Thomas Merton
“[after reading a book about God by a priest] I think a reason why these statements, and others like them, made such a profound impression on me, lay deep in my own soul. And it was this: I had never had an adequate notion of what Christians meant by God. I had simply taken it for granted that the God in Whom religious people believed, and to Whom they attributed the creation and government of all things, was…the objectification of all their own desires and strivings and subjective ideals. The truth is, that the concept of God which I had always entertained, and which I had accused Christians of teaching to the world, was a concept of a being who was simply impossible. He was infinite and yet finite; perfect and imperfect… I think one cause of my profound satisfaction with what I now read was that God had been vindicated in my own mind. There is in every intellect a natural exigency for a true concept of God [emphasis added]: we are born with the thirst to know and to see Him, and therefore it cannot be otherwise. I know that many people are, or call themselves, ‘atheists’ simply because they are repelled and offended by statements about God made in imaginary and metaphorical terms which they are not able to interpret and comprehend…” From Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain I experienced a similar feeling of ‘vindication of God’ in my mind when I decided to follow Jesus. This challenges to me to speak of God to others as He is, not as I may see Him at the time—he is immutable, holy, and not subject to man’s interpretative vagaries—I remember the great freedom and relief when I realized God’s holiness and power, and that I could trust him with the things that matter most. Merton’s autobiography is stunningly insightful at times, and ploddingly theological at others…more of the former, I find—well worth a meditative read.
Use the right weapons
“But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too…” -Matthew 5:39 I was watching Spiderman 3 a few weeks ago—now there’s a movie with a gifted screenwriter. In this iteration of the classic Marvel comic franchise, Spiderman comes under the influence of a kind of black goo (Venom), which makes him more aggressive, self-focussed and free from natural inhibitions. In a revealing scene, Spidey is goaded into a fight with his old-friend-turned-Green Goblin-nemesis, Harry (who incorrectly believes Spidey killed his father). Harry attacks him, and instead of simply defending himself, Spidey goes on the offensive, and thoroughly whips him—leaving him near death, slumped in a corner. As Spidey turns to leave, Harry musters his last reserves and throws a grenade at him. Spiderman whirls around and slings it back at Harry and the movie goes to slow motion as the grenade explodes spectacularly in Harry’s face. Later on, in one of the final scenes of the movie, we see that Harry’s face has been permanently disfigured by the explosion. Through a series of events, Harry has come to realize that in fact Spiderman did not kill his father, and he reconciles with his old friend, who has finally been freed of the black goo that altered his behavior. In a heart-wrenching scene of sacrifice and incredible special effects, Harry ends up giving his life to save Spiderman’s. At the end of this scene is a moment that could have been pulled straight from the Gospels. Spiderman is cradling Harry’s broken body in his arms. He gazes into Harry’s face, and we see a range of griefs pass over his face—grief that he had aggressively gone on the attack against Harry previously with the intent to hurt or kill him; grief that he had not responded in self-defense alone; grief that it was because he had used Harry’s own weapon against him that Harry’s face was scarred so horribly. It was a moving scene. At this precise moment, Mardi came into the room where I was watching the movie, and I exclaimed to her, ‘hey, there was just this really neat parallel to how when we use the weapons of the kingdom of the Enemy (anger, retorts, “truth’ told to wound and to hurt, biting sarcasm) instead of the weapons of the Kingdom of God (love, mercy, peace, gentleness, forgiveness), people get wounded further…’ I had to stop because I was in tears. As I was speaking the Lord showed me that this is what I have been doing with a close friend of mine recently who is going through some really tough times. Because of circumstances unrelated to me, this friend is hurting and defensive and often on the attack in conversations, employing control, anger, and bitterness against me. God help me, I had lately begun to respond to his attacks with biting comments and words intended to wound, instead of with sacrificial love (overlooking a multitude of wrongs), mercy, and grace. The consequence? My friend gets wounded when I use his weapons against him. Instead of the healing, sacrificial “weapons” of the Kingdom of God, I had begun to pick up his grenades and lob them back at him—and he gets hurt, and ends up no closer to restoration and wholeness in the Lord. Can you relate? Do you have a friend, family member, or co-worker who has wounded you in the past, and continues to go on the attack? Have you found yourself responding in kind, rather than with mercy and sacrificial grace? Consider that the radical way of Jesus is more than just the way things ought to be in an ‘ideal’ world—responding with grace to bitterness, kindness to anger, and gentleness to control comes from a heart change that Jesus tells us is a better way than the Enemy’s way of ‘an eye for an eye’ (Matt 6). I breathe a sigh of relief as I realize that learning to respond in this way is not a matter of just gritting my teeth and ‘doing the right thing’ when faced with evil—it is a matter of ‘cleaning the inside of the cup’, so that I naturally and involuntarily respond to attack with grace and love. It is a matter of becoming people who are not angry or defensive on the inside, who are not easily offended, and who are learning to lay aside pride and our rights to ourselves. It is a matter of taking up the cross of Christ, and being gradually formed from the inside out into Christlikeness. Teach us, God of love and restoration to respond to attack with grace and mercy. Thank you for your mercy when we find ourselves responding defensively with an ‘eye for an eye’. For Further Action: Spend time in meditation in Romans 12. Reflect on Paul’s exhortation to the Roman Christians to be set apart, and have totally different standards of behavior than the culture around them. Is there an area of your life that is not recognizably different from the people around you who are not following Jesus? Ask the Lord how you might take action to submit to Him an area of your life in which you have adopted worldly standards.
