Lichtstrahl 205 - Then come and follow me

​LICHTSTRAHL 205       GOSPEL:  Luke 18, 18-34             TRINITY                    3. March 2025
THEN COME AND FOLLOW ME
 
Dear friends!
 
We have been very gifted in many places in our country this year with rainwater from above, dressing our dry and dusty land in a very lush, green and seed producing garment of plant-growth.  All their seeds will soon have come to a point, when the plant will let go of these seeds.  All their plant-life they have been living up to this aim and richness in producing millions of seeds.  But they do not only make the plant as such very rich, they also secure and bear future growth. 
 
When autumn comes, in five weeks’ time, in the second week of April, all the plants will let go of their seeds, and then the seeds will fall onto the soil or travel with the wind through the air to sometimes far places. The mother-plant will soon afterwards dry up to the roots, or will be eaten by animals or will even disappear into nothingness through the working of frost and wind in winter. The seeds however will survive for a long time, wherever they are and when they receive rain again in another season of the year, they will germinate and enter into new life und purpose.  Plants will however always produce the same plants.  And plants are not free to decide to let go of their seeds or not once autumn comes, nor are they free to decide to grow again or not in springtime.  They are bound into and have to follow the laws of nature.
 
This is a very valuable image for the laws of death and new life I nature, but today’s gospel reveals a completely different image about what happens to the richness and the seeds of the life of a human being:
 
Firstly the young rich man seems to be free to let go of his richness or keep it for himself. 
Secondly it is not that obvious, that the seeds, that are lying within his richness will enable future growth.  They might even become very destructive, if not passed on in the right way.  They should be distributed to the poor and needy.
Thirdly there is the question for the young man, what to do after having let go of all his belongings.  He is not supposed to just disappear.
The answer to that is clearly given:  “Once you have done all that, THEN COME AND FOLLOW ME!”  Do not just wait for things to happen and sort your further existence! Take the free decision to follow me. 
 
The Christ surely is the conqueror of the death forces in the world and has led life onto the path of resurrection through overcoming death. That we can observe in the world of plants. But a sunflower will always stay a sunflower The substance of the plant stays the same and the destiny as well.  There is no change, no transforming of substance.  
 
The Christ however also is the master of transubstantiating earthly substance into a completely new substance.  A substance that carries a completely new future.  We witness that reality every time bread and wine are changed into body and blood of the Christ.  But he is not only transforming substance. He also is the transformer of the Karma and fate of every human being and of humanity as such.   
 
If we are prepared - out of our free decision - to give away our richness, 
if we want our seeds to become meaningful for the future,
if we want to change Karma,
we need to follow him and not remain where we are. 
 
For that there is a different image.  Not the image of a plant but.  that of the golden chalice on the altar, standing solidly and opening up wide to the world above.  This image is only unveiled before we enter into the process of offering.   Then only can transubstantiation of substance or transformation of Karma is possible.
 
Christine Voigts.