TWO CRUCIAL POEMS THAT ARE REFERRED TO IN TODAY’S SERMON
(St. Cathgerine of Siena, 1347-1380,
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky)
Truth never frightens.
I remember once walking out in the winter
to greet my father as he returned from work.
He was a little late that night
and I waited by a street corner near our house.
The cold can enliven thanks, my wool coat
became a sacred robe, how happy I felt to be alive.
I waited in a world of magic,
smells of good food,
the street lamps, the smoke coming from chimneys,
the candles burning in windows,
the snow.
Angels feasted, as I did, on existence,
And God kept saying,
“Have more of what I made.”
I saw him coming. We ran into each other’s arms
and he lifted me as he so often had –
twirled me through the air,
his hands beneath
my arms.
That is what the Truth does:
lifts and lets us
fly.
(Meister Eckhart, 1260-1328,
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky)
All day long a little burro labors,
sometimes with heavy loads on her back
and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only
burros.
And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.
Once in a while a kind monk
comes to her stable
and brings a pear,
but more than that,
he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her ears
and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,
because love does
that.
Love frees.
DOES YOUR IMAGE OF GOD NEED TO BE HEALED?
Matthew 25:31-46
Rev. Paul Wrightman 3/27/22
THIS MORNING I WOULD LIKE TO CONSIDER
ONE OF THE FEW VIOLENT TEXTS ATTRIBUTED TO JESUS –
THE JUDGMENT SCENE IN MATTHEW 25 –
AND DEMONSTRATE HOW GOOD SCHOLARSHIP
ENABLES US TO ELIMINATE ITS VIOLENCE.
LET’S BEGIN BY TAKING OUR TEXT AT FACE VALUE.
EVEN AT THIS RELATIVELY SUPERFICIAL LEVEL,
THE TEXT AS IT STANDS CLEARS UP TWO HIGHLY CONTESTED ISSUES
IN CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY.
FIRST, ACCORDING TO JESUS HIMSELF, PEOPLE WILL NOT BE JUDGED
ON WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE DONE
THE FUNDAMENTALIST THING AND ACCEPTED HIM
AS THEIR PERSONAL SAVIOR –
NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH KNOWING JESUS
AS SAVIOR AND FRIEND – IT’S JUST THAT JESUS HIMSELF
DOES NOT MAKE THIS THE BASIS OF SALVATION.
NO, ACCORDING TO JESUS HIMSELF,
PEOPLE WILL BE JUDGED ON HOW WELL THEY HAVE RESPONDED
TO THEIR NEIGHBORS IN NEED.
AMONG OTHER THINGS, THIS MAKES THE PLAYING FIELD EQUAL –
WITH ALL PEOPLE ON THE PLANET, WHETHER THEY BE FOLLOWERS
OF THE BUDDHA, MOHAMMED, ONE OF THE MANY HINDU GODS,
MOSES, OR JESUS – OR FOLLOWERS OF NO GOD AT ALL –
BEING JUDGED ACCORDING TO THE SAME STANDARD,
LOVE OF NEIGHBOR.
SECOND, TAKING OUR TEXT AT FACE VALUE
ELIMINATES ANY NOTION OF GOD’S JUDGMENT
BEING ARBITRARY OR CAPRICIOUS.
IN FACT, ONE COULD SAY THAT IT ISN’T SO MUCH GOD WHO JUDGES,
BUT THAT WE JUDGE OURSELVES ACCORDING TO HOW WELL OR ILL
WE HAVE LOVED OUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED.
BUT IN SPITE OF THE FACTS THAT THIS SCENE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT
AS FOUND IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
MAKES THE CRITERIA FOR JUDGMENT EQUAL FOR ALL PEOPLE,
AND TAKES THE CRUCIAL ACT OF JUDGMENT AWAY FROM GOD,
AND PLACES IT SQUARELY ON OUR SHOULDERS,
MANY OF US STILL HAVE PROBLEMS WITH JESUS
SAYING TO THE GOATS: “YOU THAT ARE ACCURSED,
DEPART FROM ME UINTO THE ETERNAL FIRE
PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS,” (Matthew 25:41)
AND WITH THE WAY THIS WHOLE PASSAGE
COMES TO ITS HORROR-MOVIE ENDING:
“AND THESE WILL GO AWAY INTO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. . .”
