Today we're moving into another parable verse in Luke, Matthew, and the gospel of Thomas that uses the image of the son of Man. I'm jumping over a bunch of wonderful images about the way Cynics lived in Jesus day (because some like to draw a connection between Jesus and Cynics of the day) and pressing on to some of Walter Wink's thoughts.
"And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests; but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Here again we see indications that the Human Being could denote Jesus and , at the same time, have a collective meaning that took in those following Jesus' way. He does not say, "I have no place to lay my head," nor "I the son of the man have no place to lay my head." Insofar as Jesus, and others, live the existential uncertainty of the Human Being, they have incarnated it. Such incarnation can be the realization that we can live out of an interior center, secure yet flexible, capable of enduring tension, with a tolerance for abiguity, anxiety, and conflict, traveling like turtles with our homes on our backs. Dogmatic religion exists to protect people from this anxious, insecure openness to the possibilities of the moment.
Whatever I heard about this passage, these ending thoughts really have grabbed me. It helps explain how Jesus is said to have noted that his "kingdom is not from this world" (John). It doesn't mean that the kingdom has nothing to do with this world. Rather it can mean that the power of this interior center is not at all involved in the games and positioning and powers that are best known in our world. The Human Being is capable of life that is not ruled by the prevailing winds of the culture and society. Wink draws a picture of a people who are able to live with abiquity, anxiety, conflict - wow, don't we need that kind of a sense of a center in the church today. It is no wonder why issues like homosexuality can dismantle the peace within the church - we do not know how to remain and live from that interior center. We do not know how to be a part of life of the Human Being with the gracious Reign of our God. We want answers, limits, "yes or no." We want a place to lay our heads so that we can cuddle up in our own lives and ignore the world in which the Human Being is to come fully alive. This brief note by Wink may make it into one of my "memorable" quotes. For someone who cannot quote very well, that means this is quite a important gift of wisdom from the author.
Connection: We can walk in the middle of anxious moments and we can embrace something more of our Humanity than we thought we could.
Lord of Open Spaces and New Life, there are many times when we tremble and are afraid. In those times, it is easy to turn from you and secure ourselves as best as we know. In these times, we need your Spirit of All Hopefulness to walk with us and remain at peace and begin to see things in a new and creative way. Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment