Pentecost 5 (Mark 5:21-43) “Do not fear, only believe.”
Jesus frequently contrasted fear with faith.
Faith is not magic. Magic is based in the false belief that by discovering some secret knowledge we can use that knowledge to acquire power over nature, other people, even God. Magical thinking is grounded in the distorted belief that the universe revolves around me. Many children have this belief. One developmental task we all share is to grow beyond this radical and impossible individualism.
Faith is not irrational. Modern people, both secular and religious, speak of faith in terms of individual opinion and irrational belief. Many people confuse wishful thinking or fanciful thinking with faith. We sometimes hear religious people say: you can’t explain it; you just have to believe it. Others react to this approach and equate superstition with religious faith.
Faith is not a blind leap into the dark. The invitation to faith comes from particular human beings such as Moses, the prophets, the apostles. The invitation is grounded in their observation of the world and their own personal experience of God at work in the world. Faith is a response to the world, other people and our own observations and experiences.
Faith is not individual. It is not solely and exclusively about me. It is personal and it is corporate. It exists in the context of a larger community and produces a result in the context of a larger community.
Moses and the prophets teach that God created us as particular members of a unified community. The poet priest John Donne commented on this aspect of humanity when he wrote: “no man is an island.” We are all interconnected, interdependent and interrelated.
The Bible is very clear: it does matter what you believe. It also matters how you believe. Belief produces an attitude about life that forms the choices we make.
Atheists sometimes compare faith in God with belief in leprechauns, Santa Claus and the Easter bunny. Faith is not the same as belief. People believe all sorts of things, some of which are irrational and have no basis in the world as we experience it. Belief is often a reaction to fear. Faith is relational. Faith is a response to love.
The individuals in the two stories in today’s gospel readings had many beliefs about themselves, other people and God. The woman experienced the failure of medicine to heal her. She had come to believe she was defined by her illness. She had lost hope and so she could not embrace faith.
The family of the dead girl believed dead was dead. Once you are dead there is no hope. Without hope there can be no faith.
The Real Presence of the love of God in Jesus challenged these beliefs. By his own actions Jesus offered a new set of possibilities. That new set of possibilities offered a glimmer of hope.
For the woman, hope produced faith. It was not an abstract intellectual faith. It was not an irrational superstition. It certainly was not some secret knowledge that would produce power. It was Jesus.
The woman heard of Jesus. She observed his actions. She heard his words. She concluded that the physical evidence was overwhelming. Jesus healed people. In fact, Jesus healed everyone who came to him.
She still lived with many false beliefs. Those false beliefs shaped her view of God, other people and herself. Those false beliefs produced fear. She feared offending the dignity and majesty of Divine Perfection with her problem. She feared offending the social conventions of the time that prohibited a woman from approaching a man, speaking to him, touching him. She feared the religious law that defined her as being ritually unclean because her illness involved bleeding. She feared that she was too lost in sin to merit healing.
Jesus inspired hope that despite these fear based beliefs she could be healed. The woman overcame her beliefs as she looked at Jesus. She moved beyond belief and surrendered her fear as she embraced faith.
She placed her faith, her abiding trust, in a person not a program, a law or an institution. It was still a faith mixed with the distortions of false belief and fear of punishment. But, it was enough. She secretly touched the hem of Jesus’ robe and she was instantly healed.
She had reached out in faith and entered into the Real Presence of Faith. The Real Presence of faith is Jesus himself.
Jesus completes the healing when he publically proclaims she is well. This is a vital step forward in faith. Faith is not just individual or private. Belief can be individual and private. Faith is public. It is corporate. It is a new life and a new way of living in a set of three primary relationships.
The woman entered into that new life as she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She began the new way of living as Jesus said to her publically for all the crowd to hear: Go in peace. Walk in peace. Live in peace.
What beliefs undermine your faith? What beliefs have you grown up with and chosen to accept into your mind and heart and will that result in fear? Where do you confuse individual private belief with a personal and public faith in the Living Lord Jesus Christ?
It does matter what you believe. Jesus invites us to make a real choice to embrace faith. Jesus himself is the subject of faith. As the subject of faith Jesus meets us in our deepest need and darkest fear. It is there that Jesus reminds us: Do not fear, only believe.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Pentecost 4
Pentecost 4 (Mark 4:35-41) Why are you afraid?
Fear is one of three consequences of separation.
Fear, self-will and pride are three ways a separated soul reacts to the world of cause and effect. Pride is the attitude that claims perfect knowledge of the world, other people and God. Pride creates rigid, inflexible and uncompromising ways of thinking.
Pride creates a demand that finds expression in self-will. Self-will is the will to power. It is grounded in the willful false belief in perfect knowledge. Only a soul in separation from God could make such a foolish assertion. Only a soul in separation from God would attempt to live from the place of demand. Only the soul in separation from God chooses to cultivate the individual will to power.
The voice of the will to power is: do it my way. Do it my way – or else.
It should be obvious that human beings cannot possibly have perfect knowledge. St. Paul states: now we know in part. We can only know in part. Only God can fully and completely and perfectly know.
Since no human being can actually have perfect knowledge, the assertion of the individual will to power through pride always leads to fear. The Bible records how this process manifests in human history and in the lives of individuals, families and nations.
The fear that Jesus addresses in this passage is the fear that is generated from the place of original separation from God.
There are two other fears human beings experience in the world as it is now. In this world, the world of duality and the world of cause and effect, there is also the fear of death and the fear of God.
The fear of death is the recognition of mortality. It is part of the instinct for self-preservation in the face of a threat. And, it is a distortion of the delight in life. As the emotional force behind self-preservation, this kind of fear has a value in the world as it is now. In its positive aspect it is the respect for our own limitations in the world of cause and effect.
None of us has perfect knowledge. None of us is all powerful. All of us are subject to natural law and spiritual law.
The recognition of and respect for natural law and spiritual law is helpful in understanding the third form of fear. That form is reverence. It is what the Biblical writers refer to as “the fear of the Lord.” As a concept it is almost absent in modern culture. It remains only as a negative pleasure in the term: irreverent. As respect is the proper response to the universal laws of cause and effect so reverence is the proper response to the real presence of God in the universe.
The fear the disciples experienced was a distortion of both respect for natural law and reverence for God. This fear was not a response but a reaction. A response is always grounded in faith, hope and love. A reaction is always grounded in fear, self-will and pride.
The disciples had chosen to follow Jesus. They had listened to his teaching in amazement. But they had not heard his words, believed his words, or accepted his words.
They had witnessed Jesus performing amazing miracles. They also missed the meaning in the miracles. They saw power. They were attracted to the power. They wanted Jesus to use his power to destroy their enemies and reward them and their friends.
They walked with Jesus, spoke with him, shared meals with him, camped out at night with him. They were so close to Jesus. And they were so far away from him. They still missed the reality that they were lost in separation. They still functioned from the assumptions of separation. They still assumed that right knowledge produced divine rewards. Those rewards involved the ability to impose their will on other people, nature and even God.
