Fulfilment
The commandment of the Lord is pure and gives light to the eyes.The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. One day pours out its song to another and one night unfolds knowledge to another. Psalm 19.1,2
The puqdana, God’s many-faced teaching,is Love. Nature sings it, prophets proclaim, poets write, the elements are infused, Christ embodies it. Every page of Scripture is Living Word, and God speaks into every heart that is open to the Voice.
Ezra read from the Book of the Law facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday…the people bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground…and the prophet said to the people ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
Sha’ar Hamayim; Dabar d’Alaha – by the Water Gate the poet priest reads to the people from the Holy Book; in dancing flow, God’s grace, living water, living word, promise of eternal life.
And yet the people wail.
“God is Love”, cries the poet.
“Thou shalt, thou shalt not,” hear the people.
Love burns holes in the fabrics of our defences. We have constructed moral codes with join the dot maps for climbing a ladder to righteousness. We’ve tied ourselves up with chains of self-loathing, bound-to-fail hide-behinds, and rules, rules, rules.
“Rules are rules”, says one country’s ruler; “I didn’t know it was a party, I thought it was work”, says another. Both in chains, mourning the rigidity they sold themselves into when fame and power beckoned from the dark recesses of world order politic… And all the people cry, “Do the decent thing! Do the decent thing!”
But love burns through. She does not discriminate, and she does not deflect the pain within. This hurts much. Blaming and baying for justice on someone famous out there is a temporary balm for the ego inside but the sore just gets worse and worse when the anaesthetic wears off. Love heals but she is pure and the poison fights back. Stay here. Don’t mourn, don’t weep. This day is holy.
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit… unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and finds the place where it is written: ‘…God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour…’ Today, says Jesus, this scripture is being fulfilled in your hearing. Luke 4.14-21 (excerpt)
This day is holy. This is the day to walk free. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Today. This moment, in the breathing in and the breathing out, all Scripture is being fulfilled. The good news is unfolding, the kingdom of Christ is breaking through from within. The eyes of the soul are opening, the chains of delusion breaking, the prisoner of consciousness is walking, out through the Water Gate and into the world. Anointed One, walk…
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 