With Joy By The Holy Spirit

With Joy By The Holy Spirit

“It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.” (Luke 10:21)

              

How provocative to our imagination!  What wonder could have precipitated this impulse of Joy within our Lord?  Were his arms stretched tight toward heaven …trying to get as close as he could to his Father?  Were his eyes welling with tears as this Praise was thrust forth from his soul?

           Luke is silent to these questions, only recording that Jesus then turns to his disciples and declares how privileged they are to witness this unfolding of the Kingdom of God.

 

Luke captures the disciples in the act of being Reborn, Re-Created into a Child of God who sees: what is hidden from the arrogant; what is oblivious to the complacent who have eyes that cannot see 'Jesus-The-Word' planted in millennia past, within a mere a ripple, but now a Tsunami of Love …crashing upon creation …crying, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

The Holy Spirit is Fire and Power and Joy.  This, is what seized Jesus to Exult with Praise to his Father.  This, is what seized his disciples, what drew them from the seen to the Unseen, from the hidden to the Revealed -were Surrender flows into Unknowable Glory.

Holy Spirit seize me!  Re-Create me into a mere child with the eyes of your Father.  Possess me with your Tumultuous Love, that in serving you I too, will be filled with joy by the Holy Spirit; that I too will give witness to your Saving Power, to your Presence within my smallness; that all I am and do will Exult and Praise and Glorify your Holy Name.  May this please you to do.

A Child’s Prayer

A Child’s Prayer 

                My Lord and My God, behold Your Small One.  I am prostrate before you …not out of a holy humility, but of my smallness.  How can it be that you call me your Child?  Yet you prize me as the Apple of Your Eye.  I cannot see beyond my barrenness …you see what you created me to be.

           

          How else can I hope in you, that I dare to presume your Mercy?  So it is that I kneel before you, begging for this Great Exchange.  I bring to you my Sinful Soul and Broken Body, with nothing to give but a child’s desire to receive …knowing that you will offer me New Life. 

          

           You envelope my surrender with a Knowing Trust …as a Swaddled Babe held at breast.  Though I yet touch what I long for, I am at rest in Your Bosom, My Father.  I can only praise you, My Lord and My God.

Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask, Seek, Knock

“I tell you, Ask and you will receive; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9)

              

My Lord Jesus, I am Asking you.

I am admitting my utter dependence on you.

I am standing before you empty.

You alone are my Hope.

          My Lord Jesus, I am Seeking you.

I am desperate for your Perfect Will in my life.

You have only Good things for me.

My Soul is ready.

          My Lord Jesus, I am Knocking on the Door of your Heart.

I am tugging on your Cloak of Mercy.

Your eyes behold my every need.

How can I be afraid?

"Do You Understand?"

"Do You Understand?"(John 13:12-18)

“When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. 'Do you understand' he said 'what I have done to you?’” (Jn 13:12)

      Christ’s Chosen Ones were only beginning to understand. Having just been washed by the Tender Fingers of God, they were drawn onto the precipice of a New Horizon. How could they be expected to understand the Heart of God? Why did Jesus wash their filthy feet? Not because they were dirty, but because he wanted to rip them out of an unexamined reality. He wanted to open their eyes to his Father’s Mission to Love. So it was, that he took on the position of a slave, to give them a glimpse into a Kingdom not enslaved to Self, but enslaved to Love.

“You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am.” (Jn 13:13)

      In order to grasp the magnitude of what had just taken place, the apostles needed to believe in the title with which they addressed Jesus. Jesus, Master of all Powers seen and unseen, Lord of all Creation, submitted to the humblest of actions to reveal his Love. The Greatest became the Smallest; the Creator kissed the feet of the creature. (Jn 13:13)


“If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet.” (Jn 13:14)

      God is calling Man to become Godly. He is charging his disciples to a life of Love; to raise the lowly with the power of Lowliness; to see the Sinner as Beloved; to be an instrument for God.


“Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly.” (Jn 13:17)

      This is an audacious promise, and a Vision Revealed. What is this secret knowledge; what is the “this” that is the key to happiness? It is behavior according to Jesus –to be a lover for the Source Of All Love. This is his Word of Truth waiting to be unwrapped in faith. It is our commission to act in his Name: our co-mission with Jesus.
“I am not speaking about all of you: I know the ones I have chosen; but what scripture says must be fulfilled: Someone who shares my table rebels against me.” (Jn 13:18)

      This verse is packed with meaning. If we read it with our eyes wide open our hearts will bleed, so let us pray not to close our mind to its Truth. Jesus is saying that not all of his Chosen Ones choose him in return. He is speaking of Judas, the Son of Perdition; and he portrays him as “Someone who shares my table [and] rebels against me.”

      Jesus knew Judas with all his flaws, but that did not stop him from choosing him. He still loved him, still trusted him with his confidence –in spite of knowing that he would rebel against him and hand him over to death. How easy it is to loath Judas, to be enraged by this one who exchanged his Master’s Love for selfish gain. But, Jesus washed his feet.

      And what about us? Do we not share his table? Do we not eat his Body and drink his Blood, yet rebel against him? Does not Jesus know us whom he has chosen? Yet, he washes us clean and entrusts us to love with his Love. Do we understand the immensity of is Love for us? Do we understand the stupidity and smallness of our rebellion; or the price of our sin? 

      “I know the ones I have chosen…” The power in this Word is not that Jesus knows the identity of who he has chosen, for, in Truth, he has chosen every one of us. The miracle in this Word is that he knows the smallness of our hearts and still continues to choose us to serve in his Name. He believes in us when we do not believe in him. He trusts us to love for him when we do not trust in his Love for us. How can I remain a chosen son of God while in my Shadow is a Son of Perdition?

      How did the Eleven become so different from the Judas they so resembled? Did they not argue among themselves for self gain? Doubt their Master? Abandon him? Deny him? What held off the fate they deserved? Surely it is because they found Forgiveness. They were so transformed by the Unchangeable Love of their Master that they became abhorrent to any thought or action that did not bring him pleasure. Being washed in his Love, they found the faith to behave according his Will.
 
     This Undeserving Love of Jesus is beyond my grasp. I cannot understand this Love; I can only Believe in it -because my Master has told me so. And I can Hope in it; that I will become what he sees in me -the son of his Father, his chosen brother. And if I too remain in his Love, then it will pour forth from me and wash the feet of his creation; and I may ever grow into a faithful servant, freed from the smallness of my heart.

Look Upon Jesus

Look Upon Jesus (John 3:14-21)

“and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (3:14-15)

     The apostle John takes us back a thousand years before the coming of Jesus.  The Israelites, turning against God and Moses, find themselves smitten by fiery serpents as a consequence of their sin.  With Death opening their eyes, they repent of their rebellion, and beseech Moses to intercede.  God relents and instructs Moses to raise up on a banner a bronze image of the serpent; and all who are dying in their Sin will live -if they look upon it.

     This foreshadowing of humanity’s journey -to faith through desperation- is both a reflection of our Depravity, and a revelation of God’s Mercy.  Upon this ancient prophetic act of God, John roots the Good News of our salvation.  The Sinless Son of God, taking on our Sin and Death, became a criminal -raised high on that banner of the Cross: that we might look upon him whom we have pierced, and find eternal life.


“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” (3:16)

     This single sentence is a thimble that contains a universe, a Word that holds all understanding.  It is a keystone that welds two conflicting truths: a World reeling in its rebellion against God; and God’s Love for the World which is desperate for a Savior.
     
     Throughout his Gospel, John uses the term world to describe that which is an enemy to God –a self idolatry, a state of Darkness which chooses eternal death over obedience to God.  It is our fallen nature which, left to its own means, is lost to death.  Standing on this incontrovertible truth, John simultaneously proclaims that, for all whose eyes are opened by their Death Sentence, if they believe in Jesus, if they look upon him to be saved, then eternal life is theirs.
 
     That the Futility of our Sinfulness is so joined to the Hope of God’s Mercy can only be the fruit of Divine Grace -initiated by the urging of his Holy Spirit, with Jesus ever interceding before his Father for us, as did Moses intercede before God for the stricken Israelites.  If only we would not harden our hearts and listen to his Voice….