Most of the disciples were fisherman. They had witnessed many storms. They had experienced many storms. As with so many other religious people of their time, they interpreted the damage and loss of life from a storm as Divine wrath.
What was different about this storm was the presence of Jesus. They believed Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed of God. Anointed with power to reward his friends and punish his enemies. The storm challenged this belief. Suddenly, natural law intruded on their individual fantasy of knowledge and power. Suddenly, Jesus was not manipulating the law of cause and effect to protect them.
They feared. It was a fear rooted in the pride that led them to believe they were immune to natural law. It was a fear rooted in their own will to power that placed a demand on God to protect and prosper them in exchange for their choice to follow the Messiah.
Jesus identifies the root of their fear. He asks them: “ Have you still no faith?” Have you heard my words, observed my actions, enjoyed my friendship and still lack trust? Do you really think the world revolves around you? Do you really think our Heavenly Father will suspend the laws of cause and effect for your individual benefit? And, do you really think that in the world of duality, of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, of life and death- that I am not with you always?
Jesus stilled the storm that day with a word: Peace. Shalom. Be still.
In an instant the storm ceased. The disciples were more than happy. They were more than impressed. They were in awe. They were amazed. What Jesus had done was unprecedented. For the moment, the disciples simply sat in his presence and wondered. Who is he?
It is a good question.
One honest question will lead to one universal truth. Jesus is the personal real presence of God.
Jesus did not wield divine power. He did not have perfect knowledge. He embodied steadfast holy unconditional love.
In his divine nature Jesus is the pattern of this universe of cause and effect. Jesus is the uncaused cause of natural law and spiritual law. Jesus does not exercise power to suspend natural law. He is the very source of natural law. All things have existence form and function through him. And he is the center and ground of all things.
Faith in Jesus sets us free from our own pride that we are the center of the universe. Faith in Jesus sets us free from our own self-will that demands God to suspend natural law to reward us with power and the ability to impose our will on other people, nature and even our own souls.
Jesus is that perfect love that sets us free to live by faith in hope that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Love sets us free from fear. Love transforms pride into respect and self-will into reverence.
We are not the center of the universe. Jesus is. And, Jesus invites us into a personal relationship with God through a forever friendship with him.
Why do you fear? Who or what do you fear? How has separation distorted your expectations of God, other people and natural law? How does your fear produce a non-negotiable uncompromising demand of God and other people?
Jesus invites you to name that fear. As you name the fear offer your mind and heart and will to Jesus to be transformed by the Real Presence of Divine love.
Jesus says: why are you afraid? Peace. Be still. Know that I am God your forever friend. I am with you always.
Fear is one of three consequences of separation.
Fear, self-will and pride are three ways a separated soul reacts to the world of cause and effect. Pride is the attitude that claims perfect knowledge of the world, other people and God. Pride creates rigid, inflexible and uncompromising ways of thinking.
Pride creates a demand that finds expression in self-will. Self-will is the will to power. It is grounded in the willful false belief in perfect knowledge. Only a soul in separation from God could make such a foolish assertion. Only a soul in separation from God would attempt to live from the place of demand. Only the soul in separation from God chooses to cultivate the individual will to power.
The voice of the will to power is: do it my way. Do it my way – or else.
It should be obvious that human beings cannot possibly have perfect knowledge. St. Paul states: now we know in part. We can only know in part. Only God can fully and completely and perfectly know.
Since no human being can actually have perfect knowledge, the assertion of the individual will to power through pride always leads to fear. The Bible records how this process manifests in human history and in the lives of individuals, families and nations.
The fear that Jesus addresses in this passage is the fear that is generated from the place of original separation from God.
There are two other fears human beings experience in the world as it is now. In this world, the world of duality and the world of cause and effect, there is also the fear of death and the fear of God.
The fear of death is the recognition of mortality. It is part of the instinct for self-preservation in the face of a threat. And, it is a distortion of the delight in life. As the emotional force behind self-preservation, this kind of fear has a value in the world as it is now. In its positive aspect it is the respect for our own limitations in the world of cause and effect.
None of us has perfect knowledge. None of us is all powerful. All of us are subject to natural law and spiritual law.
The recognition of and respect for natural law and spiritual law is helpful in understanding the third form of fear. That form is reverence. It is what the Biblical writers refer to as “the fear of the Lord.” As a concept it is almost absent in modern culture. It remains only as a negative pleasure in the term: irreverent. As respect is the proper response to the universal laws of cause and effect so reverence is the proper response to the real presence of God in the universe.
The fear the disciples experienced was a distortion of both respect for natural law and reverence for God. This fear was not a response but a reaction. A response is always grounded in faith, hope and love. A reaction is always grounded in fear, self-will and pride.
The disciples had chosen to follow Jesus. They had listened to his teaching in amazement. But they had not heard his words, believed his words, or accepted his words.
They had witnessed Jesus performing amazing miracles. They also missed the meaning in the miracles. They saw power. They were attracted to the power. They wanted Jesus to use his power to destroy their enemies and reward them and their friends.
They walked with Jesus, spoke with him, shared meals with him, camped out at night with him. They were so close to Jesus. And they were so far away from him. They still missed the reality that they were lost in separation. They still functioned from the assumptions of separation. They still assumed that right knowledge produced divine rewards. Those rewards involved the ability to impose their will on other people, nature and even God.
Most of the disciples were fisherman. They had witnessed many storms. They had experienced many storms. As with so many other religious people of their time, they interpreted the damage and loss of life from a storm as Divine wrath.
What was different about this storm was the presence of Jesus. They believed Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed of God. Anointed with power to reward his friends and punish his enemies. The storm challenged this belief. Suddenly, natural law intruded on their individual fantasy of knowledge and power. Suddenly, Jesus was not manipulating the law of cause and effect to protect them.
They feared. It was a fear rooted in the pride that led them to believe they were immune to natural law. It was a fear rooted in their own will to power that placed a demand on God to protect and prosper them in exchange for their choice to follow the Messiah.
Jesus identifies the root of their fear. He asks them: “ Have you still no faith?” Have you heard my words, observed my actions, enjoyed my friendship and still lack trust? Do you really think the world revolves around you? Do you really think our Heavenly Father will suspend the laws of cause and effect for your individual benefit? And, do you really think that in the world of duality, of pleasure and pain, of joy and sorrow, of life and death- that I am not with you always?
Jesus stilled the storm that day with a word: Peace. Shalom. Be still.
In an instant the storm ceased. The disciples were more than happy. They were more than impressed. They were in awe. They were amazed. What Jesus had done was unprecedented. For the moment, the disciples simply sat in his presence and wondered. Who is he?
It is a good question.
One honest question will lead to one universal truth. Jesus is the personal real presence of God.
Jesus did not wield divine power. He did not have perfect knowledge. He embodied steadfast holy unconditional love.