(Matthew 25:46)
THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE IN ALL FOUR GOSPELS WHERE THE WORDS
“ETERNAL” AND “PUNISHMENT” ARE PLACED SIDE BY SIDE.
WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?
I THINK THAT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT’S GOING ON HERE
IS THAT MATTHEW, OR ONE OF THE SOURCES THAT MATTHEW USED,
HAS A PARTICULAR PENCHANT FOR WHAT
IN THE HEVREW SCRIPTURES IS CALLED “PROPHETIC WARNING.”
IN OTHER WORDS, A PROPHET THREATENS PEOPLE
THAT GOD WILL DO SUCH AND SUCH A HORRIBLE THING TO THEM
IF THEY DON’T SHAPE UP;
BUT IN REALITY, GOD HAS NO INTENTION OF CARRYING OUT
THIS TERRIBLE COURSE OF ACTION, EVEN IF THE PEOPLE
DON’T SHAPE UP.
I THINK MOST OF US CAN REMEMBER TIMES AS PARENTS
WHEN WE MADE SOME RATHER DRASTIC THREATS
AGAINST A CHILD TO TRY TO SCARE THEM INTO GOOD BEHAVIOR.
THE OPERATIVE WORD HERE IS “THREAT,”
WHICH IS A LONG, LONG WAY FROM ACTION,
ESPECIALLY AN ACTION WHICH WE NEVER HAD
EVEN THE SLIGHTEST INTENTION OF CARRYING OUT.
THERE IS A GOOD DEAL OF OVERLAP BETWEEN THE CATEGORIES
OF “PROPHETIC THREAT” AND “PROPHETIC EXAGGERATION,”
BOTH OF WHICH MATTHEW INDULGES IN
WAY MORE THAN ANY OF THE OTHER GOSPELS.
FOR EXAMPLE, MATTHEW, AND ONLY MATTHEW,
HAS JESUS SAY SIX TIMES IN SIX DIFFERENT THREATENING CONTEXTS
THAT SOMEONE WILL BE “THROWN OUT INTO OUTER DARKNESS,
WHERE THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.”
UNFORTUNATELY THESE HORRIBLE WORDS ARE ALL PRINTED IN RED
IN RED LETTER EDITIONS OF THE BIBLE, WHERE ALL THE WORDS
ATTRIBUTED TO JESUS ARE PRINTED IN THAT COLOR FOR EMPHASIS.
I REMEMBER AS A CHILD BOTH LOVING JESUS
BECAUSE OF ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS THAT HE SAID AND DID,
BUT ALSO BEING TERRIBLY AFRAID OF HIM
BECAUSE OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES LIKE THE ONE
WE’RE LOOKING AT TODAY.
THE BEST CONTEMPORARY BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP
MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO SAY WITH A GREAT DEAL OF SURETY
THAT THERE WERE INDEED, MANY WONDERFUL THINGS
WHICH JESUS REALLY SAID AND REALLY DID.
THE BEST CONTEMPORARYT BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP
ALSO MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO SAY
THAT WHEN ONLY ONE GOSPEL COMBINES THE WORDS
“ETERNAL” AND “PUNISHMENT,”
AND MAKES A LITANY OUT OF THE DANGER OF BEING THROWN
INTO OUTER DARKNESS WHERE THERE WILL BE
WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH,
THE ORIGIN OF THOSE WORDS IS NOT WITH JESUS,
BUT WITH MATTHEW OR ONE OF HIS SOURCES.
I HAVE RUN INTO MANY PEOPLE
WHO HAVE BEEN DEEPLY INJURED BY TEACHING ABOUT GOD
WHICH IS NOT TRUE TO THE HIGHEST AND DEEPEST
INSIGHTS ABOUT GOD WHICH WE FIND IN SCRIPTURE.
WHEN SCRIPTURE IS NOT TRUE TO ITS OWN
HIGHEST AND DEEPEST INSIGHTS ABOUT GOD,
THEN WE RUN INTO THE TEMPTATION
TO PUT SCRIPTURE BEFORE GOD.
