Meditation for Sunday, March 21, 2021
Your very first name is Love.
Surrender to that identity.
This surrender is what Jesus is speaking of when he says follow me and give up your worldly life. How do we start? We know it; We can quote it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This sentiment is alive and flowing in nearly every major and minor religion on Earth.
This is the ground we share.
Jesus says,
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
When Jesus compares himself and us to the grain of wheat, he doesn’t just speak of our potential. He is speaking of our true identity. We are the Beloved. Jesus speaks of Love. We are that seed. When he speaks of the earth he speaks of the ground of love, in which we “live and move and have our being.” When he speaks of dying, he speaks of surrendering to love. When he speaks of the fruit, he speaks of the love that flows and feeds others through this dynamic and life-giving cycle.
In the Gospel this week Jesus asks God, that his life and death may be to the glory of God. And God responds, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The glorification of God in Jesus is from the beginning as the Beloved. We too are made in the image of God. Jesus as our great model, the one who draws all people to this mutuality and reconciling love of healing relationships, teaches us to surrender to that identity. “Follow me” is to be a living icon to Christ; an icon of healing and forgiveness; an icon of love for self and neighbor.
Jesus speaks to us of our earliest commandments: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Yes, we can quote it, but can we quote it by heart as they say?
From the portion of our Hebrew scripture, God promises to us a covenant that is literally written on our hearts. God says,
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
God forgives. God surrenders to us. As our tradition teaches us God is Love, self surrendered.
Practice exploring your heart of belonging; of forgiveness.
Surrender. You are already Love.