In his divine nature Jesus is the pattern of this universe of cause and effect. Jesus is the uncaused cause of natural law and spiritual law. Jesus does not exercise power to suspend natural law. He is the very source of natural law. All things have existence form and function through him. And he is the center and ground of all things.
Faith in Jesus sets us free from our own pride that we are the center of the universe. Faith in Jesus sets us free from our own self-will that demands God to suspend natural law to reward us with power and the ability to impose our will on other people, nature and even our own souls.
Jesus is that perfect love that sets us free to live by faith in hope that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Love sets us free from fear. Love transforms pride into respect and self-will into reverence.
We are not the center of the universe. Jesus is. And, Jesus invites us into a personal relationship with God through a forever friendship with him.
Why do you fear? Who or what do you fear? How has separation distorted your expectations of God, other people and natural law? How does your fear produce a non-negotiable uncompromising demand of God and other people?
Jesus invites you to name that fear. As you name the fear offer your mind and heart and will to Jesus to be transformed by the Real Presence of Divine love.
Jesus says: why are you afraid? Peace. Be still. Know that I am God your forever friend. I am with you always.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Pentecost 6
Pentecost 6 (Mark 4:26-34) “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God?”
The Kingdom of God is like nothing any one ever expects.
Nobody expected the Messiah to follow the path Jesus followed. Nobody expects the Kingdom of God to be the Real Presence of Divine love and compassion.
Religious and secular people alike expect the Kingdom of God to manifest institutionally in programs and policies. We expect the Kingdom to be like the kingdoms we create. We want the Kingdom to manifest with divine knowledge and power to fix the problems and, if we are honest, to impose our will on other people, nature and our own frailty.
We expect and demand the Kingdom to be the perfection of our individual needs and desires in one pure political and economic system.
This is not the Kingdom of God. This is the kingdom of self will, fear and pride. Self-will that says: do it my way. Pride that says: I know what is best for me, for you and for everyone. Fear that somehow other people will subvert the perfect will of God in the perfect Kingdom of God. Fear that produces inflexible uncompromising demand backed by the threat of punishment.
One of my favorite bumper sticker quotes is: God so loved the world that he did not send a committee. One of my favorite seminary jokes is: any committee of four Episcopalians will issue a report with five different opinions.
The Kingdom of God is none of these things. Not only is the Kingdom of God not anything that we can imagine, it is not anything that we initially want.
The truth that humans reject the Kingdom of God when we actually experience it is in the observation of dozens of people recorded in the Bible. And, it is most vividly revealed in the condemnation, torture and execution of Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of God can only be expressed in parables, stories drawn from human experience. It can only be expressed in this fashion because the Kingdom of God emerges from a personal relationship with the person God sent into the world to bring forth the Kingdom. That person is Jesus Christ.
In these parables, Jesus describes the organic quality of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about life. It is about the humble beginning of all life. It is about the process of growth and maturation. It is so unassuming that it is easy to dismiss. It is so powerful in its gradual manifestation that we can draw back in confusion and fear.
Preeminently, the Kingdom of God is a personal relationship with the infinite and eternal God. It is God who initiates the relationship. It is God who seeks us and finds us. God seeks us and finds us by uniting our humanity with His Divinity in a single individual: Jesus Christ.
The categories of the Kingdom are principles of relationship. Among those principles are choice, response, time, attention, affection, loyalty, change, growth maturation.
The Kingdom of God is the transformation of human beings in the Real Presence of God manifesting in our world, among our species and within our own souls through the co-eternal Beloved of God, Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is the gift of God to all people, in all places at all times.
The Kingdom of God is like the scattering of seed on the ground. It is an active dynamic process that is both universal and particular, both fundamental and personal. It is life giving and life transforming. It is slow, steady, incremental and filled with surprises and delights.
The Kingdom of God can be compared to the dynamic inter relationship of the Trinity who is the pattern for all human relationships.
The Kingdom of God can only be compared to the ordinary processes of life that God designed into the universe according to the pattern, plan and purpose of life. That pattern, plan and purpose is the logos, the co-eternal Word of God.
As with the Word Himself, the Kingdom of God is supple, adaptable, gentle and courageous. It is the infinite life of the co-eternal Beloved of the Infinite God manifesting in the particular life of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus offering to you His forever friendship.
The Kingdom of God is like nothing any one ever expects.
Nobody expected the Messiah to follow the path Jesus followed. Nobody expects the Kingdom of God to be the Real Presence of Divine love and compassion.
Religious and secular people alike expect the Kingdom of God to manifest institutionally in programs and policies. We expect the Kingdom to be like the kingdoms we create. We want the Kingdom to manifest with divine knowledge and power to fix the problems and, if we are honest, to impose our will on other people, nature and our own frailty.
We expect and demand the Kingdom to be the perfection of our individual needs and desires in one pure political and economic system.
This is not the Kingdom of God. This is the kingdom of self will, fear and pride. Self-will that says: do it my way. Pride that says: I know what is best for me, for you and for everyone. Fear that somehow other people will subvert the perfect will of God in the perfect Kingdom of God. Fear that produces inflexible uncompromising demand backed by the threat of punishment.
One of my favorite bumper sticker quotes is: God so loved the world that he did not send a committee. One of my favorite seminary jokes is: any committee of four Episcopalians will issue a report with five different opinions.
The Kingdom of God is none of these things. Not only is the Kingdom of God not anything that we can imagine, it is not anything that we initially want.
The truth that humans reject the Kingdom of God when we actually experience it is in the observation of dozens of people recorded in the Bible. And, it is most vividly revealed in the condemnation, torture and execution of Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of God can only be expressed in parables, stories drawn from human experience. It can only be expressed in this fashion because the Kingdom of God emerges from a personal relationship with the person God sent into the world to bring forth the Kingdom. That person is Jesus Christ.
In these parables, Jesus describes the organic quality of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is about life. It is about the humble beginning of all life. It is about the process of growth and maturation. It is so unassuming that it is easy to dismiss. It is so powerful in its gradual manifestation that we can draw back in confusion and fear.
Preeminently, the Kingdom of God is a personal relationship with the infinite and eternal God. It is God who initiates the relationship. It is God who seeks us and finds us. God seeks us and finds us by uniting our humanity with His Divinity in a single individual: Jesus Christ.
The categories of the Kingdom are principles of relationship. Among those principles are choice, response, time, attention, affection, loyalty, change, growth maturation.
The Kingdom of God is the transformation of human beings in the Real Presence of God manifesting in our world, among our species and within our own souls through the co-eternal Beloved of God, Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is the gift of God to all people, in all places at all times.
The Kingdom of God is like the scattering of seed on the ground. It is an active dynamic process that is both universal and particular, both fundamental and personal. It is life giving and life transforming. It is slow, steady, incremental and filled with surprises and delights.
The Kingdom of God can be compared to the dynamic inter relationship of the Trinity who is the pattern for all human relationships.
