Let me go back to this quote from James Alison - again in "The Joy of Being Wrong." This becomes particularly clear in Matthew 7. There we have the commandment not to judge, and it is explained that the reason for this is that all our judgment is scandalous, because we have already tripped over the log in our own eye. This is a rigorous revelation of the way we are tied into each other by the skandalon, and the way we must detach ourselves from it (one so important that it is taken up by Paul in Romans 2:1). Our knowledge of each other is projective and in its mode already distorted. Only in the degree to which we allow our own distortion to be corrected will we be able to know the other with limpidity. I was going to press on but then I reread this piece as was caught by 'we have already tripped over the log in our own eye.' Damn you Jesus - why must you say it so clearly. You make me turn my head and listen again. That usually means that the words bite. They bite in order to grab attention - and they do. Over and over again I am so amazed at how quickly - without much thought - I turn to judgment. It may not be full-blown condemnation kind of judgment - but even the small judgments tend to be full-blown condemnation of some type. We must have the audacity to speak the truth but we must also no think that we are the only holders of the truth. Unfortunately, it is not easy to relinquish our fantasy of being the truth holders and the righteous judges. It comes quite easily - like picking a piece of fruit off a tree. One of the gifts we are being offered here is that we must remember that our judgments and condemnations are words that need to be directed back at us all - back at the accusers - back at the judges. That is not easy to hear when we are so sure we are so right and they are so wrong. Connection: As we press on toward All Saints Sunday, it does us well to have eyes hat see the beloved in the other - see the ones for whom Jesus would die - even though we would rather that they just simply die. This journey with Jesus is a labor of love - a work - a journey - a day-by-day adventure. Yet, along the way there is this amazing promise for life. O God of life, unleash your breath of life and wrap us up in its glorious power. Amen. |
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