Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Daily Office Reflection: Shining Eyes

Psalms 45 * 47, 48; Ecclesiasticus 24:1-12; Revelation 11:14-19; Luke 11:27-36

Jesus seems to be a bit ticked off today. He calls the crowds that are building around him an evil generation. Yesterday he healed an individual who had been a mute and Jesus was called an agent of the devil. So he finishes speaking yesterday and at the beginning of today's Gospel account a crowd-member blesses Jesus' Mom and Jesus in turn says: well instead, the individual who is blessed listens and acts on the things I am saying and doing! (Once again, Jesus' sainted Mom is used by Jesus for him to make a point.) Jesus says that even the people of Nineveh got Jonas' message, but the folks he is dealing with are just dim-witted at not recognizing the power and presence of the Almighty in this Kingdom of God Jesus is establishing.

And then Jesus uses the metaphor of the lit lamp being used for its purpose, not hidden in the basement. He says our eyes are like that lamp, not only letting the light in (his light) but also our eyes shine forth the great Good News that infects all of us when we are members of this Kingdom. And if we believe we have some darkness within us, when we let this light that Jesus is to us, in to those dark places, that light can and will withstand and overtake all our pettiness, our anger, our dislikes, our sinfulness. The light that is our faith gets into those cob-webbed corners and sweeps that nastiness away and then rebounds off those cleaned spaces and shines out of us: we can't help or resist that from occurring.

This cob-web cleaning process, this light quelling the darkness, is not a one time event in our lives. We need to practice allowing the light to shine in, so that it can rebound and shine forth, bringing others into the fold of the kingdom.
jfd+

Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

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