2018-5-1

朋友们，今天的福音中，耶稣为我们的恐惧提供解药。你害怕谁，或害怕什么？这是个很重要的灵修问题。理解生活的一种方式是看看我们追求的东西：财富、权力、特权、名誉、享乐、友谊。但另一种方式是反转来问我们害怕什么，或者害怕谁。

 

我们也许害怕失去物品、失业、失去健康、失去别人对我们的尊重、失去亲密关系、或者最重要的是失去生命。我们有很多恐惧，但我肯定我们都有最主要的恐惧，你最恐惧的是什么？

 

在找出自己最大的恐惧后，听听耶稣的说话：“我把平安留给你们，我将我的平安赐给你们；我所赐给你们的，不像世界上所赐的一样。你们心里不要烦乱，也不要胆怯。”我们通常恐惧的一切——失去钱财、名声、享乐和权力——都与这个世界有关。耶稣是说我们不应让这些恐惧主宰或限定我们的生活，因为祂与我们同在——有祂在就有平安。

 

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us an antidote for fear. Whom or what are you afraid of? That is a very important spiritual question. One way to understand our lives is to look at those things that we seek: wealth, power, privilege, honor, pleasure, friendship. But another way is to turn that question around and determine what or who it is that we fear.

 

We might fear the loss of material things, the loss of a job, the loss of physical health, the loss of the esteem of others, the loss of personal intimacy, or ultimately, the loss of life itself. We are afraid of many things, but I’d be willing to bet that there is a primary or principal fear. What is it for you?

 

Now, after identifying that, listen to Jesus: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." Any and all of the things that we customarily fear—loss of money, fame, pleasure, and power—have to do with this world. What Jesus is saying is that we should not let those fears come to dominate or define our lives, for he is with us—and with him is his peace.

 

2018-5-2

朋友们，在今天的福音中，耶稣宣布祂是葡萄树，我们是枝条，又说：“谁若不住在我内，便仿佛枝条，丢在外面而干枯了。”

 

奇怪的是我们在身体健康方面很容易接受这种警告，但在精神或超自然的健康上却拒绝接受。医生或健康专家清晰实在地表示要保持健康就必须采取行动。你若不选择营养均衡、低脂的饮食习惯，就会生病、变胖、不强健。你若抽烟酗酒、从不锻炼，身体就不会健康。长期这样糟蹋（或疏忽）身体，你就会死亡。这个事实一点也不复杂。

 

耶稣不是在传达诗意的意象，而是陈述精神上的事实。精神是活生生的，其生命来源于葡萄树。如果你离开了葡萄树，你在精神上就会死亡，不再有超自然的生活。这个事实一点也不复杂。

 

Friends, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus declares that he is the vine and we are the branches, adding that “anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.”

 

It’s odd that we accept this sort of language very easily when it comes to our bodily health, while we balk at it when it comes to spiritual or supernatural health. Doctors and health specialists can say with a clarity and matter-of-factness that certain practices and behaviors are absolutely essential if one wants to maintain physical well-being. Unless you eat a balanced, nutritious, low-fat diet, you will get sick, fat, and unfit. If you smoke, drink to excess, and never exercise, your body will become unhealthy, and if these practices (or negligences) become exaggerated, you will die. It just isn’t that complicated.

 

Jesus is not engaging in charming poetic imagery. He is laying out the spiritual facts. The spirit is a living thing, and it derives its life from the vine. If therefore you are separated from the vine, you will die spiritually; you will stop living a supernatural life. And it’s just not that complicated.