A Voice in Wilderness

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An audio meditation in John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-28.

The text for today’s meditation records a conversation between priests and John the Baptist. John has been baptising at Bethany at the Jordan, and huge numbers of people are coming to respond to his message that “the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4). The chief priests send representatives from Jerusalem to ask some questions, to find out what the buzz is all about.

They want to know if John is someone they are expecting, based on their reading and interpretation of the scriptures. Is John the Messiah, is he Elijah who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind and will return before the Messiah returns, or is this the prophet who Moses said would come before the Messiah?

John says he is none of these, and instead seems to be inhabiting his own unique voice, his own unique vocation. I’m neither Elijah, nor anyone else you are expecting, in the way you are expecting them. I am myself, and I’m here to point towards something that is at hand, someone who is among you on whom the Spirit rests. (Jesus later says in Mt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”)

I sense John inviting the interrogators to get out of their heads, to stop trying to puzzle out answers to match their expectations, and to open their hearts with curiosity to how the Spirit of God is at hand.

I invite you to open yourself to this sense of the Holy, to let go of trying to puzzle it all out in your brain, and even as you listen and pray, when you sense the Spirit hovering, to allow yourself to receive it. Let it wash over you, let your self be immersed, even baptised, in Presence of the Holy, even if it comes in an unexpected guise.

Every Blessing

Lissy

Contemplative at Home offers guided meditative prayer – space to slow down and listen to the truth that is being born out of God’s love for you today – drawing on Ignatian spirituality and at times, Lectio Divina.

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All music by Pete Hatch.