To Know Fully as We Are Fully Known (4)

 

We have been exploring the wonders of our creation, the all-knowing nature of God and Their omnipresence. We have enjoyed some insights into how much we are loved, cared for and, indeed, how beloved, and special we are to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that is so, ever since The Beginning. We closed, last time, marvelling in God’s countless loving thoughts towards us. Then, abruptly like the clanging of a fire alarm comes this angry stanza:

If only You would put the wicked to death, God;
Leave me, you men of bloodshed.
20 For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

What are we to do with this? The Bible study group I attend nearby, was considering, this morning(!), as part of an ongoing discussion of the Beatitudes, these lines from Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven…” (Matt. 5: 43-45 NASB) Such are the “co-incidences” of life in the Spirit!

First, then, let’s consider this violent malediction that seems to have gate-crashed the Psalm. In his Reflection on The Psalms, C.S. Lewis observes, in a chapter called “The Cursings” (sic), “What use can be made?... We must not either try to explain them away or to yield for one moment to the idea that, because it comes in the Bible, all this vindictive hatred   must somehow be good and pious.  We must face both facts squarely. The hatred is there – festering, gloating, undisguised – and also we should be wicked if we in any way condoned or approved it, or (worse still) used it to justify similar patterns in ourselves. Only after these two admissions have been made can we safely proceed…

          I found that these maledictions were in one way very interesting. For here one saw a feeling we all know only too well, Resentment, expressing itself with perfect freedom, without disguise, without self-consciousness, without shame – as few but children would express it today…Hatred did not need to be disguised for the sake of social decorum or for fear anyone would accuse you of a neurosis. We therefore see it in its ‘wild’ or natural condition.

(Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis, William Collins, London, 2020 p26)

Isn’t it the same for us? Haven’t you been distracted from your meditations on God’s goodness, and your appreciation of the enormity of the fact that God is Love, to wonder why people behave in ways that are nothing less than evil: Putin in Ukraine, Hamas in Gaza, Netanyahu and the IDF in their disproportionate violence - in response to Hamas’ terrorism - against Gazan civilians and infrastructure, Houthis in Yemen, ISIS, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and so on…and on? Are these people not enemies of God and all that is just, and right? Are they not, therefore, in a certain manner, our enemies too?

Quite probably. And yet. Certainly, anyone who is honest with themselves would think this way. More importantly, though, is our praying honestly. Leaving aside the “love your enemy” bit for a moment, what Lewis has observed here is that, rather than skipping past the “unchristian” verses in the Psalms (and there are many), we need to acknowledge, accept and own them because they are natural reactions of resentment - as Lewis suggests - or indignation, or outrage at the evil that exists, and is done, among us, to us – perhaps, even - by us. And, especially in our over-religious, precious piousness – particularly (but by no means exclusively) familiar to Church of England attendees – we should vent our repressed emotions. Authenticity of expression might just be the starting point for internal transformation. Indeed, Tom Wright alludes to this:

“Most of all…they are designed as worship: the multidimensional worship in which every aspect of human life, love, fear, delight, anger, despair, and gratitude is laid as an offering before the God who himself comes to stand at the crossroads of time, space, and matter. The Psalms might not always seem to us particularly pure or worthy, as sacrifices should be. But I think part of the point is that they are truthful, the sincere outpourings of who and what the worshipper actually is. And when we worship the creator God with our whole, truthful self, we trust – and the Psalms strongly encourage this trust – that we will be remade. As Paul puts it, we are to be ‘renewed in the strength of the image of the creator, bringing [us] into possession of new knowledge’ (Col.3:10).”

(Finding God in the Psalms, Tom Wright, SPCK, London, 2014, p29.)

So, it seems to me that we need to be less coy (and falsely “spiritual”) and express in reading and prayer the scary phrases in the Psalms and from them, respond to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with our own, authentic thoughts and feelings. Then, and only then, will we begin to align ourselves to Jesus’ injunction to love and pray for our enemies – if only with an obedient “Lord, have mercy,” if that is as much as we can genuinely express.

Lewis, and others, were also surprised to find Paul discussing love for enemies and even quoting not Jesus, but Proverbs 25:21: If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head [inflame his conscience], and the LORD will reward you. (Paul, writing in Romans 12:20.) In fact, Paul goes further in his explanation by saying, do not be overcome [overwhelmed] by evil, but overcome evil with good. (v.21)

Authenticity and honesty with ourselves are so essential; as we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another [God-us-others-God] and forgiveness flows between us. (Cf.1 John 1:7)

As, indeed, the Psalmist intuits this because the next, penitential, lines land the whole business: 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there is any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.

In any event, then, the buck stops with us. As Jesus pointed out: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye…” (Matthew 7:1-5 NASB)

This morning’s Bible study group grappled with loving our enemies, even seeing how non-violence in language and action has been exemplified for us – by Jesus on the cross, obviously, but by others such as Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammar Ghandi, and Nelson Mandela, among others. It was the last line in this part of Jesus’ discourse that left us as a group, nonplussed: Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Oh! (For another time…)

Grace and peace, Wayfarers – go well.

EXTRA! EXTRA! From the collection by Mercy Aiken who works with the Network of Evangelicals For The Middle East, and who co-wrote Yet in The Dark Streets Shining – A Palestinian Story of Hope & Resilience in Bethlehem with Bishara Awad.

But in the desert, in the pure clean atmosphere, in the silence – there you can find yourself. And unless you begin to know yourself, how can you even begin to search for God? --Father Dioscuros