How can Satan cast out Satan?

 

 And they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house. 

 

"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."

 

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

 

- Mark 3:19b–35 

 

Yesterday we read that, as the open hostility of the authorities has begun to grow (Mark 3:6), Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

 

  And they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  There are some who have commented that all of the attention Jesus is drawing is focusing unwanted public scrutiny on the family, and is to some extent scandalous in and of itself.  Perhaps they desire simply to have Him withdraw from so much public attention, and especially the by now open hostility of the religious authorities, who plot together with the Herodians (supporters of Herod's dynasty which rules for Rome) to destroy Him.  Perhaps they're making excuses for Him for the same reason.  Additionally, as St. John's Gospel tells us, in the midst of His public ministry His brothers (extended kin or perhaps stepbrothers from an earlier marriage of St. Joseph) also did not believe in Him (John 7:1-5).

 

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house."  Beelzebub was a name used by the Jews for the god Baal. In Canaanite practice, Baal was used to mean "lord" and so it's based on a name for the local god of a particular city.  This name is likely meant to ridicule this god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  It means prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here, this god is called ruler of the demons.  My study Bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  

 

 "Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  My study Bible identifies blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit; that is, blasphemy against pure goodness.  These religious authorities, thoroughly versed in Scripture, know well the divine activity of the Spirit, and this type of blasphemy will not be forgiven because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  Moreover, my study Bible notes that Church Fathers are very clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin and neither does Jesus call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Christ makes this declaration, my study Bible says, knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and they are beyond repentance by their own choice.

 

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."  My study Bible comments that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  Jesus points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God.  Here my study Bible further explains that in Jewish usage, brother might indicate any number of relations.  In the Scriptures, Abraham called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz spoke of his cousin Elimelech as his brother in Ruth 4:3; and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).  In Christian tradition and understanding, Jesus Himself had no blood brothers; Mary had only one Son.  These brothers mentioned here (as we said above) are either stepbrothers (sons of Joseph by a previous marriage), or cousins.  When Jesus commits His mother to the care of John at the Cross (John 19:25-27) it must reasonably be understood that this would have been unthinkable in the context of contemporaneous culture if Mary had other children to care for her.  

 

 Jesus asks, "How can Satan cast out Satan?"  He frames this question within an image of competing kingdoms and the warfare between them.  He says, " If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house."  Here, "house" indicates a dynasty, a lineage, a ruling family, even an empire.  Everything within the sphere of that "house" belongs to it.  We should take this very seriously that Jesus frames the action of Satan in this way, for He gives us a picture of a spiritual battle that is always going on, and in so doing, makes a mockery out of the accusation that He casts out demons (practices exorcism) by the power of demons, or the power of Satan.  He is the "stronger man" in the image of His parable about kingdoms and strong men.  He is the one who can bind and plunder Satan's goods and his house.  This will be the effect of the Cross, of Christ's Passion, death, and Resurrection; His ministry is one of liberation and deliverance for humankind, and for the whole of creation.  I watched an interesting video on making the sign of the Cross, by Fr. Mesrop Ash, a priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church (video link here).  Father Mesrop makes it clear that for our earliest Christian ancestors, the sign of the Cross was a kind of seal.  Seals have always been associated with "houses," as in the sense of a dynasty or reigning family.  When we make this sign upon ourselves, we're sealing ourselves with the sign of Christ, that we are Christians, and that we belong to Him and to His house.  We should consider carefully in this light Christ's words in today's reading, as we think of ruling houses, lineage, and seals:  "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."  When we make the sign of the Cross over ourselves, we seal ourselves with His seal, with the seal of our faith, His house, as Christians.  A "sign" is also in traditional and historical use another name for a flag, as in the flag of a nation, a clan, a house, or ruling dynasty.  Armies go to war under particular flags for this reason.  A flag works in the same way that a seal does, to indicate that a person or any other thing belongs to that house, clan, country, ruling government.  We are of the kingdom of Christ, and in today's reading, it is Jesus Himself who gives us clear indication just how important it is that we identify or seal ourselves with a particular sign of a particular ruling  power.  We belong to His house, and His house is opposed and "throws out" the troops of Satan, and plunders his goods, taking back souls and freeing them.  Let us remember with what seal we seal ourselves, and find meaning in being His family, under the rule and protection of His house.

 

 

 

For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself." 

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see."  Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."

