Meditation XXXVI--Through the lens of metaphor

"For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind."

In this chapter from John's Gospel we find the incredible story of Christ healing a man born blind. The chapter opens with the disciples asking what may seem to the modern reader to be a very strange question: "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was was born blind?" The question is steeped in the prevailing error of the time, one based on an assumption that such maladies are the direct result of doing wrong. It defies reason that an innocent child could have done something before birth that he would be so cursed. Likewise, if the parents had done something worthy of punishment, why inflict that punishment on the unborn child?

Of course, the disciples, to carry the metaphor further, are blinded by the cultural and "spiritual" norms they have been born into. They can only see the either/or. And the answer, whether they realize it or not, says something about the nature of the God they are at Jesus' feet to learn about. With either expected answer, that God must seem a capricious overlord where rules are concerned.

But Jesus, ever the contrarian who adamantly pushes away from the trap of either/or thinking, says that neither option is correct. Then he adds, somewhat cryptically, that the man's blindness was there "that the works of God might be displayed in him." So while He could have said that this has nothing to do with God, He is clear that God is in the center of it, just not in the way everyone thought. I'll argue that the miracle of the man's healing, however, was only one part of Jesus demonstrating the "works of God."

See, the rule-makers/enforcers of Christ's time (and ours) were more interested in using the event as a way to trap their political enemy. After questioning the event, the man, his parents, and then the man again, they find themselves questioned. The healed man says, "We know that God does not listen to sinners." The statement is telling because they had adjured him to tell the truth (because they did not wish to believe the man's account), saying, "We know that this man is a sinner." Leaving aside for now what "sin" may or may not actually mean, we see these men expected a specific answer. Because Jesus was already their enemy, they could see nothing good coming from Him. This is further shown by them throwing the healed man out of the synagogue, for what can only be seen as having the audacity to stand up to them, with the classic circular argument: "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?"

It is easy for us to condemn the words and actions of the Pharisees here, and even to see the same mindset among certain people and groups we are familiar (or think we are familiar) with. I could not help but see corollaries in political groups on the right and left and in between, who see those who think differently from them as not only wrong, but grotesquely evil. What is harder, and more necessary, is that we look within ourselves for the germ that not only makes, but builds up enemies by ignoring the good right in front of us. That is the germ that, left unchecked, becomes terminal disease of the mind. As Jesus would tell the Pharisees, "now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains."

Stories like this show why an understanding of and openness to metaphors are so important. It was not love of the law that made the Pharisees unable to see the Jesus' truth, but their love of self made them turn the focus knobs of their microscope on the law until they could find their hatred, and this disguised as concern for the people. Our lens should not be scripture, but God Himself, whom we must continually seek. Otherwise, we cannot find joy, even in miracles.

Heavenly Father, we grope alone until you take us by the hand. And we do not always know it is You leading us. So quiet our minds that we can adjust to the light you give, and grant us vision of heart to trust You in what seems like darkness and even against the narrow vision of our times. Amen in Christ.

Repent! Or Perish?

"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Reading this is troublesome for me because on the surface it seems that Jesus is contradicting himself, or at least the picture of a nice, forgiving man who wants us all to know that God love us. But taken in context, we find that the contradiction lies in us, not Him.

The same Jesus who said this also told people he had healed their sins were forgiven. Once his disciples, assuming that there was a direct correlation between sin and suffering, asked if a man born blind or his parents had sinned. The Lord's answer was neither, but "that the works of God might be displayed in him." We find that Jesus does not adhere to formulas and calculations, but always to glorify His Father.

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery "go and sin no more." It is clear He does not condone wrong action. However it is also clear that Jesus was more concerned with the sinful nature in humans that in the specific acts that resulted in that nature.

The people speaking to Jesus when He pronounced this warning were asking him for a response to a rumor about a heinous act, one they surely believed showed how horrible the authorities were. Supposedly Pilate had mixed the blood of people he'd killed with sacrifices. Remember that those who watched Jesus were looking for a Messiah who would be an military leader against the Romans and who would restore Israel as the world power.

The people questioning Jesus did not get what they hoped for. They might have wanted

The Lord to focus on the injustice; however, He countered that the sins of others (Pilate or those who were murdered) did not negate the truth of their own sinfulness.

A minister may tell you that the word repent means to turn around. But the way most people react to the word, one would think its meaning is, "Stop doing whatever it is you are doing that I don't like that I'm sure displeases God, and then you will be okay."

Injustice happens, and along the way we may well suffer unfairly at the hands of another. But pointing our finger at the sins of others seems a good way to block the finger of God from touching and healing us.

Work and Healing: Dispelling a Myth

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

I could not help but wonder, as I read this passage, "If people are working, how can they come to be healed?" The woman in this story, ignored by the leader, had been locked in her pain for eighteen years. She "could not fully straighten herself." How was she going to work? How much longer should she wait for healing, especially from someone who has no interest in the women and men in his charge, much less the Spirit of God?

