Are we willing to expand beyond our finite, limited point of view? Are we willing to see beyond our biases and prejudices? Are we willing to risk and step beyond what is safe and comfortable? Some of the scribes and Pharisees that experienced the preaching and teaching of Jesus were not. They dug in their heels and refused to see God in their midst as we see expressed in today’s Gospel account from Luke.
Yet, the questions today are not addressed to them but to us. We are moving through the mid-point of Advent. John the Baptist called for repentance, Jesus followed with the same message, and sent the Apostles to proclaim the same message. We are being invited today to allow the infinite God of all creation to dwell within us and be open to allowing him to expand us, so that we can grow, and develop beyond anything we can ever imagine on our own. With each breath we are to follow the lead of John and decrease so that Jesus can increase.
We are to accept this invitation each day and let God happen. To do so, we need to be willing to let go of our need to control, to grasp, and surrender our self-centered way of life and open ourselves to the love of God. This is how “the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than” John the Baptist, because in surrendering to the Son of God, it is no longer we who live, but Jesus who lives in us. Jesus has come to us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity!
Peace and all God’s good!
Photo: God invites each of us to serve in our own unique way.
Spiritual Stepping Stones