Good Morning Friends,
I am really beginning to wonder if the universe folds in on itself like a Mobius strip or like the Asteroids video game I used to play forty-two years ago- where if you go off the screen to the right you suddenly appear on the left and if you exit the top you appear on the bottom. The place where East meets West. I am thinking about this because we live in a dualistic culture that tends to sever what is meant to be connected. Still, I have hope for our political system. The problem is that we live in an, if it’s to be, it’s up to me world… where if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself…where I am the captain of my own fate and the goal is to accumulate stuff and to solve the problems and that my knowledge is power and that power is control and the object of life is to win a game as fleeting as your next breath. But we also are part of a reality in which we are part of something bigger than our self…a reality in which we are not alone and do not control our own destiny and a reality in which the goal of life is giving ourselves away and realizing that all the problem solving will never be enough to solve all the problems…where power is imprisoning and obedience is freedom and life is possibilities unfolded in ways that show us that what matters most is being in God’s significant purpose. We get a sense of the challenge in the Beatitudes, The Parable of the Weeds and Jesus’ prayer that we be in complete unity but also in the story of the Prodigal. You see that people seeking power prefer dualistic thinking…they separate the mind and the body. Deciding who is not worthy. It is prevalent in churches and business but not so much when we meditate, for here when we think of nothing, we might just discover everything. Friends, there are causes and effects but sometimes the world I can describe to you is not the world at all. I can give you a metaphor, but it too has its limits. Sometimes, like the Prodigal Son, it takes coming to one’s senses realizing that the pigs really are not that bad. As a culture…as individuals we might just find unity in unexpected ways leading us to our next meal at a place we love even as we ask, What Would It Be Like To See The Prodigal from the Perspective of the Pig?
Scripture: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
Luke 15:11-19 (NIV)
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23 (NIV)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Matthew 5:1-11 (NRSV)
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? ’An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
1 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
Message: Thinking backwards jars our senses. In scripture pigs are much maligned. But no so much today. What we discover is that what we thought was a fundamental law governing the universe only governs a small part of it and then only sometimes. The point is that if we are to make progress in life and especially the spiritual life, we need to rely not on ourselves but on God to get us where we are going. Having a balanced life is not as good as it gets. God does not want us to have a balanced life. God wants us fully committed. Relying less on ourselves and more on God are signs of spiritual growth. And here on the journey there are two competing paradigms that fracture our lives. The first is about our own effort seeking perfection. The second is about having a vision of God being available to us right now. And here just maybe, if we do not over think it, we might discover that everything and nothing are just different words for the same reality of being who we are. Here the simplicity of it all allows us to grasp the big picture. By meditating and letting thoughts, emotions and what else arise and then simply letting them go helps clear out the negative debris which causes suffering and debilitates us in our pilgrimage. Meditation…being in unity with Jesus… helps us to clean out the pigsty and return to the extravagant, prodigal love of the Father as we nurture the true self of our inner life which exists in a pig stye or a banquet table.
And So, from the perspective of the pig, the prodigal wants to hang out with his pig friends. Pigs are pigs after all and because of this they want to do pig things.But they do appreciate being fed. But maybe the pigs saw the prodigal as the same man wherever he was.A pig will always go back to their element, but a prodigal son may be ingrained too and return home. You see, a prodigal is fundamentally a child of God who has gone astray but is not so lost for God not to find him wherever he is. And as for the pigs, God loves them too even if their home is a pigsty. And something important can be learned by caring for them.
Pray we realize that listening is more important than speaking…that waiting can be more important than acting…. that following God is more important than leading people…that interruptions are more important than plans…. that wandering is better than hurrying but that returning to what we love is good…. that business is always about serving someone else…that life is not so much about problem solving or even being in balance… It’s about being available. Pray we move beyond the false self, the addiction to a way of thinking. Pray we come to our senses recognizing the dark and the light, the suffering and the joy connected. Pray we realize that the world needs to change but maybe it has to happen one person at a time. Pray we learn from our time feeding pigs that we like the pigs depend on the support of others. Pray we give up our childlike ways and come home to Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 