I'm thinking right now of the two conflicting faces of love: the gentle and the severe. They are both love, both proceed from the same source of love eternal and immortal. Here is an illustration. Wen I lived in Christian community some thirty years ago, I was involved in a conversation about angels with two of our members. One, a woman, very feminine and very maternal, said that for her angels were gentle and nurturing and always had their arms around us. The other, a man (those two were both classic exhibits from the museum of gender stereotypes), super and toxically masculine, insisted that angels were like big body building armed guards on steroids standing around us with their big clubs and ready to protect us from those snivelling weak little devils. Well, that isn't exactly what he said, but might as well be. Neither appeared interested in listening to each other, neither did they warm much to my idea that perhaps the angels could . incarnate the characteristics of both. They each seemed to find ridiculous my suggestion.
But they are, still, two very distinct and very real and valid faces of love. We think of Jesus with the little children, very tender and welcoming. then, with the weak, the wounded, the sick and the frightened, so nurturing, so kind and so present to help and heal and encourage and inspire. his tone is somewhat different when his disciples are being particularly thick, stubborn or slow. To Peter when he tries to reprimand our Lord for sayi8ng that he will be going to his death, he says, "Get away from me, Satan". even to the Syrophoenician woman begging him to free her daughter from a tormenting demon, he at first tells her to get lost, and that he is not going to give what is sacred to the dogs. evidently, Jesus was not particularly barmy about dogs. Only when he starts to clue in that he is called to serve all, and not only the lost sheep of the house of Israel, does he clue in, and grant her her request. Then come the Pharisees and, hoo boy! No wonder they didn't like him. But I will let the text here speak for itself:
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14] [b]
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[c]”
No comments:
Post a Comment