“For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. (3:17)

God had to send his Son because unless we witnessed Christ’s Unconditional Love and his death on the Cross, we could not have believed we were so loved.  We would have doggedly assumed our deserved condemnation.  Before we could receive his Love, we had to receive his Forgiveness.  God had to sacrifice his Son for us, before we could sacrifice our Self for him.  Before we could be open to his Love, we had to be freed of the fear of a condemning God.  Yet now, if we but look into the eyes of our Savior as he hangs dying on that Cross, we can never doubt his Forgiveness or Love.


“No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son.” (3:18)
 
     If Jesus was sent not to condemn, then where does condemnation come from?  It comes from our rebellious heart.  God has no part to play in condemnation, except in providing grace to avoid it.  Satan may tempt us, but it is we who choose it.  As in Matthew 25, we will all be judged -by what we have done, and by what we have failed to do.  And as in Sirach 15, verse 14 and 16, “He himself made man in the beginning, and then left him free to make his own decisions. …Man has life and death before him; whichever a man likes better will be given him.”  God’s grace is ever available, but never forced upon us.  We choose our eternity.  It is the reason we were brought into existence.  God wills all to be saved …yet many choose to remain outside his Will, refusing to look upon Jesus, lest they repent and be saved.



“On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.” (3:19)

     This is a bottom-line text.  There is no wiggle room here.  It is absolute.  It is God’s Word.  It is also the source of my deepest pain because some whom I have come to love have shown they prefer Darkness to Light, and I cannot bear the thought of that eternal consequence.  Some may say I am judgmental.  I wish it were true, then I would need only to repent and be unconcerned for their eternity.

     Here’s the rub: It is not up to us to decide what is evil.  It was established before time existed.  It is laid out in Sacred Scripture and Christ gave us his Church to show the way. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life -in which evil cannot coexist.  If we believe in him, then, we must live according to his Way, his Truth, and his Life.  This is called obedience.  Believing is not about feelings, or good intentions, or even espousing correct theology.  It is about our Faith surrendered to Grace –manifesting itself in the deeds of our life upon which we are judged.

     My pain for those living in disobedience –outside of his Way, Truth and Life- is that they seem convinced that sin is not really sin.  They are content to pit their version of “truth” against God’s Truth.  My sorrow for them cannot compare to the sorrow in our Lord’s heart, and so I can hope and pray with confidence that he will deliver them as he has delivered me, and continues to deliver me.



“And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed;” (3:20)

     Most of us, at first thought, would most fear what others might think should our sins come to light. But, with deeper introspection, we might come to see that it is our own conscience we fear most, for if we admit to our sin, then we would have to admit to our guilt. In turn, we would then
have to change our sinful habits. Exposed to his Light, we would have no peace until we surrendered our entire self into the Will of our Creator. It is our Unsurrendered Desires which cause us to shrink from the Light. Only faith in God’s Love will give us the courage to be exposed to his Truth.


“but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God;” (3:21)
 
     This last verse is a call to Holiness. It is a fearsome challenge to come before God naked, boldly asking him to have his way with us, regardless of cost, to purify our lives of everything that hinders his Holy Spirit from working freely in us.
 
     This is a deeply personal Word, with the Spirit calling us to be brutally honest with ourselves before him, not trusting our opinion of ourselves, whether high or low, but begging him to expose the ugliness of our sin, that we may be horrified at the thought of willfully disappointing our Creator.

     We cannot trust our conscience. We are more capable of deceiving ourselves than the cleverest devil. With a mere tinge of spiritual fog, I can justify almost anything I crave. My righteousness perilously hangs on the thread of utter submission to Grace. Every day I must beg God to pierce my Darkness with his revealing Light -that I might plainly see if what I do is done in God. I must beg God, because he waits for my permission to expose what I have hidden.
 

     My Lord, I am a sinful man. You know all things -how I hide from my sins, yet you patiently wait. I believe in your Saving Love. I look upon you for Life. Deliver me from my lowliness, My Jesus, My Savior, My God.