Is love at the root of our disagreements?
'His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned'
There is little alignment on worldviews or ideologies (whichever word works better for you). As long as we hoist flags to corner the exclusive support from God without actually having God’s full-fledged support, we’re waving at windmills. Worse, when we do behave appropriately under the sovereignty of God, there will be those who object to a creator who agrees with us.
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Genesis 32:23-33
Matthew 9:32-38
I’ve been troubled by two unsolved arguments this week —one having to do with pregnant mothers, and the other with politically triggered relatives — only to discover that the root of both disagreements comes from the same spite-fueled calculation. I can thank Moses (Genesis) and Matthew for the discovery.
Identity politics form the beginnings of the two arguments. To cast folks according to some generic paint-by-the-dots picture, we move our brothers and sisters from unique, Spirit-filled collaborator entities into cardboard cutouts. Conservative-minded folks and progressive-focused people err when we place both ourselves and others into a steel-vaulted frame. We join our opposition in foolishness when we paint a broad-stroked picture of them and us according to some brainwashed outline of what conservatives and progressives look like.
In the pregnancy and triggering debates, such pre-framed identities will automatically take over. We’ll bristle over the other’s statements, rather than chew on them. If the other is successful in their outcomes, politically or culturally, the bristling turns into foul language and various epithets of disgust. From what I can tell, we do so because someone else’s achievement has threatened our firmly held, opposing worldview.
As a mostly conservative, lightly liberal fellow, you might guess I’m going to skewer the liberal mind as the much more bristled ilk. Fortunately, for you mind-reading aficionados, you would be right. But only in general. I’d be a fool to hold a position I disagree with. Yet, “bristle” correctly identifies our shared weakness. We feel righteous, blinded by the stereotyped framing and the upshot of threats to our worldview.
Jesus famously bristled at the stupifying reticence laced with obstinacy from his disciples when it challenged his mission. Think of Peter’s outbursts and the Pharisees' peacocking. None of us felt comfortable when we first read or heard the piercing retorts from Jesus. The Son of God owns the art of bristling, seething with the full weight of being divine. Jesus showed no weaknesses.
We aspire to be as authoritative as Jesus, confident and severe in our verbal sword fights. We can be like Jesus, in holy alignment, albeit with some rarity.
Why aren’t we all better at this? There is little alignment on worldviews or ideologies (whichever word works better for you). As long as we hoist flags to corner the exclusive support from God without actually having God’s full-fledged support, we’re waving at windmills. Worse, when we do behave appropriately under the sovereignty of God, there will be those who object to a creator who agrees with us.
How can we legitimately and with convincing authority announce that our position aligns better with God when both we and our opposition claim God as the source of our ascendancy?
We must have love. Love that operates differently from a singular position of righteousness. Jesus reflected love in spades.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:37).
The root of our problems often begins with an unrelenting obstinacy and bias, not love. If we affirm our superiority by calling ourselves better allies with God and do so without love, well, we’re bristling in the dark. In Matthew, the stage is set rather well to help identify which one of us is full of bananas.
A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:32-33).
Jesus proved himself the authority by healing the mute man. Our missions must do the same. Still, someone will oppose us, but should the threat against us turn into our vitriol?
The exasperating waste of energy over pigeon-holing another person’s outlook into a necessary war distracts from God’s presence in molding and orchestrating the primary purpose of creation. We are creatures made stewards, made to collaborate with a fully invested Holy Trinity.
This is not our world to twist into our image. Instead, it is God’s creation where we are joined with him. He built the universe, inviting us to be with him. If we attach ourselves to a worldview rather than center on God’s gracious gift and holy reliance on our partnership, we make matters worse.
Not that our opposition will see the light, by the way. That’s not our mission. Our mission is to operate out of love from a righteous alignment with God. We may be martyred, for goodness’ sake. God will use us as he will.
The pregnant-mother argument that startled me originated from a person who weirdly believed the preponderance of conservative-based pro-lifers insist that women are made to have babies. They are subject to a life of servitude for a man’s offspring. You can read the article (Pro-Natal vs. Pro-Life, written by Rachael Killackey on July 12), which sets up the argument. I’ve oversimplified the lengthy piece, but it comes down to, “Sure, pro-life is a valid position, but women are more than baby-making machines.”
Huh? How does that argument have any legs? The confounding logic cuts and pastes statements, individually worthy points, and lines them up to insult the very position they sincerely seem to support. The article spins a lengthy dispute where mind-reading on the motives of the pro-life efforts is inherently suspect.
The other argument took place in several instances. My friends and I have experienced emotionally draining arguments with relatives on conservative/progressive issues. The directly ideological subjects on the table, many of which we agree on, have caused a dissonance that is wearing progressives down. They’re having panic attacks over the current diplomatic and constitutional wins of the Republican Party. Their subsequent policy advances made over the last six months have been dramatic. The progressives, triggered by the successes, are infuriated with their adversaries’ governmental accomplishments.
Here is where the mind-reading, righteous bristling turns into hate rather than love. I’m not talking about just the progressive angst, but the conservatives’ reaction and history. We have been there. Over the past four years, we were overwhelmed by the left’s successes in promoting their values. You’d think we would understand.
Jacob’s experiences in the follow-on verses to today’s Genesis reading teach us the proper reaction. The mind-reading, crazed angst by the left of conservatives as weird, hateful Nazi’s is similar to Jacob’s fear for his older brother Esau’s expected retribution. Fear weighed heavily on Jacob’s lifetime of avoidance to face reality with his brother. How did we conservatives fare in loving the liberals when they were winning, even though we disagreed vehemently with them?
Winning in politics and culture, just like losing, requires the response of love. We should not frame our opposition on individual issues into a painted, stereotyped picture of a person. From wherever we operate, we must have love. We do that in cooperation with God.