Dear People Whom God Loves,
One of the things which can push us into the second half of our life/spiritual journey is sin. This comes with the pain of facing how we have hurt other people and in the process how we have hurt ourselves. This pain can force us to our knees and push us to recognize our need for mercy and forgiveness. Along with this is the realization of our need to make amends when possible and appropriate.
I think that this is what the mystic Lady Julian of Norwich was talking about when she said that Sin is behovly. In modern English this would be something like sin is morally necessary. I would see sin as filled with grace. God is drawing us to where we don’t want to go.
This is the danger of being religiously good just by obeying all the rules and doing all the religious practices. We may not recognize our deep attitude of moral superiority and righteousness. This blocks us from entering the second part of our journey. We have not been brought to our knees. Fortunately, there are other painful tragedies that can push us into it.
I see Jesus as always trying to draw people into this second journey. His parable and sayings usually don’t make sense to us until we enter into the second journey. That is why we tend to pass over them or at least tame them down.
I think this is why Jesus responded differently to the people on the margins and those Pharisees (they were not all like that) who prided themselves on their virtues and their good external behavior. Those on the margins (like the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and sinners) needed to know that they were loved by God and that God’s mercy and forgiveness was theirs. They were drawn to Jesus by his understanding and compassion. On the other hand, I think Jesus spoke sharply to those Pharisees who were righteous—not because he didn’t care about them—but because he was trying to crack open that hard shell that kept their minds blind and their hearts hard. Once that shell was cracked open, the always present mercy and forgiveness of God could enter in and heal them.
More next time.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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