Not of This World
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Daily Reading: John 8:21 – 30
Focus Passage:
But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (Jn. 8:23)
Jesus said to those pressing him, “You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
The tone sounds harsh, especially given the context of the passage; however, I believe he implies no condemnation to being “of this world.” We are each “of this world.” Our humanity plants us in “this world.”
Being “of this world” simply means that we are shaped by the structures of the “world,” that the society in which we live exerts tremendous influence on us, that our culture provides us a framework with which we do life. In a sense, you might think of this framework as a lens through which we see the world and life.
Those who lived in Jesus’ first century world had a structure in which they lived, just as those of us who live today have a framework or paradigm with which we live. We are each “of this world.”
How could we not be “of this world”? We are born to women and men who are “of this world,” raised in families that are “of this world,” and guided through childhood by persons who are “of this world.”
It is not wrong or bad to be “of this world.” It is, however, quite dangerous in the spiritual life to be “of this world” and then not recognize that we are “of this world.”
In fact, it can be the particular stumbling block of good, religious persons to be “of this world,” while thinking they are “not of this world.” For this reason, spiritual growth entails an awakening, enlightenment, or illumination, so that we see honestly the structures and frameworks pressing upon our lives.
It is a slippery temptation to think we are free of the world’s structures or paradigms when actually they are rooted in us so deeply that we no longer recognize them. The spiritual life, then, invites us to notice our own inscape (inner landscape) and take the difficult inward look at our makeup.
Jesus could say that he was “not of this world,” not merely because he was God or because he was the Messiah – frankly, those seem to be our flippant answers to why Jesus was “not of this world” – but because the paradigms, structures, and frameworks out of which he lived came from God, not from the world.
While we don’t know much about his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, I assume he had issues related to life-structures and frameworks in his early years. He was born a human to humans, in a real world, in real time. Somehow, though, in his relationship with the Father, he divested himself of the world’s structures and adopted the paradigm and world-view of God. He was “of this world” but “not of this world.”
This, too, is our spiritual journey. We are “of this world,” but we are invited to take up a new paradigm – the Gospel language for this new paradigm is “the kingdom of God” – shaped more by God than by the world. This is our life-task, our life-mission. As we live more and more into this life-mission, “not of this world,” our lives are transformed. And in a larger way, our world is transformed.
For Reflection:
In your prayer today, consider some ways you are “of this world” in the sense we have discussed above.
Also, consider some ways you are “not of this world.”
Daily Reading: John 8:21 – 30
Focus Passage:
But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." (Jn. 8:23)
Jesus said to those pressing him, “You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
The tone sounds harsh, especially given the context of the passage; however, I believe he implies no condemnation to being “of this world.” We are each “of this world.” Our humanity plants us in “this world.”
Being “of this world” simply means that we are shaped by the structures of the “world,” that the society in which we live exerts tremendous influence on us, that our culture provides us a framework with which we do life. In a sense, you might think of this framework as a lens through which we see the world and life.
Those who lived in Jesus’ first century world had a structure in which they lived, just as those of us who live today have a framework or paradigm with which we live. We are each “of this world.”
How could we not be “of this world”? We are born to women and men who are “of this world,” raised in families that are “of this world,” and guided through childhood by persons who are “of this world.”
It is not wrong or bad to be “of this world.” It is, however, quite dangerous in the spiritual life to be “of this world” and then not recognize that we are “of this world.”
In fact, it can be the particular stumbling block of good, religious persons to be “of this world,” while thinking they are “not of this world.” For this reason, spiritual growth entails an awakening, enlightenment, or illumination, so that we see honestly the structures and frameworks pressing upon our lives.
It is a slippery temptation to think we are free of the world’s structures or paradigms when actually they are rooted in us so deeply that we no longer recognize them. The spiritual life, then, invites us to notice our own inscape (inner landscape) and take the difficult inward look at our makeup.
Jesus could say that he was “not of this world,” not merely because he was God or because he was the Messiah – frankly, those seem to be our flippant answers to why Jesus was “not of this world” – but because the paradigms, structures, and frameworks out of which he lived came from God, not from the world.
While we don’t know much about his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, I assume he had issues related to life-structures and frameworks in his early years. He was born a human to humans, in a real world, in real time. Somehow, though, in his relationship with the Father, he divested himself of the world’s structures and adopted the paradigm and world-view of God. He was “of this world” but “not of this world.”
This, too, is our spiritual journey. We are “of this world,” but we are invited to take up a new paradigm – the Gospel language for this new paradigm is “the kingdom of God” – shaped more by God than by the world. This is our life-task, our life-mission. As we live more and more into this life-mission, “not of this world,” our lives are transformed. And in a larger way, our world is transformed.
For Reflection:
In your prayer today, consider some ways you are “of this world” in the sense we have discussed above.
Also, consider some ways you are “not of this world.”
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