Simply Complex
The truth of things is never as difficult as we imagine, and never as simple as it appears. The reason that we always have two or three things to remember about what God tells us at the same time is in order to keep us from falling under the weight of the one thing we can’t seem to figure out. The seeming conflicts, paradox and duplicity about God exist to affirm the depth of God, not to confuse us. God is both personal and not ours alone. God calls for perfection and supplies never-ending forgiveness. God is Spirit and became flesh.
Saints Follow & Forgive
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061616.cfm
“In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds.”
The early Christian Church and its martyrs revealed a courage that astounds us today. That courage is based upon a certainty that we can intellectually grasp — we can live a life with God in heaven — but we find the reality of being a martyr too frightening to bear.
The Eastern Churches from Antioch to Moscow revere their saints, depicting bearded men in flashy robes who hold bibles in their hands, staring at us from heaven. Each of these saints died some awful death. These icons of the East are painted on the walls and ceilings of Churches that date back to the first few hundred years after the time of Christ.
The majesty and legends of the Saints of Christianity and the heroes of our Hebrew heritage, like Elijah and Elisha, set the holy and faithful apart from us. The tales of St. Francis, Mother Teresa, and St. Augustine are like the legends of Robin Hood and King Arthur. Their stories border on fantasy, one surely written from truth. They offer prophetic insights into our present day from the ancient past, and miraculous events that happen today from their inspiration and influence. Their influence and outright mighty deeds still take place, because they live.
All of the dormitories and stadiums of Sainthood, though, are filled with common folk, not the few legends we revere. The less known, perhaps completely unknown, saints still embodied two primary requirements for their eternal rewards — being conduits of the will of the Father, as the Spirit revealed that will to them, and forgiving everyone, as Jesus did. Not only did they walk with God, they held no grudges and wished ill for no one.
Sainthood seems so distant from our grasp. And yet, those two primary requirements — following the Father’s will and forgiving everyone — are fairly simple tasks. The difficulties with simply following and forgiving pale in comparison to other hurdles we’ve been through. Concentrating on what God wants is really that hard? Letting go of hate and anger is such a terrible thing?
We compare ourselves, though, to the great ones, and forget the simpler requirements that God has for us. Perhaps another perspective would help. While we think that the grandiose saints offer the more incredible inspiration, it is our daily walk and constant forgiveness that supplies the biggest inspiration for those we live with and know.
Our friends see how we live. Our families look at what we do with our time. Children copy our behaviors. If we exemplify walking with God and offer forgiveness in all of our relationships, then our friends and families, and the young who watch us, will experience sainthood in action. The icons will still inspire them, but we will be the ones who motivate them.
Is it the fear of martyrdom that holds us back? No, I don’t really think so. Every person’s death, every eventuality of dying is a terrible thing to imagine. In fact, though, we’re all going to die. The fear of martyrdom is the same as the fear of any sort of death. We don’t want to dwell on it.
Our true fear is that God may not love us. That God will not be able to forgive us for what we’ve done. Or, worse, that God may not be the God that we hoped. God may not be capable of repairing this broken world, or may not really care at all.
The crass reality is that, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
This seems like a hard and fast rule that condemns us. We race through our memories and recall at least a handful of folks that we haven’t forgiven. Why just this morning I cursed the fellow who cut me off on the highway to get here!
How do we reconcile this conundrum? Our fear that God may not be “able” to love us seems to be coming true.
The truth of things is never as difficult as we imagine, and never as simple as it appears. The reason that we always have two or three things to remember about what God tells us at the same time is in order to keep us from falling under the weight of the one thing we can’t seem to figure out. The seeming conflicts, paradox and duplicity about God exist to affirm the depth of God, not to confuse us. God is both personal and not ours alone. God calls for perfection and supplies never-ending forgiveness. God is Spirit and became flesh.
Remember, that we are to follow the leading of the Spirit, to walk with God. That’s one of our primary requirements. Along with that, comes the requirement to forgive others. That’s another. These two things are complimentary, and contradictory. We will not be able to actually perfect that symbiotic relationship out of the gate. Maybe not over a whole lifetime.
But that’s the picture of what Sainthood looks like from the outside. From the inside, it’s a relationship. It’s unique for each of us. But our urging is the same — follow and forgive.