Posts Tagged ‘John 10:31-42’
The Mediation of Our Senses – Br. Keith Nelson
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Br. Keith Nelson
When your mind’s eye creates a picture of God, how does God appear to you? As a kind-faced Galilean rabbi; or a stern European monarch; as brilliant as the sun; or like the dark shimmer of the ocean under moonlight?
When your mind’s ear hears the voice of God, how does that voice sound? Is it a rich, resonant bass, or a liquid, silvery soprano?
When your mind’s flesh knows the touch of God, how does it feel? Is it soft and warm as a knowing hand’s caress? Or have you perhaps felt, like the prophet Jeremiah, something like “a fire shut up inside your bones”? (Jeremiah 20:9).
Maybe God smells like fresh coffee or frankincense or the dirt in your garden. Maybe God tastes like the wine of Holy Communion or … a Werther’s Original stashed away in your grandmother’s purse?
Suffice it to say that without these and a kaleidoscope of other sense impressions, God would be much less real to us. The Sacred must meet us in and through some mediating experience, some access point for our human faculties. Even if we meet the sacred in the gentle laying aside of words and images, that persistent return to a glance, a breath, a posture keeps the compass needle of the soul aligned with its true north. Read More
Release the Stones from Your Hands – Br. Jamie Nelson
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“The Jews took up stones again to stone him.”
The first line of today’s gospel reading leaves us hungering for the rest of the story. What has Jesus said or done that has brought the crowd to the brink of homicidal rage?
The gospel writer set the stage well for us in the preceding verses. Picture the scene in your mind: It is wintertime, and the mood in Jerusalem is festive as people gather to celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of the Temple’s Rededication. Jesus is at the temple walking under the portico of Solomon when a crowd gathers around to interrogate him.
Quit keeping us in suspense, they say. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly, they demand.
The timing isn’t coincidental, situated as it is at Hanukkah. The festival of lights commemorates the victory of Jewish rebels over foreign invaders and the rebels’ culminating act of rededicating altars desecrated by unclean sacrifices and the worship of foreign gods.
And now Rome is in charge, a different empire but the same familiar oppression. Is Jesus a new messianic figure, building a power base to spark insurrection against Rome?
When You’re Discouraged – Br. David Vryhof
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Jeremiah 20:7-13
John 10:31-42
You may recall that when God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, he tried to avoid the call by protesting that he was too young. God reassured him that God would be with him and that he would be given the words to speak. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, the words that God gave him were harsh words: he was to warn the Israelites that unless they turned from their wicked ways, God would deliver them into the hands of their enemies and they would be carried into captivity. Read More