Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Creative Disregard

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

. . . looking away unto the one who created faith and brought it to completion - Jesus, who, faced with the joy before him, endured a cross, disregarding the shame, having taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.(12:2)

Faith opens our souls. Hands and faces too. Such is the force of the spirit of Christ among us. But the very grace that exposes us makes us vulnerable to people who are looking for open souls on which to cast their shame. A sinner always needs a victim - an open, lighted place to throw darkness, like somebody dumping garbage into a pristine river. The cross of Christ is the focal point of such unholy casting off, the bull's eye on which Jesus was pinned along with all who would follow him.

We are wise to be aware of this. And yet, having acknowledged our vulnerability, it need not warrant too much of our attention. There is something bigger coming down in creation than the evils that swarm about us. That is why, in the text, Jesus endured the shame of the cross. That shame, namely, the socio-political scandal of Roman crucifixion, would lose its primary meaning, and hence, its power, in the evolution of the symbol over time. Time is God's ally, stretching God's dominion beyond the compass of mortal reckoning: the cross would become a token of resurrection. 

This, we can imagine, is what Jesus saw- what the writers name “joy” (chara). It is a joy (gift) that cannot be controlled by the blunt edge of force that would cast its darkness onto others, no matter how formidable the resources for doing so. 

Is it really possible, as the text advocates, to take evil seriously and disregard it at the same time? I believe so. For it is faith that enables us to look away from the present debacle in which we live - without denial - to the chara that is on the horizon. For this “looking away” is also a “looking unto”. One word going in both directions at the same time. It indicates a shift of focus. A reassignment of import. Like sailors in a night storm spotting a starry sky on the horizon coming their way: the present contention of flying ropes and loose spars suddenly takes on a different light. Storms pass. To say so is an act of faith, especially when you are staring at death. It is a creative disregard for the desperation of the moment. It is what all the martyrs and heroes of the faith named in Hebrews could see from their grissly predicaments. Otherwise they would have been trapped in a frozen moment that denies what the creator is doing, as in Psalm 14:4:

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers 
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?(NRSV)

One can see how impossible it is to call on God, the creator, and still live under the illusion that the present moment, and whatever we choose to do, for good or ill, creates reality. We are creatures in a creation popping and cracking with change. We come and go, trusting our creator in both our birth and demise. All the while, God's promise in Jesus Christ rises up like a night blooming cereus.

© 2010 Andy Gay