The story tells us something of our present times. Too often people in power, in an effort to protect what they think belongs to them, make mistakes about the nature of work and the reality of suffering. How often have we heard a politician or minister or some other talking head say, "If you are sick, get a job (or a better job) so you can go to the doctor to get better"? These may not be the exact words, but it is the intent of their logic.

People are inherently selfish, and will fight to protect what they believe belongs to them, instead of understanding that all we have comes from God, and that God's purpose for us is to love Him. And to love him, we must love others. John wrote, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." 

That "brother" includes the woman who has suffered for eighteen years coming to you on the day you have set aside for yourself.

Not Holding Fast

Paul warns the Colossians against people who are “puffed up without reason by his mind, not holding fast to the Head.” I see this in those who have stolen the language of religion to create a formula, an equation for hate in no way in line with the Gospel of Christ or the Scripture they claim to live by. These would create burdens for others they would not lift themselves.

But before I judge them, let me check myself that I do not allow the devil to create in me merely a member of an opposite faction, weaponizing the Holy Word for my own gain.

The reference to Jesus as our “Head” ends this way: “from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.” May we all find our nourishment in Him. May we allow Him to put us together before we stumble out to do battle against our own bodies.

Parents and Breaking the Bonds of the Law

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” Perhaps a good living metaphor for this is the relationship we have with right and wrong (not thinking of sin--that's another matter) when we live at home and when we move away from our parents. Mothers and fathers teach us what they believe is right and wrong behavior (and sometimes right and wrong thinking, attitudes, beliefs), and when we are very young we obey them not because we have recognized that their guidance is true, but because they are stronger than we are and also because we know nothing else. We also may love them and wish to please them.

As we get older, we see in the world around other ways of acting, and we may want to do that instead. Sometimes we succeed, but most often we are still bound in different ways to our parents’ way of living. We usually rebel, but only when we are completely free of our parents can we completely “try out” what is different. By then, our parents hope we are rational and mature enough to choose what is truly right, even if that choice means some actions they would not have sanctioned or approved of.

Most often, the rules our parents raise us with are not bad, but it does not take us living long for us to realize that life by rules is not freedom. Freedom is choosing the right rules. Freedom is faithful living in parameters, parameters which may change as we grow.

But Jesus had to make a sacrifice for this difference to come about. Just as we cannot keep all the rules our parents make for us – any child, even a good one, can tell us this – we cannot keep the whole of the law, and so we fall short. Just as good parents love their children when they fall short, so God still loves us. Jesus, our brother, had to sacrifice himself in order for the bonds to be broken. Our parents, if they were good, made sacrifices when we broke the rules, but we could not understand them until we became mature.

When we love Him, the law of God is kept. When we do not love Him, we have only the laws of man, bondage to which makes for failure.

After reading

The cat spread on the book in front of me. That book was my Bible, but I suppose I was done reading for the day. I cannot say I was still contemplating the words, but I was not ignoring them either, but perhaps I was expecting them to bounce inside me until something happened. What happened was the cat, who lay across the open words and rolled onto his back and looked up at me expectant.
    I obliged. I stroked his fur and bent my head to listen to him purr. I made a humming sound as I breathed in.
    Then I coughed, and suddenly felt the rawness in my throat I realized had been there some time. The cough, slight though it was, shook the cat, and he looked at me a moment, I was sure with the pinched look of the irritated. But cats can't make that face, can they? Or do they was look so when they stop purring?
    I bent my head against his.face, feeling the loose fur mingling with my beard. The purr returned. I lifted the cat up to my chest and listened.
    There were no other sounds but the fan and the scrape of my feet against the floor. My coffee sat cooling in its cup, and the cat and I waited for God to speak.   

What if we prayed?

When there is a calamity on the news, we are almost never there, but so often the horror of it strikes so deep in us, that we feel that we are. When talking heads are arguing over hot button issues, we inwardly argue with or right along with them, even though if we were honest, much of our lives would not be different no matter what the outcome is.

It strikes me that most Christians are more interested in issues than Jesus. They seem more in a hurry to prove a point than to allow Christ to reign. Too many Christians have become issues evangelists and have forgotten the very basics of Christian life, the most significant of which is prayer.
 
I wasn't ten minutes into watching news coverage of the horrible mass shooting in Aurora, when I knew what I would see as I logged into Facebook. People on all sides of gun issues were posting their thoughts about how things would play out if there were more guns or less guns or if laws allowed this or that. Most of the posts, on both sides, were downright illogical and silly. Then of course came the mocked up pictures and "ecards" with supposedly pithy witticisms that were really the same tired bumper sticker cliches that are really, to use another cliche, preaching to the choir.
 
And that cliche is apt, at least from what I could see, because most of these posts, vitriolic and vicious, came from Christians.
 