The Kingdom of God can only be compared to the ordinary processes of life that God designed into the universe according to the pattern, plan and purpose of life. That pattern, plan and purpose is the logos, the co-eternal Word of God.
As with the Word Himself, the Kingdom of God is supple, adaptable, gentle and courageous. It is the infinite life of the co-eternal Beloved of the Infinite God manifesting in the particular life of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus offering to you His forever friendship.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Pentecost 2
Pentecost 2 (Mark 3:20-35) “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
The will of God is steadfast holy unconditional love.
The will of God is that simple. The will of God is that difficult.
Since the will of God is love the reality of Divine Will emerges in relationships. The One God Himself is a relationship of three distinct and co-eternal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In this passage we hear from three sets of individuals. We see how they react to the Will of God revealed and made flesh in Jesus Christ.
The first group of individuals is the crowd. They press hard on Jesus. They insist he be present to them at all times and in all ways to meet their needs and their demands. They react to Jesus in the context of a bargain. They offer their submission to him in exchange for his submission to them.\
The second group is the extended family of Jesus. This includes his mother and his brethren: nephews, nieces, cousins, and according to tradition the adult children of Joseph by Joseph’s first wife. According to tradition, Joseph was a widower with young children when his family contracted with Mary’s family for them to marry.
It is important to remember and to ponder that in Biblical times and in most times until very recently, the basic unit of society was the extended family. Jesus’ family hears how the crowds press on Jesus and make incessant demands on Jesus such that he cannot eat or sleep. Mary and the extended family come to offer Jesus a way out. The way out is an escape from the crowds. The way out is to withdraw from the responsibility of being the Messiah.
The third group is a section of the religious leadership. They are the scribes. They hold the scriptures and interpret the scriptures. They react to Jesus with fear that produces aggression. They view the scene with the crowd as a threat to their position and power. They accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan.
The crowds react with a bargain of submission to get what they want. The family reacts with the promise of withdrawal back into the safety of obscurity. The religious leadership reacts from fear with aggression.
What are they reacting to? Why are they engaged in such melodrama?
The answer is very simple: Jesus healed people.
Jesus healed everyone who came to him. He healed men and women. He healed adults and children. He healed Jews and Gentiles. He healed rich and poor, slave and free, notorious sinners and the well-respected righteous. He healed everyone who came to him and his success rate was 100%
At a time when only the very rich who lived in the big cities of the Roman Empire could afford healthcare, Jesus healed everyone. And, everyone who experienced the healing, saw the healing or heard of the healing came to the same conclusion. He’s got the power.
The crowds wanted Jesus to use the power to meet their needs and fulfill their demands. The family wanted Jesus to give up the power and come home. The religious authorities feared the power and wanted to kill him so they falsely accused him of being a Satanist.
Jesus did not heal by power, or knowledge. Jesus healed by love.
This may seem strange for us to hear. In our culture love is associated with self-indulgent sentiment. Even in Jesus’ day people paid lip service the insights of Moses and the Prophets who taught about the reality of steadfast holy unconditional love.
Pagan philosophers had accurately described four basic levels of love. Most people then, as now, were stuck in the first level: infatuation.
The love Jesus brought into the world is the very nature of the infinite and eternal God. That love is the essence of the One God who is three persons. Jesus just doesn’t speak of Divine Love or demonstrate Divine love, He is that love. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Love of God made flesh in a particular person at a particular time and place in human history.
Jesus offers us the invitation to respond to that love. He came and he continues to come with his arms wide open and the single word: “Come”
Jesus does not seek our submission to Law. He does not ask us to withdraw from this sinful and broken world. He absolutely does not authorize aggression through fear and anger to impose an inflexible and uncompromising religious or secular ideology on people. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved who invites us to surrender to the joyful embrace of Eternal love.
In that embrace we experience reunification with God. In that embrace we recognize that God has been seeking for us all of our lives. In that embrace we discover that God finds us in Jesus. God finds us by love, through love and for love.
That love is personal. That love expresses himself in three primary relationships: the relationship with God through worship, the relationship with other people through compassion, kindness and civility, and the relationship with our true identity in Christ as the beloved of the co-eternal Beloved.
The crowds, the family, and the religious leaders missed the message. They saw only power. In that vision of power they reacted from the place of fear that produced submission, withdrawal and aggression.
Jesus himself is the message. Jesus himself is the Divine Will and the Divine word made flesh. The message is the relationship. So it is that Jesus invites all people into a new life and a new way of living by entering into a new relationship.
The Will of God is for all of us and each of us to be the forever friend, brother and sister of the living Lord of Love, Jesus Christ.
The will of God is steadfast holy unconditional love.
The will of God is that simple. The will of God is that difficult.
Since the will of God is love the reality of Divine Will emerges in relationships. The One God Himself is a relationship of three distinct and co-eternal persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In this passage we hear from three sets of individuals. We see how they react to the Will of God revealed and made flesh in Jesus Christ.
The first group of individuals is the crowd. They press hard on Jesus. They insist he be present to them at all times and in all ways to meet their needs and their demands. They react to Jesus in the context of a bargain. They offer their submission to him in exchange for his submission to them.\
The second group is the extended family of Jesus. This includes his mother and his brethren: nephews, nieces, cousins, and according to tradition the adult children of Joseph by Joseph’s first wife. According to tradition, Joseph was a widower with young children when his family contracted with Mary’s family for them to marry.
It is important to remember and to ponder that in Biblical times and in most times until very recently, the basic unit of society was the extended family. Jesus’ family hears how the crowds press on Jesus and make incessant demands on Jesus such that he cannot eat or sleep. Mary and the extended family come to offer Jesus a way out. The way out is an escape from the crowds. The way out is to withdraw from the responsibility of being the Messiah.
The third group is a section of the religious leadership. They are the scribes. They hold the scriptures and interpret the scriptures. They react to Jesus with fear that produces aggression. They view the scene with the crowd as a threat to their position and power. They accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan.
The crowds react with a bargain of submission to get what they want. The family reacts with the promise of withdrawal back into the safety of obscurity. The religious leadership reacts from fear with aggression.
What are they reacting to? Why are they engaged in such melodrama?
The answer is very simple: Jesus healed people.
Jesus healed everyone who came to him. He healed men and women. He healed adults and children. He healed Jews and Gentiles. He healed rich and poor, slave and free, notorious sinners and the well-respected righteous. He healed everyone who came to him and his success rate was 100%
At a time when only the very rich who lived in the big cities of the Roman Empire could afford healthcare, Jesus healed everyone. And, everyone who experienced the healing, saw the healing or heard of the healing came to the same conclusion. He’s got the power.
The crowds wanted Jesus to use the power to meet their needs and fulfill their demands. The family wanted Jesus to give up the power and come home. The religious authorities feared the power and wanted to kill him so they falsely accused him of being a Satanist.
Jesus did not heal by power, or knowledge. Jesus healed by love.
This may seem strange for us to hear. In our culture love is associated with self-indulgent sentiment. Even in Jesus’ day people paid lip service the insights of Moses and the Prophets who taught about the reality of steadfast holy unconditional love.
