We may be so overwhelmed by the intensity of other experiences that inner growth withers.

Spiritual and religious growth requires cultivation—preparation, watchfulness, the offering of fruits in thanks. Over and over again. It requires inner determination and steadfast endurance. A Japanese poet said,

Let a stalk of wheat

be your witness

to every difficult day.

Since it was a flame

before it was a plant,

since it was courage

before it was grain,

since it was determination

before it was growth,

and, above all, since it was prayer

before it was fruition….[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Luke 8:18

[2] Ishihara Yoshiro, “Wheat,” translated by N. Koriyama and E. Lueders, in Like Underground Water

4th February Trinity 2012, Passing the Test

3^rd, 4^th February Trinity

Ilya Repin

(Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary.

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word.”

Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Ilya Repin

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the parapet of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me  as your Lord. “

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship [pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.’”

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld again the angels as they came to bring him nourishment.

4^th February Trinity

Ilya Repin

February 26, 2012

Matthew 4:1-11

The gospel reading opens with Jesus being led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience the tempting power of the adversary. In a way, this is a description of a human life in general. We are led into the loneliness of earth existence. And we are all exposed to the tests of temptation that the Spirit allows the adversary to visit upon us.

The Spirit that leads Him, that leads us, is the spirit of God’s love; God’s love wants to incarnate, to become active within human beings. But we must pass three basic tests, overcome three basic hurdles.

The first is the temptation to regard our life, our work, our sustenance as self-produced. The spirit of God’s love reminds us that what truly sustains us is God’s creative power.

The second temptation goes almost in the opposite direction. We may consider ourselves so important in the grand scheme of things that we expect God’s love to protect us from all harm. But in fact avoiding harm isn’t the highest goal. Harm, even torture and death, can stimulate the greatest forces of love in us.

Our third temptation is to misplace the source of spiritual power; to place it in the world outside ourselves, to worship the illusion that someone else is ruling us, instead of connecting with the divine love and guidance placed within us.

Passing these three tests opens us, brings us into contact with the angels, those divine spiritual beings who, with God, nourish and sustain our souls and spirits. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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4th February Trinity 2014, Let It Go

Feb. Trinity

(Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions, and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

Hoffman

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle, than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Collot d' Herbois

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him; but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

4^th February Trinity

March 2, 2014

Luke 18: 18-34

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are anticipating the richness of spring and the fullness of summer; But below the equator it is autumn and winter that are approaching. This is a picture of a great truth on the soul level:  over the whole of a lifetime, no matter what our riches, we must pass through loss and death to arrive at new life.

This is brought home to the rich young man in the gospel reading. He is rich, both inwardly and outwardly; he is in the summer of his development.  But Christ is asking him to take the next step—a step into an autumn shedding, the step into a winter sleep. He is to become a Lazarus, one who leaves behind a topside wealth for the good of others and lays down his life.

At this moment in the gospel, the young man is very sad—he experiences already the grief of loss. But in following Christ, he will be called forth to a whole new level of being. His loss and death will be real and complete. But so will his completely new and unforeseen life.  For Christ will intimately and continuously accompany his further development –through loss and death, and into a further life. The poet Mary Oliver says:

Every year

everything

Rembrandt

I have ever learned

in my lifetime

leads back to this: the fires

and the black river of loss

whose other side

is salvation

….

To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go.*

www.thechristiancommunity.org

*Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods”

4th February Trinity 2013, Rising and Setting

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 4^th February Trinity

February 24, 2013

Matthew 17: 1-13

The rising and falling of the sun creates for us a sense of time, our day and night, season after season. At its highest it is too bright to look at. Only when it is near the horizon can our eyes bear to look at it directly.

Our lives too have their seasons, their rising and setting. In the midst of our lives it is often not possible to see what shines within them. But near their setting, it is easier to view.

Fra Angelico

Jesus bore the Christ-Sun within him. In today’s reading, the sun of Christ’s earthly human life is approaching its setting.

The three disciples with Him are granted a glimpse into the Sun-brightness of His being. He stands in conversation with Moses, the past giver of the Law, and Elijah, prophet of the future. He stands in the middle as the ever-present Now, for he has gathered into himself all of time. His earthly life is setting; and yet the Christ Sun will rise again. He is both Alpha and Omega, beginning and goal.