A THIRD APPROACH TO DIFFICULT PHRASES IN SCRIPTURE
LIKE “ETERNAL PUNISHMENT” IS TO TAKE A CLOSE, A VERY CLOSE,
LOOK AT THE MEANING OF THE INDIVIDUAL WORDS.
AGAIN, SCRIPTURE SCHOLARSHIP ENABLES US
TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF THE HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC VERSE 46:
“AND THESE WILL GO AWAY INTO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT,
BUT THE RIGHTEOUS INTO ETERNAL LIFE.”
AS HAPPENS TO BE SO OFTEN THE CASE,
THE PROBLEM TURNS OUT TO BE ANOTHER
MISTRANSLATION OF SCRIPTURE.
SADLY, ALMOST ALL ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE
USE THE PHRASE “ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.”
BIBLICAL SCHOLAR WILLIAM BARCLAY POINTS OUT
THAT THE GREEK WORD AIONIOS,
ACTUALLY REFERS TO GOD’S TIME,
WHICH IS QUALITATIVE RATHER THAN QUANTITATIVE.
TO TRANSLATE AIONIOS AS “ETERNAL”
IS TO MISS THE MARK BY MAKING IT REFER
TO HUMAN QUANTITATIVE TIME.
THUS, “ETERNAL PUNISHMENT” MAKES IT SOUND LIKE
ONE WILL BE PUNISHED FOREVER,
WITH NO HOPE OF THE PUNISHMENT EVER ENDING.
SIMILARLY, BARCLAY POINTS OUT THAT KOLASIS,
THE GREEK WORD USUALLY TRANSLATED AS “PUNISHMENT,”
WAS ACTUALLY A WORD TAKEN FROM THE REALM OF GARDENING,
AND REFERRED TO THE PROCESS OF PRUNING A PLANT
SO THAT IT WOULD GROW BETTER IN THE FUTURE.
PRUNING IS ACTUALLY A PROCESS OF HEALING.
PUTTING BARCLAY’S INSIGHTS TOGETHER,
“ETERNAL PUNISHMENT” IS ACTUALLY
A DEVASTATING MISTRANSLATION OF A PHRASE
MUCH MORE ACCURATELY TRANSLATED AS
“HEALING IN GOD’S GOOD TIME.”
THUS THE SENSE OF VERSE FORTY-SIX IS ACTUALLY
SOMETHING LIKE:
“AND THESE [THE GOATS] WILL GO TO AN
EXPERIENCE OF HEALING IN GOD’S GOOD TIME,
BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [THE SHEEP] ARE ALREADY HEALED.”
I’M BEGINNING TO THINK THAT THE USUAL TRANSLATION
COMMITTEES OF WHITE MALES EDUCATED
IN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
BRING TO THEIR PROCESS
AN IMAGE OF GOD AS ANGRY AND PUNISHING
WHICH CLOUDS THEIR GOOD JUDGMENT IN TRANSLATION.
IN LOOKING AT GOD THROUGH THE SPECTACLES
OF ANGER AND PUNISHMENT,
THIS IS THE GOD THEY SEE REFLECTED BACK AT THEM IN SCRIPTURE.
ROB BELL, ANOTHER MAJOR EMERGENT CHURCH THINKER,
HAS DEVOTED MOST OF HIS MINISTRY
TO TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE TAKE OFF THEIR SPECTACLES
OF GOD AS ANGRY AND PUNISHING.
IN HIS DECISIVE BOOK LOVE WINS,
BELL INCLUDES A CHAPTER ON “HELL”
IN WHICH HE GIVES A LONG LITANY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES
THAT GOD PROMISES TO RESTORE.
PERHAPS THE MOST SURPRISING PLACES THAT GOD
PROMISES TO RESTORE ARE SODOM AND GEMORRAH,
(Ezekiel, chapter 16)
PLACES TRADITIONALLY CONSIDERED BY SCRIPTURE SCHOLARS
AND THEOLOGIANS TO BE HOPELESS!