Pagan philosophers had accurately described four basic levels of love. Most people then, as now, were stuck in the first level: infatuation.
The love Jesus brought into the world is the very nature of the infinite and eternal God. That love is the essence of the One God who is three persons. Jesus just doesn’t speak of Divine Love or demonstrate Divine love, He is that love. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Love of God made flesh in a particular person at a particular time and place in human history.
Jesus offers us the invitation to respond to that love. He came and he continues to come with his arms wide open and the single word: “Come”
Jesus does not seek our submission to Law. He does not ask us to withdraw from this sinful and broken world. He absolutely does not authorize aggression through fear and anger to impose an inflexible and uncompromising religious or secular ideology on people. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved who invites us to surrender to the joyful embrace of Eternal love.
In that embrace we experience reunification with God. In that embrace we recognize that God has been seeking for us all of our lives. In that embrace we discover that God finds us in Jesus. God finds us by love, through love and for love.
That love is personal. That love expresses himself in three primary relationships: the relationship with God through worship, the relationship with other people through compassion, kindness and civility, and the relationship with our true identity in Christ as the beloved of the co-eternal Beloved.
The crowds, the family, and the religious leaders missed the message. They saw only power. In that vision of power they reacted from the place of fear that produced submission, withdrawal and aggression.
Jesus himself is the message. Jesus himself is the Divine Will and the Divine word made flesh. The message is the relationship. So it is that Jesus invites all people into a new life and a new way of living by entering into a new relationship.
The Will of God is for all of us and each of us to be the forever friend, brother and sister of the living Lord of Love, Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Trinity Sunday 2012
Trinity Sunday 2012 “You must be born again!” John 3:1-17
Nicodemus was religious. He was a theologian, a judge, and a well-respected authority with power, position and prestige. He knew all of these things about himself. He also knew he was lost.
Nicodemus knew he was lost in religion and trapped in his position as a religious authority.
He did not always know he was lost. It was only when he heard about Jesus that he recognized there was something wrong. There was something wrong with a religious system based on credits and debits. There was something wrong with a theology that taught that God was so pure, holy and transcendent that God had to use angelic intermediaries to give infallible and inflexible Law to human prophets to impose on weak, fallible human beings.
Most of all, Nicodemus recognized he was lost and trapped in his own pride of position. He was the religious expert. As an expert he had a position on the Religious Council that decided who was righteous and who was unrighteous, who God favored and who God cursed, who lived by the Law and who should die by the Law.
Nicodemus could not afford to be in doubt about anything. He feared being wrong. But, when he looked at Jesus he found himself gazing into the perfect mirror of Divine Love and saw himself for who he was: lost.
Nicodemus came to Jesus secretly by night- but he came. He approached Jesus from the place of fear- fear of the other religious experts who might condemn him. Nevertheless- he sought Jesus. He initiated a conversation. He asked questions.
Nicodemus knew he was lost and he suspected Jesus had come to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to union with God.
As a religious expert, Nicodemus had just enough knowledge to recognize the inadequacy of knowledge. As a religious authority with the power of life and death in his society, Nicodemus had just enough power to recognize the inadequacy of power.
What Nicodemus longed for and hoped for was what Moses and the prophets had experienced and proclaimed: God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ.
Jesus brought forth his preaching, teaching and healing in the context of Moses and the prophets but not within the religious categories Nicodemus had studied and enforced.
Jesus is Divine Love, mercy and compassion in human flesh. Jesus performed miracles from the place of love. What Jesus offered was completely different and absolutely unique. It was so different and unique that the knowledge and power Nicodemus held could not comprehend it.
Jesus offers himself as the solution to a problem Nicodemus and all others of his generation, and ours, failed to identify. The problem is separation from God that produces a life characterized by fear, self-will and pride.
The solution is a new life. The solution as Jesus presents it to Nicodemus is: you must be born again.
The new birth is a spiritual birth. It is the reunification of the lost with the One who has come into the world to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to Divine Love and holiness.
Nicodemus thought and acted from the place of law within the categories of rewards and punishments. Jesus stood before Nicodemus as the perfect mirror of Divine Love to reveal to him and to us how we have separated from Divine Love. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, as he speaks to us, with mercy and compassion to offer us a new life.
The new life is reunion with the Father, through the Son, by the Real Presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus clarifies for the people of his generation and all generations that the One God is infinite and eternal love. That love eternally expresses himself as the one who loves (the Father), the Beloved (the Son), and the love that forms the essential Divine Being (the Holy Spirit). The reality of God revealed in Jesus is active, dynamic, creative, life giving and personal.
God the Father created us to live and move and have our being in this dynamic expression of eternal love. Our choice to separate from God cuts us off from that love and that life. Jesus restores that love to us by inviting all people everywhere to be born again into the new life of eternal love.
Despite the fear Nicodemus felt that night, he met the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ. He heard the Word of God speaking the mercy and compassion of God. He questioned. He pondered. And, he made a real choice.
He chose to be found in Christ. He chose to be born again by the action of the Holy Spirit. He chose to surrender his self-will and pride to our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.
The Plan of Salvation is the steadfast holy love of the infinite and eternal Trinity inviting all people everywhere to be reunited to the Father, through the Son by the new birth in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Nicodemus was religious. He was a theologian, a judge, and a well-respected authority with power, position and prestige. He knew all of these things about himself. He also knew he was lost.
Nicodemus knew he was lost in religion and trapped in his position as a religious authority.
He did not always know he was lost. It was only when he heard about Jesus that he recognized there was something wrong. There was something wrong with a religious system based on credits and debits. There was something wrong with a theology that taught that God was so pure, holy and transcendent that God had to use angelic intermediaries to give infallible and inflexible Law to human prophets to impose on weak, fallible human beings.
Most of all, Nicodemus recognized he was lost and trapped in his own pride of position. He was the religious expert. As an expert he had a position on the Religious Council that decided who was righteous and who was unrighteous, who God favored and who God cursed, who lived by the Law and who should die by the Law.
Nicodemus could not afford to be in doubt about anything. He feared being wrong. But, when he looked at Jesus he found himself gazing into the perfect mirror of Divine Love and saw himself for who he was: lost.
Nicodemus came to Jesus secretly by night- but he came. He approached Jesus from the place of fear- fear of the other religious experts who might condemn him. Nevertheless- he sought Jesus. He initiated a conversation. He asked questions.
Nicodemus knew he was lost and he suspected Jesus had come to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to union with God.
As a religious expert, Nicodemus had just enough knowledge to recognize the inadequacy of knowledge. As a religious authority with the power of life and death in his society, Nicodemus had just enough power to recognize the inadequacy of power.
What Nicodemus longed for and hoped for was what Moses and the prophets had experienced and proclaimed: God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ.
Jesus brought forth his preaching, teaching and healing in the context of Moses and the prophets but not within the religious categories Nicodemus had studied and enforced.
