|
In the following passage from Matthew 13 (ESV), found in the other Synoptic Gospels, Jesus speaks of initiation into the mystery, or secret (Greek, mysterion).
10Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
"'You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.'
16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
John A. Sanford, in The Inner Kingdom, writes, “A ‘mysterion’ was something to be known, but it was an initiated knowledge, knowledge that a person could acquire only through his or her own individual insight and experience, and that could not be communicated through an ordinary educational process.”
In the human life cycle, we pass from matter, to body, to mind, to soul, to Spirit. At soul we experience the growing intensity of aspiration for an unmediated experience of Pure Spirit. At soul we are no longer focusing, primarily, on seeking a conceptual understanding of faith. We are seeking the wonder of a consistent communion with the Sacred in an intimate, sharing relationship of mutual attraction and Love.
Through communion with the Sacred, we gradually grow into the unmediated experience of union with God. We merge into realization of a co-inhering with Spirit. Here spirit represents our Center, or Essence, in undifferentiated union with Spirit. We no longer can tell where spirit leaves off and Spirit begins, for the two are co-inhering, or living inside, each other in mutual edification.
Each of the life cycle stages represents an initiation. Therefore, logical is Jesus saying that there is a mystery, or secret, that requires initiation, or opening of the inner senses by Grace. These inner senses are represented in the above passage by “ears” and “eyes.”
The initiation into a post-conceptual knowledge, or intuitive insight, must be experienced personally. This passage in the Jesus Path is through a personal relationship of growing intimacy with Christ, the Word. Therefore, while community can provide a stimulus for the experience, as well as be a hindrance, community cannot give the mystery to us or keep us from the mystery.
There is a universal law in the spiritual life that Jesus refers to: Those who have will be given more. Jesus led persons who were ready for the mystery to “see” and “hear” the mystery. He did not exclude anyone. Rather, he respected that he could not make anyone “see” or “hear,” and that he should not assume responsibility for giving insight to those unready for it.
We can be encouraged to know that Spirit always has more to manifest to us, as well as encouraged to know that we will receive as we are prepared to receive. We can be stimulated to spiritual Practice by the aspiration to be ready to receive more and that we will indeed receive ever-knew initiations, until we become whole as God is wholeness.
However, we must make the choice to continue through the initiations. We can stop at any point along the Way. Still, we will never be content closing down on this process of emergent growth, for the “kingdom of God” represents that within us that yearns to know God as completely as God knows us. We have a teleological pull toward Spirit. The key element in the process is increasing surrender to the inner work of Grace.
Spiritual Exercises
1. Have you had moments of feeling an inner, indefinable yearning for a wholeness you know you have never fully known?
2. Are you, presently, following the yearning? Explain.
3. Is the community of faith you worship and serve in helpful or not in following a yearning to wholeness? Explain.
4. How might Jesus represent “the Way” to this mystery, in embodying “the Way”? How is the Christian life one of a like embodying of “the Way”?
5. Describe your agreement or not with the following sentence.
To follow Jesus is not, essentially, to have a belief about Jesus, rather, to follow Jesus is to grow to embody, live, and share the Way, the Truth, and the Life as wholly as he did for us.
6. Do you have a friend or Spiritual Director who is helping you discern the work of the Sacred in your life?
7. Why do we need regular practice of Spiritual Practices to fulfill our yearning for wholeness?
8. Have you had an experience where you could not tell any differentiation between you, as spirit, and Spirit?
9. How did Jesus model the journey to wholeness?
10. What is meant by “spiritual senses,” or “inner senses”?
11. What do you need to do daily to keep your inner senses attuned to how God is working in and around you?
12. Has God been calling you to a deeper walk with Christ? What will it take for you to have that deeper walk?
Prayer
Spirit of Life, grant me the experience of Jesus, and help me personally to remain faithful to Your inner summons, as it echoes the call of my spirit to realize an innate kinship with my Creator. I surrender, daily, as best I can, to Your inner work in attuning my senses to increasing sensitivity to the Sacred. I yearn to know all the mystery that You are and share in it, totally, and joyfully. Amen.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
The People of the
United Methodist Church
|