AT THIS POINT I CAN ONLY PRESENT THIS
AS A HUNCH, OR HYPOTHEIS,
BUT I STRONGLY SUSPECT THAT ALL THE PLACES IN THE GOSPELS
WHERE JESUS COMES ACROSS AS THREATENING GOD’S PUNISHMENT
ARE EITHER MISTRANSLATIONS OR MISUNDERSTANDINGS.
NOW I WOULD LIKE TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION
TO A POWERFUL EXAMPLE OF HOW ONE PERSON’S
IMAGE OF GOD CHANGED FOR THE BETTER.
THE PERSON IS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AUTHOR DENNIS LINN,
AND HE WRITES:
“ONE DAY HILDA CAME TO ME CRYING BECAUSE HER SON
HAD TRIED TO COMMIT SUICIDE FOR THE FOURTH TIME.
SHE TOLD ME THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN PROSTITUTION,
DRUG DEALING, AND MURDER.
SHE ENDED HER LIST OF HER SON’S ‘BIG SINS’ WITH,
‘WHAT BOTHERS ME MOST IS THAT MY SON SAYS
HE WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY SON IF HE COMMITS SUICIDE
WITHOUT REPENTING AND WANTING NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD?’’
LINN THEN TALKS ABOUT THE PUNITIVE AND VENGEFUL
UNDERSTANDING OF GOD HE HIMSELF HAD AT THE TIME.
HE ADMITS THAT IN RESPONSE TO HILDA’S QUESTION
ABOUT HER SON’S FUTURE, HE THOUGHT
‘GOD WILL PROBABLY SEND YOUR SON TO HELL.’
BUT, CONTINUES LINN, ‘I DIDN’T WANT TO TELL HILDA THAT.
I WAS GLAD THAT MY MANY YEARS OF THEOLOGICAL TRAINING
HAD TAUGHT ME WHAT TO DO WHEN I DON’T KNOW HOW
TO ANSWER A DIFFICULT THEOLOGICAL QUESTION:
ASK THE OTHER PERSON, ‘WHAT DO YOU THINK?’
‘WELL,’ HILDA RESPONDED, ‘I THINK THAT WHEN YOU DIE
YOU APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD.
IF YOU HAVE LIVED A GOOD LIFE,
GOD WILL SEND YOU TO HEAVEN.
IF YOU HAVE LIVED A BAD LIFE,
GOD WILL SEND YOU TO HELL.’
SADLY, SHE CONCLUDED,
‘SINCE MY SON HAS LIVED SUCH A BAD LIFE,
IF HE WERE TO DIE WITHOUT REPENTING,
GOD WOULD CERTAINLY SEND HIM TO HELL.’
LINN CONTINUES,
‘ALTHOUGH I TENDED TO AGREE WITH HER, I DIDN’T WANT TO SAY,
‘RIGHT ON, HILDA! YOUR SON WOULD PROBABLY BE SENT TO HELL.’
I WAS AGAIN GRATEFUL FOR MY THEOLOGICAL TRAINING
WHICH TAUGHT ME A SECOND STRATEGY:
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO SOLVE A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM,
THEN LET GOD SOLVE IT.
SO I SAID TO HILDA, ‘CLOSE YOUR EYES.
IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE SITTING
NEXT TO THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD.
IMAGINE ALSO THAT YOUR SON HAS DIED
WITH ALL THESE SERIOUS SINS AND WITHOUT REPENTING.
HE HAS JUST ARRIVED AT THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD.
SQUEEZE MY HAND WHEN YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT.’
A SHORT TIME LATER HILDA SQUEEZED MY HAND.
SHE DESCRIBED TO ME THE ENTIRE JUDGMENT SCENE.
THEN I ASKED HER, ‘HILDA, HOW DOES YOUR SON FEEL?’
HILDA ANSWERED, ‘MY SON FEELS SO LONELY AND EMPTY.’
I ASKED HILDA WHAT SHE WOULD LIKE TO DO.
‘I WANT TO THROW MY ARMS AROUND MY SON.’
SHE LIFTED HER ARMS AND BEGAN TO CRY
AS SHE IMAGINED HERSELF HOLDING HER SON TIGHTLY.