Jesus is Divine Love, mercy and compassion in human flesh. Jesus performed miracles from the place of love. What Jesus offered was completely different and absolutely unique. It was so different and unique that the knowledge and power Nicodemus held could not comprehend it.
Jesus offers himself as the solution to a problem Nicodemus and all others of his generation, and ours, failed to identify. The problem is separation from God that produces a life characterized by fear, self-will and pride.
The solution is a new life. The solution as Jesus presents it to Nicodemus is: you must be born again.
The new birth is a spiritual birth. It is the reunification of the lost with the One who has come into the world to seek the lost, to find the lost, and to restore the lost to Divine Love and holiness.
Nicodemus thought and acted from the place of law within the categories of rewards and punishments. Jesus stood before Nicodemus as the perfect mirror of Divine Love to reveal to him and to us how we have separated from Divine Love. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, as he speaks to us, with mercy and compassion to offer us a new life.
The new life is reunion with the Father, through the Son, by the Real Presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus clarifies for the people of his generation and all generations that the One God is infinite and eternal love. That love eternally expresses himself as the one who loves (the Father), the Beloved (the Son), and the love that forms the essential Divine Being (the Holy Spirit). The reality of God revealed in Jesus is active, dynamic, creative, life giving and personal.
God the Father created us to live and move and have our being in this dynamic expression of eternal love. Our choice to separate from God cuts us off from that love and that life. Jesus restores that love to us by inviting all people everywhere to be born again into the new life of eternal love.
Despite the fear Nicodemus felt that night, he met the perfect love of God in Jesus Christ. He heard the Word of God speaking the mercy and compassion of God. He questioned. He pondered. And, he made a real choice.
He chose to be found in Christ. He chose to be born again by the action of the Holy Spirit. He chose to surrender his self-will and pride to our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation.
The Plan of Salvation is the steadfast holy love of the infinite and eternal Trinity inviting all people everywhere to be reunited to the Father, through the Son by the new birth in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Pentecost 2012
Pentecost 2012 (John 15:26-27;16:4b-15)
“When the Spirit of truth comes He will lead you into all the Truth.”
Truth is a person. Truth is the second person of the infinite and eternal Trinity. Truth is the Logos, the Beloved. Truth incarnates, becomes flesh, in Jesus Christ.
The third person of the infinite and eternal Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate. An advocate speaks on behalf of someone. The Holy Spirit speaks on God the Father’s behalf to the human race. He also speaks on our behalf to the Father.
The Holy Spirit is the Helper and the Guide for all people everywhere. He always, always helps people discern the truth of the human condition. The truth of the human condition is that we as a species and each of us individually have willfully chosen separation from God. Not only have we chosen separation we are lost in separation. As we are lost we cannot find our way back by our own reason, will or emotion. We are lost in the limited and ever narrowing world view of our condition. The proof of this is pain, suffering and death.
The Holy Spirit revealed this truth to Moses and the prophets as they recorded their observations of the human condition and their own personal experience with God.
As the Holy Spirit speaks on the behalf of the infinite and eternal Father, so he reveals to humanity the Father’s solution to the problem of separation. That solution is a person, the second person of the infinite and eternal Trinity. Jesus and Jesus alone is the solution to separation.
In Jesus the infinite and eternal Trinity unites divinity with humanity never to be divided from it. Salvation is an organic and spiritual union of the Divine with the human in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit always, always reveals Jesus as the pattern, plan and purpose for the human species as a whole and for each of us individually. Any spirit that claims to come from God yet does not honor the co-eternal Beloved of God is not from God.
The Holy Spirit meets us where we are and initiates a process of reunification and transformation. Only He can do this. We can help. The Holy Spirit invites us to help through the activity we call “evangelism”. But it is important to understand that it is not our job to convert or to change anyone other than ourselves. It is our job to grow so close to Jesus that we reflect a small portion of his infinite and eternal love in our attitudes and actions.
Moses and the prophets identify three basic paths for humanity: the path of separation, the path of reunification and the path of stagnation. Jesus revealed to the beloved apostle John that these three paths can be characterized as hot, cold or lukewarm.
The Holy Spirit reaches out to a species that is cold and indifferent to divine principles and the divine person. He seeks to ignite a spark, the spark of love, in the souls of people who are lost in self-indulgence and lost in the will to power. He has at his disposal an infinite array of signs and symbols and means by which to accomplish this.
As a guide, the Holy Spirit meets us in the individual particularity of where we are lost, you are lost, I am lost. As a Guide, the Holy Spirit always, always leads us to Jesus.
Jesus identifies three principle misunderstandings we humans hold. These misunderstandings divert our attention from the truth and subvert our desire for the truth. These three principles of misunderstanding deal with sin, righteousness and judgment. These misunderstandings manifest in two forms: the rigid inflexible form of power; and the self-indulgent seductive form of knowledge.
The Holy Spirit reveals that all sin is a distortion of the good. The source of this distortion is the pain of separation. We sin, by direct action or passive inaction, in an effort to mask the deeply rooted pain of our separation from God, nature, each other, and the image and likeness of God imprinted in our souls.
Since sin is a distortion that proceeds from the pain of separation righteousness is an expression of the new life of reunification with God. That reunification comes solely through our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We become who God created us to be only in relationship with the one for whom, by whom and through whom God created us. That one is the co-eternal Beloved, incarnate in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the reunification of humanity with divinity in his own person. He just doesn’t stand as an example. He is the reality of the Original Blessing. He is the real presence of the new life that will produce the new way of living.
In Christ there is no judgment, no final condemnation. That judgment, that final condemnation, is personified in the choice the Seraph Lucifer made. Lucifer declared: I am like God. He condemns himself by making a final choice to separate from God in order to be equal with God.
None of this is taught by the world’s religions or secular philosophies. It is present only in Jesus Christ.
This is the broad outline of the task the Holy Spirit undertakes in his outreach to the peoples of the world. The Holy Spirit is actively and compassionately speaking to everyone on this planet at this moment. He is seeking to help us understand that we are lost in separation, He is guiding us very gently but persistently away from fear, anger and hatred into faith, hope and love.
In this process each soul has the personal responsibility to listen. Each soul has the personal responsibility to take the next step forward that will lead to reunification with the Father, though the Son in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We are you still feeling the pain of separation?
Where are you lost?
Where are you walking the tight rope of indecision?
Where are you lukewarm in love and compassion.
It is precisely there that the Holy Spirit is even now meeting you.
The Holy Spirit is our advocate, guide and helper. He meets us where we are: lost in self-will, fear and pride. He invites us to consider our condition. He offers a path forward. It is the Way of reunification and transformation. It is the Way of Jesus.
“When the Spirit of truth comes He will lead you into all the Truth.”
Truth is a person. Truth is the second person of the infinite and eternal Trinity. Truth is the Logos, the Beloved. Truth incarnates, becomes flesh, in Jesus Christ.
