Luke 20:20-26: Craftiness
Monday, May 27, 2019
Craftiness approaches us from many angles and wearing many different kinds of shoes. In our work and in our family life, particularly when we trust others from a sense of habit rather than from a discernment of a truth we see in them, we may fall into a trap which Jesus cleverly avoids in today’s reading.
When we operate from a source of good, we may be easily fooled by others when we speak in and for ourselves.
When we operate from a source of good, we will amaze our enemies when we speak in and for Christ.
In another place in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you are to say. (12:11)
In our sense of panic when we are attacked, we may automatically sink to the level of deception which has assailed us, thinking to outwit our opponents. Or, we might put our fear on hold and call on God to give us the proper words that will amaze and silence our challengers.
The value of speaking with God morning, noon and night is this: When we are under siege – whether from a known enemy or a loved one – we will have a well-trained homing instinct, a ready portal, a clean and open conduit to God. The answer we seek in desperation comes to us nearly unbidden so that we might amaze and silence those who seek our ruin or even our end.
As we travel through our days, moving from one activity to another with little time for introspection, we must take time to recognize and give thanks to the Spirit which keeps us free and holy. It is this relationship which guides us in recognizing craftiness in others. It is this relationship which guides us in recognizing what is Caesar’s and what is God’s. And it this relationship which gives us the gift of sudden grace to recognize the difference between those who live in the world of deception, darkness and illusion and those who live in the wholeness and goodness of God.
A re-post from May 12, 2012.
Image from: http://cacina.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/carry-the-gospel-with-you-675/
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