Hello Friends,
Welcome to the 25th Episode of Christian Meditation with me,
Anita Matthews.
I'm glad you're here.
Let's sit for a few seconds quietly breathing our spirits,
Minds,
Emotions and bodies slowing down along with our breath.
Breathe in long and deeply,
Breathe out fully again.
The book of Revelation,
The final book of the Bible ends on an ecstatic note.
The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come,
Let the one who is thirsty come,
And let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Come,
Lord Jesus.
Through the day,
When you feel distracted or distressed or sense stress rising or your
breathing becoming ragged,
Try a breath prayer.
Perhaps say Mara Martha,
An ancient Aramaic word
from Paul's letter to the Corinthians to yourself.
Mara Martha,
Which means come,
Lord Jesus.
And so,
As we begin to calm down and enter our bodies,
Let's say that.
It's four equally stressed syllables,
One syllable with each inhale and exhale.
Ma-ra-na-tha,
Ma-ra-na-tha,
Come,
Lord Jesus,
Maranatha.
Now,
Let's briefly visit an episode from the Gospel of Matthew,
Chapter 21.
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.
He overturned the table of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
It is written,
He said to them,
My house will be called a house of prayer,
But you are making it a den of robbers.
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them.
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did
and the children shouting in the temple courts,
Hosanna to the son of David,
They were indignant.
Jesus entered the temple courts and while he was teaching,
The chief priests and the elders of the people came to him.
By what authority are you doing these things,
They asked.
Doing these things,
They asked,
And who gave you this authority?
Jesus replied,
I will also ask you one question.
If you answer me,
I will tell you by what authority I'm doing these things.
John's baptism,
Where did it come from?
Was it from heaven or of human origin?
They discussed it among themselves and said,
If we say from heaven,
He will ask,
Then why didn't you believe him?
But if we say of human origin,
We are afraid of the people,
For they all hold that John was a prophet.
So they answered Jesus,
We don't know.
Then he said,
Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
Learning from Jesus,
Let's meditate on how Jesus dealt with hostility and enemies.
It's Tuesday of the last week of Jesus's life.
He rampages through the commercialized temple,
Overturning the tables of money changers.
He heals,
He teaches,
He's proclaimed as the Messiah.
Who gave you the authority to do these things?
His old adversaries,
The chief priests and the elders,
Ask.
And Jesus shows us how to answer hostile questions.
Be careful,
Breathe,
Quick arrow prayers.
Be careful,
Breathe,
Quick arrow prayers.
Your enemies,
Your interrogators have no power over your life
that your father has not permitted them.
Ask your father for wisdom,
Remembering questions do not need to be answered.
Are these questioners worthy of the treasures of your heart?
Or would that be feeding pearls to hungry pigs who might instead devour you?
Questions can contain pitfalls and traps.
Jesus directly answered just three of the 183 questions he was asked.
Some questions he refused to answer.
Others he answered with a good question in time.
Others he answered with a good question in turn.
But how do we get the inner calm,
Discernment and presence of mind
to recognize and sidestep entrapping questions?
Long before the day of testing,
Practice breathing
and tuning in to the frequency of the Father.
We have no record of Jesus running,
Rushing,
Being stressed or lacking peace.
He never speaks on his own,
He tells us,
But says only what the Father tells him to.
So,
No foolish,
Ill-judged statements.
Breathing in the wisdom of the Father beside and within him,
He,
Unintimidated,
Level-headed,
Traps the trappers.
Wisdom begins with slowing down and doing nothing without quickly checking in with the Father.
So,
His wisdom can bubble up through our souls.
Our calm minds will then help us to recognize dangerous,
Strict questions,
Even those coated in flattery,
And sidestep them or refuse to answer.
We learn to tune in to God's wisdom by practicing slowing down.
Asking God questions and listening for his answers about the best way to do simple things.
To organize a house or write.
And then we build upwards,
Asking for wisdom in more complex things.
Listening for the voice of God before we speak,
Tapping in to the spirit,
Which Jesus calls streams of living water within us,
Will give us the wisdom to know what to say,
Which,
Frequently,
Is nothing at all.
It will quieten us with the silence of God,
Which silently speaks to us.
It is the silence of God,
Which sings through the world,
Through sun and stars,
Sky,
And flowers.
Amen.