FINALLY, WHEN SHE HAD STOPPED CRYING,
I ASKED HER TO LOOK INTO GOD’S EYES
AND WATCH WHAT GOD WANTED TO DO.
GOD STEPPED DOWN FROM THE THRONE, AND JUST AS HILDA DID,
EMBRACED HILDA’S SON.
AND THE THREE OF THEM, HILDA, HER SON AND GOD,
CRIED TOGETHER AND HELD ONE ANOTHER.”
FROM THIS EXPERIENCE WITH HILDA, DENNIS LINN
CAME UP WITH WHAT HE CALLS
“THE BOTTOM LINE OF HEALTHY CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY.”
AND THAT BOTTOM LINE IS THIS:
GOD LOVES US AT LEAST AS MUCH
AS THE PERSON WHO LOVES US THE MOST. (REPEAT)
THIS BOTTOM LINE OF HEALTHY CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
HAS BEEN MAKING THE ROUNDS.
RICHARD ROHR AND BRIAN McLAREN,
TWO OF THE MAJOR THINKERS
OF THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT,
HAVE PICKED IT UP AND MADE IT THEIR OWN.
“GOD LOVES US AT LEAST AS MUCH
AS THE PERSON WHO LOVES US THE MOST”
IS RAPIDLY BECOMING PART OF THE SPIRIT
OF A CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY
THAT REFUSES TO BE LABELED AS EITHER
RADICAL OR CONSERVATIVE,
BUT SIMPLY WANTS TO FOLLOW THE WAY OF JESUS.
I CHOSE THE TWO POEMS IN THE “AS WE GATHER’ SECTION
OF TODAY’S BULLETIN WITH GREAT CARE
BECAUSE I THINK THAT THEY GIVE US TWO
TRUSTWORTHY PRINCIPLES WITH WHICH TO APPROACH
SCRIPTURE AND THEOLOGY
BECAUSE THEY ARE TRUSTWORTHY INSIGHTS
INTO THE NATURE OF GOD.
THE FIRST OF THESE PRINCIPLES, FROM ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA,
ECHOES JESUS’ WORDS IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN:
“AND YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH,
AND THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE.”
IN CATHERINE’S WORDS:
“THAT IS WHAT THE TRUTH DOES:
LIFTS AND LETS US FLY.”
THE SECOND OF THESE PRINCIPLES,
FROM THE DOMINICAN MYSTIC MEISTER ECKHART,
ECHOES PAUL IN HIS LETTER TO THE ROMANS WHEN HE SAYS:
“GOD PROVES HIS LOVE FOR US
IN THAT WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US,”
(Romans 5:8)
AND JOHN IN HIS FIRST LETTER WHEN HE SAYS, CONCERNING JESUS,
“WE LOVE BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US.”
(1 John 4:19)
IN OTHER WORDS, BECAUSE GOD LOVES US FIRST,
WE ARE FREED TO LOVE GOD AND OTHERS IN RESPONSE,
OR, AS MEISTER ECKHART PUTS IT:
“BECAUSE LOVE DOES THAT.
LOVE FREES.”
SO, WHAT ARE
SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANY TRUSTWORTHY UNDERSTANDING
OF GOD, THEOLOGY, AND SCRIPTURE?
TODAY’S BASIC PRINCIPLES ARE THREE:
ONE: “GOD LOVES US AT LEAST AS MUCH
AS THE PERSON WHO LOVES US THE MOST;”
TWO: “TRUTH LIFTS;”
AND THREE: “LOVE FREES.”
I WOULD SAY THAT ANY UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
THAT DOES NOT MEASURE UP TO THESE THREE PRINCIPLES
CANNOT BE THE DEEPEST AND HIGHEST UNDERSTANDING OF GOD.
I WOULD SAY THAT ANY SCRIPTURE TEXT
THAT DOES NOT MEASURE UP TO THESE THREE PRINCIPLES --
ALL, BY THE WAY, DERIVED FROM SCRIPTURE --
IS EITHER A FAULTY TRANSLATION
OR AN INADEQUATE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD.
AMEN.