- John 9:18-41

It is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus has just passed out of the temple as the leaders took up stones in order to stone Him for blasphemy (see Wednesday's reading).  As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.  I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.  And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent).  So he went back and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"  Some said, "This is he."  Others said, "He is like him."  He said, "I am he."  Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.'  So I went and washed, and I received sight."  Then they said to him, "Where is He?"  He said, "I do not know."  They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.  Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."  Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.  And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How then does he now see?"  His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know.  He is of age; ask him.  He will speak for himself."    In John's Gospel, the term the Jews refers to the leadership in the temple; they have been interrogating this man who was blind from birth but has received his sight from Christ.  We note the hint of fear of the leaders in the response of the parents; they will not answer for their son, but demand that the leaders ask him.  This also hints at the adoption by Jesus of this man.

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory!  We know that this Man is a sinner."  My study bible points out here that with Jesus not present, the Pharisees call Him a sinner, but earlier when He asked them face-to-face,  "Which of you convicts Me of sin"? (8:46), they evaded the question.  Give God the glory! was an oath formula that was used before giving testimony.  This healed man will indeed give God glory in his confession of faith in Christ (v. 38).  We see how faith works; the more he is pressed, the more fervent his faith becomes -- while the Pharisees lapse into deeper darkness.

He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know.  One thing I know:  that though I was blind, now I see."  My study bible calls this formerly blind man a model of Christian witness.  It says that many people do not bear witness to Christ because they fear they will be asked questions which they can't answer.  But this man's answer to those who are much more educated than he is provides the solution:  he admits what he does not know, yet follows up with what he does know.  There is a formula which is foundational to witnessing one's faith to others:  "That I don't know, but what I do know is this."

Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you?  How did He open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you also want to become His disciples?"  Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.  We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."  The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!  Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.  Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.  If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?"  And they cast him out.  The Pharisees grow increasingly exasperated, as they cannot force out of this man what they wish him to say.  Instead, he stays with the truth he knows, and this drives them to desperation.  That they cast him out again gives us a sense about adoption by Christ; he is in some sense abandoned by both his parents and his community, in effect because of his healing by Christ.  It is a kind of illustration of Psalm 27:10, and will be an important theme of Christian monasticism.  My study bible says that the unprecedented nature of opening the eyes of one who was born blind is a confirmation of Christ's divinity.  This was one of the signs of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 35:5; 42:7) and a prerogative belonging solely to God (Psalm 145:8).

Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"  He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"  And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."  Then he said, "Lord, I believe!"  And he worshiped Him.  My study bible says that having opened the blind man's eyes, the Lord also opens his heart and illumines his spirit.  This man moves from knowing almost nothing about Christ (v. 25), through the conclusion that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner (v. 31), through confessing that Jesus must be from God (v. 33), and finally seeing Him as the divine Son of God.  

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.'  Therefore your sin remains."  Christ's coming into this world brought judgment to the world, not because He came to judge (12:47-48), but rather because of humanity's accountability to Him, my study bible says.  Those who see and hear Him but do not believe are judged by their own faithlessness.

Today's reading brings up themes of abandonment by "the world" and adoption by Christ, all familiar concepts particularly to the first centuries of the Church, but which remain with us alive and well today.  Because this man is healed by Christ, because He has been changed by encounter, his old relationships no longer create support for him.  His parents are not willing to stand up for him to the authorities; they confess they know nothing about what has happened to him.  We don't see much rejoicing here over this astonishing miracle -- there is too much fear because of the interest of the religious leaders and their suspicion and animosity toward Jesus.   As for the religious leadership, their interrogation of this formerly blind man simply results in increasing harassment and anger.  Finally, they simply cast the man out.  We must remember that they are the regulators of all community.  But it is Christ who takes him up.  It is Christ who has healed him and, in parallel with having received his physical sight, Christ also reveals Himself to this man, both ways of "illumination."  While the healed man has been discarded from his community, He finds a true object of worship, Christ the Son of God.  It is, in effect, new leadership and new community he steps into.  As noted above, this whole idea of community or communion of believers would be highly significant in the Church, and particularly in the establishment of monasticism.  Monasticism -- those earliest monks of the desert and the communities which would eventually build up around them -- will be a way of detachment from the world in order to more fully depend upon and love God, to be in depth of communion with God.  Moreover, the earliest martyr figures will be those who are cast out of community due to their faith commitment to Christ.  This is particularly and strikingly true for women martyrs, who so often are young women who prefer a marriage to Christ over marriage and status in community.  It helps us to understand the value placed on virginity both among these martyrs and monastics:  marriage is to the Church, to Christ.  That is, a full consecration of life and devotion to Christ is seen in the understanding of virginity, the fullness of communion being the heart given over to love of God with no worldly attachment to compete.  In our modern world, this may be very hard to understand.  But detachment from distractions, a focus on what is indeed true for us (which my study bible repeatedly notes is exemplary in the healed man in today's reading), and setting out our priorities in life remains a great goal in the midst of our social world today.  The importance of finding that which truly matters does not cease to be relevant when we are constantly given input from all kinds of media, entertainment, and a busy world around us.  Perhaps in such circumstances and with so many pulls, ties, and "shoulds" all around us, finding the one thing necessary perhaps matters all the more.  Certainly the difficulty of detaching from all the "musts" and "shoulds" the world will offer us by way of technology, money, and a full array of worldly goods to be had remains, and is perhaps stronger for all the innovations of the past century and more.  We are called to something higher, better, and deeper midst all of it.  Let us look to this healed man to think about what is truly needful for ourselves, where our true support and confidence can be found, even in a world that seems to offer so much.  When we look around ourselves, security and "home" often seem to be, paradoxically with all our progress, in short supply.  Jesus says, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."  How are we illumined or enlightened?  What keeps us blind?  What is the way to true sight, beyond all the obstacles and temptations that get in the way?