The urge was strong that day to respond in kind, as so many others did, with my own "reasoning" and explanations of facts. And had I done so, I would likely have spent the day engaged in a number of conversations that would have gone ultimately nowhere and done no more than alientate me from those I care about, make it hard for me to sleep and distract me from the work I had to do.

I chose, instead, to call on my Christian brothers and sisters to pray instead of posting their opinions. I tried to spend time in prayer specifically about this situation and everyone (yes, everyone) involved and affected. I do not write this to say I am an exemplary Christian. I am well aware of Our Lord's mandate to avoid praying in public or publicizing my spiritual life.And I certainly don't want to offer up some sort of formula or panacea for world peace. But I offer the question that perhaps most of us should ask about the controversies and chaos in the world: What if, instead, we prayed?

 
What if, instead of knee jerk reactions to the terrible things that happen and the horrendous people who have perpetrated and/or allowed them to happen, we took a few minutes to pray for the victims and their families. What if, instead of crying "Monster" toward person who had done something evil, we prayed for those who have become our enemies (don't pretend Jesus didn't tell us to do this), and for the families and friends who must live with the tragedy in a way we could never understand. What if, instead of placing and proclaiming blame to a politician or group or idea, for the hurt and pain that has come into our lives, we prayed for healing and wisdom and strength. What if we prayed for our leaders (another command of Christ) instead of emptying our brains with rhetoric? What if we asked for God's will to be done and for us to be at peace with it, no matter what it is?
 
What if, instead of reacting to the posts and proclamations on Facebook, we turned the computer off and prayed, for those we want to "correct," and for those whose opinions we agree with and feel compelled to add our own take to?
 
What if we looked to and relied on the Holy Spirit we say we believe in instead of (or at least before) we went searching the internet or our Bibles for something that backs up our position? Perhaps we need not only to get the mote out of our eyes, but the cross in our hearts before we let loose words we know in our hearts come from anger and fear as much as conviction.

 
I am not saying these opinions are not deeply felt or even wrong. I do not, in any way, want to minimize the importance of the issues we hold dear. But the truth is, if we are really honest with ourselves, most Christians do not put prayer first and foremost in their lives and when they do it is the perfunctory morning/bedtime prayers that are essentially the same unless we feel a personal attack or something is going wrong in our personal lives. And that is a good reason to take these matters to God in conversation. If they are personal enough to spread our opinions, they should be personal enough to talk to God about. And to shut up long enough to listen. If Christianity is to have the impact in the world we think it should, then shouldn't we want God's perspective and not our own?

Once, when I was trying to teach a class about research, I had a student who proclaimed, "I don't need to do research. I already know what I think." Sadly, more and more Christians take that approach to life. They already think they are right (and well may be), but forget that "being right" isn't enough. All the rhetoric in the world is useless if we are not centered on Jesus and willing to be silent sometimes and let God do the talking.



What did praying do for me? One of the first things it did was put me in a place of calm, where my emotions were not ruling me. One effect was that I did not attack the people who were posting things I not only disagreed with, but felt were harmful and sometimes hateful. I realized after a while that they didn't need correction as much as they needed Christ at the center. I found it easier, a couple of days later, to find more rational conversations and took part in those. 

And guess what, the fact that I did not participate in those conversations right away did not change anything. The dead still were dead. The criminal was still a criminal. The issue of gun control was not, as if it could be, resolved. But I was in a better place to listen to those I disagreed with and to express my thoughts. Or to just let things go.

Parables, Good Soil, and Vision

Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

As a teacher, I cannot help but find this verse telling. Jesus asks this of his disciples after quoting from Isaiah and sort of explaining why he uses parables to teach. The others are to "see but not perceive...hear but not understand." But those following Christ are "given the secret of the kingdom of God." Some secret, the disciples, seem to say, if we don't know what the heck you are talking about.

I teach literature every year to students who mostly do not want to read stories and poetry and have so long been conditioned to hate literature that they are actively resistant to it. And thus the joy and wonder and thrill I have in reading is lost on most of them. I try to help them along, and a few do manage, I believe, to get something out of the course. Lots of them say, "Why can't these writers just say what they mean?" I want to answer, "They do." and "Why don't any of us say what we mean?" The problem isn't really with poetry, but with communication. We can do our best to communicate what we think is important, and still not get our message across.

My students often blame the poets. But at what point should we blame the reader? At what point can we admit that we didn't listen well, or at least didn't put ourselves in a position to listen well. Jesus said, "those that were sown on good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit." How do we make ourselves "good soil," so we can hear and read well?

One of my goals as a teacher is to help my students to read well, not only the literal words in front of them, but the world around them. Because poetry is everywhere, not only in words and verses, but in our cars, our math, and in our computers and the rain and sun and the animals we love. We must take in this poetry and learn to interpret our world before reacting to it. We have to hear the parables and cultivate good soil if we ever want abundant life within.