Sunday 18 November 2007

“We need somebody to teach us, and we need practice.”  Despite arguing that love should and can be taught, The Psychologist article did not offer any guidance on where to find good teachers. I think the Gospels are a good place to start.

The Gospel reading today (Lk 21:5-19) begins with Jesus and the disciples admiring the Temple of Herod. And Jesus says to them: "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down." "Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?" Jesus then begins to talk about dangers the disciples will face. However, if we look closely at the text, we see that Jesus was not giving the disciples definite answers as to when things would happen. Rather, he was teaching them how to hold onto their patience and integrity when facing indefinites: threats, terrible danger and fear.

Jesus began with a warning that the temple before them would one day come down. This is simple truth. Things –objects – do not last forever, even magnificent buildings. And when the disciples ask “when will this happen?” he does not answer their “when” but he does respond to the fear he hears in their question. He says in response: “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say ‘I am he! and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Here again we have truth. In the face of wars and conflict, we may feel as if the world is ending right now. We may, quite naturally, be terrified, and want a solution right now. But if we are overcome by fear, we may be led astray, and may go after those who claim that they can give us total safety.  Perhaps we may be tempted to follow leaders who claim that it is only the War on Terror that can make the world safe for good. Or perhaps it is more tempting still to follow those who argue that only a Godless, religion-free world can make us safe for good.

But Jesus offers no promises of safety of that kind. He was speaking the truth: the world was not then, and is not now, a safe place: there are wars; buildings do collapse; bad things happen; and the world will end one day. Jesus’ God leads us straight into that danger and fear. Where is the hope in that?  In today’s reading, it gets worse before it gets better. Jesus goes on to say that there will continue to be wars and earthquakes and famines, but that, more immediately, the disciples will be hated, betrayed and even killed for following Jesus and teaching what he taught. He and they had already been threatened everywhere they went. And he warns his beloved disciples that they will be brought before kings and governors to testify. 

Then we see that what Jesus is doing is teaching the disciples how to hold onto their faith, integrity, patience and courage – their love rather than their fear or aggression – even when they are under attack.  One of my psychology books offers guidance on dignified, respectful ways we can respond to a verbally vicious person. One piece of advice is as follows: “Don’t think about what you are going to say...do not become defensive.” Here is what Jesus says: “Make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance.”[ii]  My psychology book goes on to give us some phrases that can help us stand firm without attacking our critic. Here is what Jesus says: “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”  Indeed, Jesus has already been teaching the disciples by his words, wisdom and love: in parables, actions, and prayer.  His ultimate teaching was still to come, when he chose to suffer torture and death rather than compromise God, himself or his friends by running away or returning violence for violence. His self-sacrifice demonstrated – so starkly and so beautifully –  that love cannot be killed, and that only love can truly confound violence and evil.

Psychologists learn various techniques– professional kinds of love – to try to help people deal with anxiety and fear.  But if psychology does not draw on the centuries of wisdom and human experience that can be found in freely available religious and spiritual teaching, then it will not reach out widely enough, or go deep enough, to help people become truly free. Similarly the church, if it is to live in love, must engage with psychology and other disciplines. I believe dialogue is necessary, and there are of course many historical and present examples of such dialogue. Just as Jesus used the wisdom of scripture and stories of his time to teach truth, we too have thousands of years of wisdom, as well as present-day study and life, to help us learn truth. For example, I see the commandment to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ in the airplane instruction to ‘put on your own oxygen mask first, before helping others.’ Doesn’t this oppose church teaching to put others’ needs first?  I do not think so. I think this instruction makes the meaning of the commandment quite clear: we cannot help our neighbour unless we are breathing. Putting on our own oxygen mask gives us the means to turn and help our neighbour breathe too. If we do not put on our own mask then we endanger not only ourselves, but also the neighbour who needs us. Love of self and neighbour are inseparable.

In Jesus’ dangerous God we find truth: love is eternal, and that is the greatest safety and hope of all. And whether we have been offered real love by a neighbour, or a psychologist, or a priest, or by Jesus himself, if we can accept this divine gift of love for us exactly as we are, in our saintliness and sinfulness – not an easy thing to do –  then we will be able to offer this extraordinary gift of grace to others too. Then, oxygen supply flowing, like the disciples, we can begin to learn how to hold onto our integrity and patience when facing uncertainty and fear -- safe in the knowledge that, as Jesus taught us, no threat, not even death, can destroy the divine gift of love which flows through us and so deeply connects us to the heaven and hell of humanity. To me, that is faith: so joyous and wondrous, even if sometimes so hard. But as Jesus the psychologist, lover of humanity, and teacher of love, courage and hope, reminds us in today’s Gospel: “Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

 Amen.