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

- Matthew 5:27-37

The readings from this week have been from the Sermon on the Mount, and today we continue. In yesterday's readings, we read Jesus' expansion on the law against murder. Jesus is taking us deeper into what it is to be truly righteous - He is drawing us in to an understanding of the depths of ourselves, and how we work at righteousness in terms of not only what we do but also what we say and what we think. See You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder'. Jesus has taught in this Sermon that His disciples' righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees - and today He continues with His exposition of what this entails.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." It's important to understand what Jesus means here by "lust." This is not a simple mutual and natural attraction between men and women that He is referring to. Jesus is talking about cultivating a desire with intent. In short, it's about covetousness - a feeding of a personal desire. He takes us from the forbidden action to the thinking that starts behind it, and taking us into the territory of righteousness that "exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees."

"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell." Here is the great teaching on what it means to really watch our thoughts, to structure our "inner selves" so that the outer self is taken care of, and to practice the kind of righteousness He desires from His disciples. He's taking us from action to the inner self, the thoughts we nurture and cultivate within ourselves (as illustrated by the example of "lust" above). He uses the body as a metaphor for our inner lives, our "inner body" if you will. Things that poison our minds with what we don't need must be discarded, "plucked out", "cut off" or "cast away." It's our own thinking that can harm our soul, our spirit.

"Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery." Jesus repeatedly preaches throughout the Gospels against an easy divorce of the type that was used during His lifetime. This left women in a truly defenseless and powerless position in the society, and denied the power of real relationship in marriage - one made in sacrament to God. The clause "except sexual immorality" teaches us that divorce is not out of the question in cases of abuse of the relationship. The early church would expand the grounds for divorce, but the theological understanding behind the concept of all relationship is that it can either be strengthened or destroyed depending on our choices, especially in a spiritual context. That which is spiritual at its heart - such as the sacrament of marriage - needs spiritual nurturing and can be destroyed by our carelessness, and this is what Jesus is teaching here about "causing adultery."

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." This is a teaching about what it means for our words to have meaning, our intentions to be true, our inner life reliable. It's not worthy of our relationship with God - or anything else that we love - that we would bind an oath with it. This is what it is to "swear." None of it is really "ours" to swear by. Rather it is our inner integrity, the truth or falseness of our promises, that really makes our word worth something. If we really think about it, what is it that you need in your relations with others but the ability to trust? So He asks us to cultivate our own integrity. My study bible says, "Jesus teaches us to live in the simplicity of the present moment."

That's quite a marvelous thought, don't you think? To live in the simplicity of the present moment is a remarkable thing. It implies integrity and strength -- minus all the rest of the things that we don't need: covetousness, the nurturing of desires that aren't good for us and destroy relationships, the overbearing drama of swearing by one thing or another that is unnecessary and troublesome, the destruction of relationships only to enter into others just as shallow and with the same lack of understanding of real relatedness. Let us think, then, about what it is to waste our time with diversions from this simplicity, from the straightforward and pure heart He seeks for us. Rather, Jesus asks us to cut out the unnecessary, the things we don't need -- and to construct and build on the positive. "To speak the truth and keep our promises," my study bible says. When Jesus preached that we are to be the "salt of the earth," a great deal of that meaning is about covenant -- our ability to seal relationships, to keep promises. It is all about an inner integrity, beginning with our commitment to God who is love, and the promise of how that means we relate to neighbor. Can we start first today by thinking about the meanings of truth, and how an inner truth reflects our integrity? We recall that Jesus' greatest condemnation comes for hypocrites - in the original Greek, meaning "actor." Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and 'no' be 'no' teaches us about our honest truth. We can "cast away" whatever stands in the way. What is your truth today, right in the simplicity of this moment? All the extraneous things we wish to add we'd best stay away from - and stick to the things we truly love.