Reflection - Shame

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081219.cfm
Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Matthew 17:22-27

The news media occasionally provide stories or, even better, videos of the pet (usually a dog) or the very young toddler who has done something which is beyond unacceptable to their owner or parent. A few of many examples come to mind: decorating the garage with a week’s worth of trash, repainting a closet, and one’s self, with the polar white of a five pound bag of flour, painting the bedroom walls with peanut butter brown and/or grape jelly purple. Frequently, the guilty party is oblivious to the ill-conceived nature of the conduct until confronted by the horrified look of the attending adult or parent. It’s the offender’s subsequent display of shame which is most humorous. Hide the offense! Deny you ate the cake when your face is decorated with frosting and crumbs! Smile an ingratiating smile! Hide yourself - if he/she can’t see me, it didn’t happen. I once had a dog that would occasionally stray too far from home, and, when called - if he was in a wandering mood - would move so as to be ‘hidden’ by a tree. It seems to me that this is the beginning of a sense of shame - that recognition that we have done something wrong.

It was Moses’ admonition to the people that inspired my journey into miscreant behavior. Whether the Israelites were novices or men and women of experience in their relationship with the God of their ancestors is not a question I can answer. But the words heard from Moses reminded me of how often these people, and generations of their descendants, would fail to keep the Covenant. And the question arose in my mind: did they feel any shame because of their failure? This is a universal and timeless question. Universal because it is a matter concern for all human beings. Timeless because our own adherence to the New Covenant may well be as inadequate as theirs was to the Old. But the real question that occupied my thoughts and demanded my own reflection was a bit different. Was God then, or is God now, ashamed of his people?

Searching for an answer to this question was a bit like trying to find the right path through a maze. Does God have all emotions or only some? Does he view the failures of his people as we might view the antics of a miscreant or overly curious child? Is he ashamed of us because of what we do, or how we live, or even our indifference toward him. These last questions would be easy to answer if the questions were asked of me. Yes, I am ashamed of things I’ve done, of things I’ve failed to do, of things I’ve said, and even of the occasional things I’ve not said. Shame doesn’t easily go away. Remembering that I could have done better or been better both yesterday and in decades past sometimes even resurrects the sense of shame I subsequently felt at the time. But what about God?

If I were God I probably would be ashamed of me. I’ve certainly given him enough reasons just as the Israelites did centuries ago.

But you and I are both in luck -- I am not God.

So I return to my question: Is He ashamed of us?

My first inclination was to answer a firm, decisive “YES!” But further consideration of the matter required a revision because I thought about what we do know about God. God knows everything that has happened and, more importantly, everything that will happen. He participates in what is happening so that, no matter what, his will will be done. He knew that the creation of temporal, free-willed beings would not be instantaneous, but would involve a progression toward the fulfillment of his will.

For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

Such a conclusion must be brought about in the temporal order. So I find myself answering a definitive NO! God is not ashamed of us. How can he be ashamed of his own work in its state of unfinished completion? How can he be ashamed knowing there is so much to be done as his will moves toward the fullness of realization in the temporal order?

I am not perfect and only God can make me so. In the meantime I try to surrender to the creativity of his will.

As clay in the hand of the potter — for all his ways are as he pleases — so men are in the hand of him who made them, to give them as he decides. (Sirach 33:13)

I just don’t know why I am such a stubborn pot!