The third person of the infinite and eternal Trinity is the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate. An advocate speaks on behalf of someone. The Holy Spirit speaks on God the Father’s behalf to the human race. He also speaks on our behalf to the Father.
The Holy Spirit is the Helper and the Guide for all people everywhere. He always, always helps people discern the truth of the human condition. The truth of the human condition is that we as a species and each of us individually have willfully chosen separation from God. Not only have we chosen separation we are lost in separation. As we are lost we cannot find our way back by our own reason, will or emotion. We are lost in the limited and ever narrowing world view of our condition. The proof of this is pain, suffering and death.
The Holy Spirit revealed this truth to Moses and the prophets as they recorded their observations of the human condition and their own personal experience with God.
As the Holy Spirit speaks on the behalf of the infinite and eternal Father, so he reveals to humanity the Father’s solution to the problem of separation. That solution is a person, the second person of the infinite and eternal Trinity. Jesus and Jesus alone is the solution to separation.
In Jesus the infinite and eternal Trinity unites divinity with humanity never to be divided from it. Salvation is an organic and spiritual union of the Divine with the human in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit always, always reveals Jesus as the pattern, plan and purpose for the human species as a whole and for each of us individually. Any spirit that claims to come from God yet does not honor the co-eternal Beloved of God is not from God.
The Holy Spirit meets us where we are and initiates a process of reunification and transformation. Only He can do this. We can help. The Holy Spirit invites us to help through the activity we call “evangelism”. But it is important to understand that it is not our job to convert or to change anyone other than ourselves. It is our job to grow so close to Jesus that we reflect a small portion of his infinite and eternal love in our attitudes and actions.
Moses and the prophets identify three basic paths for humanity: the path of separation, the path of reunification and the path of stagnation. Jesus revealed to the beloved apostle John that these three paths can be characterized as hot, cold or lukewarm.
The Holy Spirit reaches out to a species that is cold and indifferent to divine principles and the divine person. He seeks to ignite a spark, the spark of love, in the souls of people who are lost in self-indulgence and lost in the will to power. He has at his disposal an infinite array of signs and symbols and means by which to accomplish this.
As a guide, the Holy Spirit meets us in the individual particularity of where we are lost, you are lost, I am lost. As a Guide, the Holy Spirit always, always leads us to Jesus.
Jesus identifies three principle misunderstandings we humans hold. These misunderstandings divert our attention from the truth and subvert our desire for the truth. These three principles of misunderstanding deal with sin, righteousness and judgment. These misunderstandings manifest in two forms: the rigid inflexible form of power; and the self-indulgent seductive form of knowledge.
The Holy Spirit reveals that all sin is a distortion of the good. The source of this distortion is the pain of separation. We sin, by direct action or passive inaction, in an effort to mask the deeply rooted pain of our separation from God, nature, each other, and the image and likeness of God imprinted in our souls.
Since sin is a distortion that proceeds from the pain of separation righteousness is an expression of the new life of reunification with God. That reunification comes solely through our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We become who God created us to be only in relationship with the one for whom, by whom and through whom God created us. That one is the co-eternal Beloved, incarnate in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the reunification of humanity with divinity in his own person. He just doesn’t stand as an example. He is the reality of the Original Blessing. He is the real presence of the new life that will produce the new way of living.
In Christ there is no judgment, no final condemnation. That judgment, that final condemnation, is personified in the choice the Seraph Lucifer made. Lucifer declared: I am like God. He condemns himself by making a final choice to separate from God in order to be equal with God.
None of this is taught by the world’s religions or secular philosophies. It is present only in Jesus Christ.
This is the broad outline of the task the Holy Spirit undertakes in his outreach to the peoples of the world. The Holy Spirit is actively and compassionately speaking to everyone on this planet at this moment. He is seeking to help us understand that we are lost in separation, He is guiding us very gently but persistently away from fear, anger and hatred into faith, hope and love.
In this process each soul has the personal responsibility to listen. Each soul has the personal responsibility to take the next step forward that will lead to reunification with the Father, though the Son in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We are you still feeling the pain of separation?
Where are you lost?
Where are you walking the tight rope of indecision?
Where are you lukewarm in love and compassion.
It is precisely there that the Holy Spirit is even now meeting you.
The Holy Spirit is our advocate, guide and helper. He meets us where we are: lost in self-will, fear and pride. He invites us to consider our condition. He offers a path forward. It is the Way of reunification and transformation. It is the Way of Jesus.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Easter 7
Easter 7 (John 17:6-19) Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
What is truth?
Pontus Pilate once asked this question. He wasn’t the first; nor will he be the last. Philosophers, scientists and college students throughout history have asked this question. As with Pilate, many ask this question with a certain world weary cynicism.
Generals of all armies in all cultures know that the first casualty of war is truth. Lewis Carroll satirized politicians when he has his character the Red Queen blithely state: a word means whatever I intend it to mean at that time.
What is truth?
College students throughout history have been seduced into self-indulgence, cynicism, pride and despair by this question. As the human brain develops it acquires the ability to analyze data. To analyze is to break down some object or some concept into its component parts.
That is certainly one path to knowledge. But, on its own it is not a path to understanding or wisdom.
Our Heavenly Father designed rational analytical capability as one small and introductory step for human growth and development. Tragically, most people most of the time choose to remain stuck in that developmental stage.
Most people most of the time choose not to accept the challenge and the promise of the post-adolescent life task. That stage of human development is called “synthesis”.
There is a pattern and a purpose to the development of the human brain. That pattern and purpose is not the random interactions of molecules formed by natural selection. That pattern and purpose is the Logos, the co-eternal Word of God. The logos is the rational, active, dynamic, spontaneous, creative eternal self-expression of the infinite God. The logos is the Beloved Son. The Logos, the Word of God, became flesh in Jesus Christ.
Truth is an unfolding pattern. Truth is a developing and maturing purpose. Truth is a person: Jesus Christ.
As the Logos, the Beloved Son, is the pattern, plan and purpose for the entire universe including the human species collectively and each of us individually, so the Truth can only emerge fully and joyfully in a personal relationship with the Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus knew this about himself. In his high priestly prayer he offers himself to the Father as the one pure perfect and final sacrifice for sin. As the human embodiment of the Pattern of the universe the pattern for humanity he offers himself to restore to humanity what we chose to reject.
Jesus completes the revelation the Holy Spirit began to bring into the world through Moses and the Prophets. Moses and the prophets could only glimpse the truth embedded in the creation and in human nature. Jesus is that truth.
Moses and the prophets for the most part held the assignment to observe and analyze the problem confronting humanity. Jesus is the solution to that problem.
Philosophy asks wonderful questions. Jesus is the origin and answer to those questions.
Science is very good at taking things apart through rational analysis. Jesus is the pattern who holds the parts together in a plan and for a purpose.
Humanity has exercised a limited form of reason to justify separation from God, meaning and purpose. Jesus restores to humanity what we abandoned.
Truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That person is the infinite and eternal Word of God. We can never exhaust the potential for knowledge, understanding or wisdom as we enter into a personal relationship with the eternal Word.
Jesus prayed for his apostles and he prays for us to be sanctified in the truth. To be sanctified is to be made holy, to be restored to wholeness, health and happiness. Sanctification is a process that proceeds from a relationship.
Jesus, the Beloved Son, prays to the Father for each of us. He prays that we may know him through the personal relationship of a forever friendship. As with all personal relationships it is a process. Truth is absolute. Human beings are not absolute. We can only grow into truth.
In his humanity, Jesus made a real choice to abide in the love of the Father. His constant prayer was: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done. Jesus did not just submit to the Divine Will. Jesus surrendered and embraced the divine will through love.
The pattern of truth is the acknowledgement of God’s plan and purpose for the Creation, for our species, and for each of us individually. There cannot be truth without love. There cannot be love without truth.
Be careful when you bend the truth. That choice enters into the world of cause and effect to produce a result.
Be fearful when you break the truth by telling a lie or even carelessly repeating a lie.
Truth sets us free to love. A lie enslaves us to self-will, fear, pride and ultimately to despair.
All human beings lie to each other. All human beings lie to ourselves. These lies diminish us. These lies keep us lost in separation from God, nature, other people and our real identity.
Jesus knows this about us. He knows this because he lived among us for 33 years. He knows this and he offers his friendship to rescue us from the pattern of deceit that is destroying the Creation, eroding our civilization and decaying our souls.
The solution is a personal relationship with the one who is the very pattern, plan and purpose of truth.
As we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ it is the love that Jesus pours into our minds, and hearts and wills that will begin to set us free from the lies we tell ourselves and each other about God, nature and humanity.
As we grow and develop and mature in the personal relationship Jesus offers, we can ask the question Pilate asked from a new place and for a new purpose. We can ask: “what is truth?” from the solid rock foundation that underlies supports and makes possible all truth.
Jesus will make us whole, healthy and happy in the friendship he offers us, Jesus will set us free from the lies humanity tells itself in order to assert its will to power. That is his purpose. That is his high priestly prayer for us today, tomorrow and forever.
Heavenly Father, sanctify them in your truth, Your word, your co-eternal Word, is truth.
What is truth?
Pontus Pilate once asked this question. He wasn’t the first; nor will he be the last. Philosophers, scientists and college students throughout history have asked this question. As with Pilate, many ask this question with a certain world weary cynicism.
Generals of all armies in all cultures know that the first casualty of war is truth. Lewis Carroll satirized politicians when he has his character the Red Queen blithely state: a word means whatever I intend it to mean at that time.
What is truth?
College students throughout history have been seduced into self-indulgence, cynicism, pride and despair by this question. As the human brain develops it acquires the ability to analyze data. To analyze is to break down some object or some concept into its component parts.
That is certainly one path to knowledge. But, on its own it is not a path to understanding or wisdom.
Our Heavenly Father designed rational analytical capability as one small and introductory step for human growth and development. Tragically, most people most of the time choose to remain stuck in that developmental stage.
Most people most of the time choose not to accept the challenge and the promise of the post-adolescent life task. That stage of human development is called “synthesis”.
There is a pattern and a purpose to the development of the human brain. That pattern and purpose is not the random interactions of molecules formed by natural selection. That pattern and purpose is the Logos, the co-eternal Word of God. The logos is the rational, active, dynamic, spontaneous, creative eternal self-expression of the infinite God. The logos is the Beloved Son. The Logos, the Word of God, became flesh in Jesus Christ.
Truth is an unfolding pattern. Truth is a developing and maturing purpose. Truth is a person: Jesus Christ.
As the Logos, the Beloved Son, is the pattern, plan and purpose for the entire universe including the human species collectively and each of us individually, so the Truth can only emerge fully and joyfully in a personal relationship with the Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus knew this about himself. In his high priestly prayer he offers himself to the Father as the one pure perfect and final sacrifice for sin. As the human embodiment of the Pattern of the universe the pattern for humanity he offers himself to restore to humanity what we chose to reject.
Jesus completes the revelation the Holy Spirit began to bring into the world through Moses and the Prophets. Moses and the prophets could only glimpse the truth embedded in the creation and in human nature. Jesus is that truth.
Moses and the prophets for the most part held the assignment to observe and analyze the problem confronting humanity. Jesus is the solution to that problem.
Philosophy asks wonderful questions. Jesus is the origin and answer to those questions.
Science is very good at taking things apart through rational analysis. Jesus is the pattern who holds the parts together in a plan and for a purpose.
Humanity has exercised a limited form of reason to justify separation from God, meaning and purpose. Jesus restores to humanity what we abandoned.
Truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That person is the infinite and eternal Word of God. We can never exhaust the potential for knowledge, understanding or wisdom as we enter into a personal relationship with the eternal Word.
Jesus prayed for his apostles and he prays for us to be sanctified in the truth. To be sanctified is to be made holy, to be restored to wholeness, health and happiness. Sanctification is a process that proceeds from a relationship.
Jesus, the Beloved Son, prays to the Father for each of us. He prays that we may know him through the personal relationship of a forever friendship. As with all personal relationships it is a process. Truth is absolute. Human beings are not absolute. We can only grow into truth.
In his humanity, Jesus made a real choice to abide in the love of the Father. His constant prayer was: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done. Jesus did not just submit to the Divine Will. Jesus surrendered and embraced the divine will through love.
The pattern of truth is the acknowledgement of God’s plan and purpose for the Creation, for our species, and for each of us individually. There cannot be truth without love. There cannot be love without truth.
Be careful when you bend the truth. That choice enters into the world of cause and effect to produce a result.
Be fearful when you break the truth by telling a lie or even carelessly repeating a lie.
Truth sets us free to love. A lie enslaves us to self-will, fear, pride and ultimately to despair.
All human beings lie to each other. All human beings lie to ourselves. These lies diminish us. These lies keep us lost in separation from God, nature, other people and our real identity.
Jesus knows this about us. He knows this because he lived among us for 33 years. He knows this and he offers his friendship to rescue us from the pattern of deceit that is destroying the Creation, eroding our civilization and decaying our souls.
The solution is a personal relationship with the one who is the very pattern, plan and purpose of truth.
As we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ it is the love that Jesus pours into our minds, and hearts and wills that will begin to set us free from the lies we tell ourselves and each other about God, nature and humanity.
As we grow and develop and mature in the personal relationship Jesus offers, we can ask the question Pilate asked from a new place and for a new purpose. We can ask: “what is truth?” from the solid rock foundation that underlies supports and makes possible all truth.
Jesus will make us whole, healthy and happy in the friendship he offers us, Jesus will set us free from the lies humanity tells itself in order to assert its will to power. That is his purpose. That is his high priestly prayer for us today, tomorrow and forever.
Heavenly Father, sanctify them in your truth, Your word, your co-eternal Word, is truth.
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