(james finley)
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that is a profound statement ..
the implications abound
it is a marvelous way of saying what i've felt for years ..
for one, it explains why i shouldn't be looking to safeguard my 'rights', defend my 'integrity', or even, most radically in our think, defend my life
..
a parent repeatedly told me that i'm no-one's doormat, a place for them to wipe their dirty feet ..
but if i approach that from another perspective, my 'rights' are inconsiderable, dispensable, my own wellbeing negligible if that person can somehow recognize the person and the purpose behind my negligence towards my self - their wellbeing, their value in the eyes of the God who personally and purposefully created them
that is the stretch of the great command of CreatorGod to us, to love our neighbour as if they were me
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apostle paul's comment at one point is notable here:
" Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools ..
even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm.
We are often beaten and have no home.
We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living.
We bless those who curse us.
We are patient with those who abuse us.
We appeal gently when evil things are said about us.
Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash - right up to the present moment. " (1Cor 4.11ff, NLT)
we are doormats ..
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another aspect of this is that i disregard the attempts to explain-away Jesus' thoughtful and purposeful comments about turning the other cheek, offering the coat too, going an extra mile, loving my enemy - i see that as potently and patently undoing his mindset ..
the apparently popular fallback is to run all around robin hood's barn to justify Jesus' statements from some 'maintaining his integrity' perspective ..
Jesus, it seems to me, is radically unconcerned about maintaining my 'integrity' (however that word is being spun .. i suspect it to be a tricky use of the word) ..
Jesus, it seems to me, wasn't even overly concerned with maintaining his own integrity, or he would have 'defended' himself during his 'trials' at the hands of caiaphas and pilate - he could well have done so in a manner that still ensured his execution, which he knew was coming and was necessary .. he is a master at wordplay
but Jesus let them .. he simply allowed them to step all over his integrity, decimate his 'rights', revoke his right to live ..
he doormatted
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the point of the kenosis life is found after the 'then' in my opening quote .. " then we can face all things with courage and tenderness and touch the hurting places in others and in ourselves with love " ..
that's the point where rebel flags, and carrying guns in church as a safeguard, and the SCOTUS decision on marriage rights disappear over the horizon .. they are inconsequential really ..
the people that lost their lives in the charleston horror didn't lose life .. they have Life, and they gave life to the ones left behind who took that Life and made a public spectacle of the powers of darkness that look to draw lines and unholster weapons and kill
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if i can learn to unlearn my logic, refuse my instinct for survival, fade my self, opaque the ' I ', and instead allow the Spirit to shine brilliantly, let my spirit override my fight-or-flight knee-jerk flesh/body reaction ..
then 'me' unbecomes, and God has the 'right' to act, to move, to humanize ..
that way, when i look in the mirror i see God
not me
God in the mirror
however opaquely
We are told that as much as possible we are to be at peace with one another. Sometimes the best way to do that is to extricate ourselves from that person or situation.
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