We know we are walking

The aim of Zen is to see things as they really are. The tradition of this great Eastern religious tradition is to come to enlightenment by emptying oneself of all words and concepts that block the essential task of reaching to the heart of things.

When Jesus sat down with his disciples and taught them, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he was telling them to empty themselves of all the preconceptions, attitudes and traditions that block us from seeing reality as it really is. We see a Muslim, for example, or a Chinese person and we immediately are conscious of all the stereotypes commonly associated with such people. The Chinese are like this. The Muslims are like that.

And we bring it closer to home when we consider the people we live with. We have long ago decided what kind of people they are. When Jesus sat down at the well of Sychar he met a woman, a Samaritan and an outcast – someone who came to the well on her own, not with other women. All three categories of person throw up a mountain of preconceptions and prejudices. The woman even expected them to be hurled at her.

But they weren’t. Jesus accepted her just as she was. He knew immediately that she carried a great inner wound. He saw the reality and he reached out to heal her of her pain.

In the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus, in fact, is announcing his programme for the inauguration of the God’s Kingdom, God’s reign. It is a reign where each person is approached on the basis of their individual and inalienable worth. There is a total unwrapping of all the prejudices and associations we have. It is such a challenge to “see things as they are” – not on the surface but deep down – and to develop a sense of wonder in the face of all the myriad manifestations of God’s creation. That is what Francis of Assisi did when he wrote of Brother Sun and Sister Moon and when he walked straight through the Muslim camp to address the caliph as his brother.

1 November 2015                                   All Saints

Revelation 7:2…11                                 1 John 3:1-3                                            Matthew 5:1-12