Our lives in Christ, the Christ-Sun in us, is the eternally present Now. He allows us to see the meaning of our lives in clarity, especially in its setting. Christ in us allows us to hope for another rising when this life reaches its close.

For as Angelus Silesius[1] said, we are to become radiant suns:

My spirit once in God will eternal bliss become

Just as the sun’s own ray is sun within the sun.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Silesius, Cherubinic Wanderer

3rd February Trinity 2007, Nodal Points

3^rd Feb. Trinity

(Sunday before Ash Wednesday, 7^th Sunday before Easter)

Luke 18: 18-34

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, “Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments, you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!

He said, “All these I have observed strictly from my youth.”

When Jesus heard this, he said, [Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said… Mk 10:21] “One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions, and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me!

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, “What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle, than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!”

Those who heard this said, “Who then can be saved?”

He said, “For man alone it is impossible; it will be possible however through the power of God working in man.”

Then Peter said to him, “Behold, we have given up everything to follow you.”

He replied, “Amen, the truth I say to you. No one who leaves home or wife, or brother or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in earthly life, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him; but on the third day he will rise up from the dead.”

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

3^rd February Trinity

Feb 18, 2007

Luke 18: 18-34

When a plant grows, it first forms leaves. Then eventually these leaves metamorphose into the rich beauty of the blossom. The blossom opens to the sun, offers its pollen of its life substance to the sun. In wedding itself to the cosmos, its petals fall away. The blossom dies, but new life is formed in the seed.

The rich young man had followed the commandments. He had become rich in spiritual beauty, blossomed into a perfect flower. He was poised to give himself to the cosmos, to become an offering. But this would involve letting go of the beauteous petals of his outer and inner wealth. To take the next step, parts of himself would have to be shed. It was a necessary condition of his further development, of his movement toward eternal life. It would naturally be accompanied by a sense of loss and grief.

Our lives too come to certain nodal points, although we may not be as conscious of the moment as was the rich young man. When things on one level are about to be exchanged for another level, our destiny involves us in losses and griefs. Things, people important to us seem to fall away. But that is how the cosmos gives us the opportunity to grow, to blossom, to generate life on a higher level.

The Act of Consecration of Man gives us the opportunity to more consciously practice opening our souls, offering ourselves, and dying into a higher life. Sunday by Sunday, we shed the riches of our outer lives for an hour of prayer and inner sacrifice. Drop by drop, morsel by morsel, we build and strengthen our capacity for sacrifice, our capacity to let go and take the next step into the cosmos. Bit by bit we open ourselves and form the seeds of higher life.

3rd February Trinity 2008, Transfiguring Moment

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

3^rd Sunday February Trinity

February 17, 2008

Matthew 17: 1-13

Moses, He Qi

In the Gospel reading, Christ appears, sun-like and radiant. He is between two great figures, Moses and Elijah. Moses embodies the long and often painful journey of walking the earth in search of the land that is to be made holy. For all his ability to converse with his people’s guiding spirit, Moses is a man of the earth. His magical deeds, like striking rocks to release a spring, are earth mysteries. But in the end, he is only allowed to see the promised land, not to enter it.

Elijah, He Qi

Elijah is a prophet who appears here and there, unexpectedly. He works with weather; he raises the dead. His magic is of the airy realms. His own death is described as an ascension into heaven in a fiery chariot.

Christ’s conversation with them is about His path is between the two. Like Elijah, He shines with the fire and light of the sun. He too will rise out of death. Yet like Moses, He also walks a painful path on earth—toward Jerusalem. After this transfiguring moment, He again becomes ordinary. His is the truly human path. He walks down the mountain toward the Great Sacrifice.

The earthly human path is an often arduous path of suffering. But this suffering, rightly endured, leads us from our narrow self-absorption out into a compassionate connection with all beings and with the earth itself. Christ’s immense suffering solidifies His immense love, a love that encompasses the world. Although He would rise as Lord of the Spirit-Wind, He remains forever connected to the earth. He it is who helps us make the earth holy. He walks with us on earth for all future generations, through all future cycles of time.

www.thechristiancommunity.org