Jan 21, 2018

Follower of Jesus (44)

Blessed are the pure in heart

For they shall see God (5)

Matthew 5:8

This beatitude makes the bold claim that those who are ‘pure in heart’ shall see God, implying that they shall see God now, in the created world we all live in. I have stated that we are talking about the perceptual process where one person sees a given event very different than another, depending on what each person brings to that event in past experiences. Again, we see the experiential side of this beatitude; obviously each person sees the same light rays that have bounced off the event, but each person mentally sees something very different. One person sees objects that they call ‘apple’, while the other sees God present and Love in that same object that each call ‘apple’.

This beatitude brings forth the power and truth behind that strange saying of Jesus: “nor will people say ‘Here it is’ or There it is’, because the Kingdom of God is within”. (Luke 17:21). Other translations use the expression “in your midst”, signifying that heaven, that Kingdom of God, is present in the here and now of our physical reality. This blunt statement throws everything we thought about heaven in a ‘cocked hat’, as the saying goes. How can heaven be here, amidst the beauty and wonders of creation, but also among then pain and seemingly horrors of much of creation.

Jesus had a way of stating the truths and true reality in ways that defy description. Jesus spent his life living in the ‘Kingdom of God’, and yet lived a life of healing and service to all around him, especially the poor and neglected, but also what were called sinners. He had meals with sinners, he singled them out for healing and mercy, but generally he just accepted any and all who came to him, whether for a healing or to listen. He never questioned them, just accepted them as they were. He ignored the upright and self-justified,

Jesus worked the opposite from what any of us would figure: he worked towards the bottom, those lepers, those thrown away from any presence by the leaders of the nation and religion. All who were rejected by society were the very ones he called friends.

It is to these he called to the Kingdom of God, or heaven. And it will be these who could have a transforming experience that would allow them to see God in their everyday life.

Meditation

Beloved wisdom, You offer us the gift of being in the Kingdom of God and know that statement to be true. I bow in gratitude to be understand and feel that I am living in this Kingdom, and am grateful to so often feel that joy that is the hallmark of the Kingdom. I place my trust in this gift, and let myself sigh in pleasure and love to so blessed. I ask only to be with You for eternity which includes the Now, and trust that it will be so.