Reflection - Passion

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092717.cfm
Ezra 9:5-9
Luke 9:1-6

The anguish expressed by Ezra in the Scripture text was more profound than the usual declarations of remorse and sorrow. He rends his garments. He falls to his knees. He cries out to the Lord. This depth and intensity of emotion prompted me to turn to the Scripture to review the context of his words.

The book of Ezra is one of the shorter books in the Old Testament; so short, in fact, that, for a time, it was considered part of the book of Nehemiah. Both men, Ezra and Nehemiah, lived during the time when the Jews were allowed to return to the land of Judah after their exile; and both books are about the population's return. For forty plus years, after the conquest of Judah by the growing Babylonian empire, a significant portion of the population had been compelled to live in a foreign land. One of the Psalms refers to the period: "By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept as we remembered the hills of Jerusalem." (Psalm 137:1) Ezra is one of those who led a group of exiles on their return journey.

You might think that the cause of Ezra's distress was the devastation of the land, a condition which was still evident decades after the Babylonian conquest. Or maybe the cause was the impoverishment of the people, now living in what had once been a thriving Kingdom. Or maybe the tears were brought on by his remembrance of the pains of battle, the forced journey into exile and the years spent in a foreign land. But it was none of these. Ezra's lamentation followed his realization that, even after so many years of being barred from their land, their homeland, the land God had promised them and had given them, the people were still accepting of foreign and false Gods. 

This morning, Ezra's passionate expression of agony, tinged with an element of despair, is what grabbed my attention. Consider the fact that passion is one of those aspects of life which makes human existence exciting, interesting, and memorable; but it also can make it violent, troublesome, and heartbreaking. Still, we would probably turn "thumbs down" on any proposition to totally remove passion from our lives.

Different people get passionate about different things: adventure, sports, hobbies, travel, art, history, astronomy, and philosophical discussion are only a few of the candidates that may engage our passionate attention. But passions can involve us in both lesser and greater things than these. We may be passionate about achievement or defending our family or our children or our spouse. The young tend to be more exuberant in their passion while the more mature know how to let their passions simmer. 

As I read the passage from Ezra it occurred to me that God must be passionate. Scripture attempts to address that fact in the anthropomorphic ways it talks about God, circumscribing, as it were, the passion which is at the core: God is angry. God takes delight in his people. God is heartbroken when his people are unfaithful. We know these are but feeble attempts to put the inexpressible into words. Yet, we also know that there is a truth which the Scriptures seek to reveal through these expressions. And I f there is one thing which Scripture attempts to reveal, it is God himself. 

Theologically we have a problem when we attribute emotions to God. Emotions are fleeting and changeable. God is neither. With prayer guiding my probing thoughts, I reflected on this mystery. In the end, I turned to Jesus for some semblance of understanding. Jesus drove the money changers from the Temple. He spoke harshly to Peter saying: "Get behind me, Satan." He was moved with compassion for the widow of Naim whose only son had died. We read the texts and get a picture of Jesus expressing a variety of emotions. We sense anger in the Temple, disgust/disappointment with Peter, and compassion for the widow. Nevertheless, there is but one passion that is the source for all three. Jesus is passionate in his love for the Father. It is that which calls him to frequent prayer. It is that which makes him angry that the Temple is desecrated. It is that which recognizes in Peter's words a temptation to turn from the Father's will. It is that which weeps for the woman who is not only a widow, but has lost her only child.

Whether because of authors or artists or some other source responsible for our image of God, we see God as a Being, the Supreme Being to be sure, but still a Being.

We even specify that in the Catechism: 'God is the Supreme Being who created all things and keeps them in existence.' John, in his Gospel, tells us something different:

"God is love." I used to think that was just a way to talk about God's goodness, his holiness, his concern for his creation and especially his people. I used to think John was trying to say that God has so much love that we can identify him with love. I no longer believe such to be true. Rather, I now take John at his word. God IS Love! Pure, unadulterated, incorporeal LOVE. God is the very passion which we, with only minimal understanding, call Love. He is love so intense, so perfect, so passionate that he became one with us and died for us. 

Though he doesn't demand it, like all love, this God who is love, wants to be loved passionately in return.