Goodness, beauty, and justice… I am thinking about the justice bit and why retribution is such fun, especially in Marvel films, but we are called to radical forgiveness.
Forgiveness looks strange in the midst of injustice… Gaza… Putin… need to reflect on Romans 12:19 Vengence is mine
Romans 12:18-21 NRSV If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
In the podcast we learn that there is a Jewish Midrash that before God created, for God to be love, humanity had to be forgiven, so the idea is, to create, God had to forgive.
Lots to ponder in a deeply personal podcast
‘Every act of love is an act of faith and begins with a commitment to forgive… ‘ should be part of prenatal classes, marriage prep, life!
From a journal entry of October 2023, written in Wales, I wrote the following deeply thought through statement of where I was at. Two years later I am still moved by the thoughts captured.
Teifi Estuary from road to Poppit
Jesus is more than the figure on the page. Jesus is and was and will be; a flow where the future meets the now and the past is revealed. What’s on the page is a flicker of what was experienced, heard and touched; a taking account of what had been. Jesus on the page reflects the simple men who wrote from their experience of an event that wrenched their hearts. All is love, all is trust in love, love of all and forgiveness. Salvation. A saving from who we are.
Jesus points away from himself. He is the problem. He points to the Father and enjoins us to see only the Father in him. He is but bread, he is simply wine- broken and poured out in a time splitting event. God is revealed in the event of the cross- rent- only a man- rent- son of Mary- rent.
Where does Jesus become real? In the words and recollections, the dogma, the mystical truth that divides? Grace calls us to simplicity. Jesus is the person of God revealed so that we may perfectly know God. Jesus is the incarnate reality that reveals we are all one in God. This union is real, experienced and heals. The attestation is not the person- the stories aren’t the man. The words are not his words. They express an encounter with the divine, an impression of a transfiguring presence. This was the man who revealed deity- not the son of a virgin, not a healer or miracle worker, not a resurrected King but God.
If there is truth in the words, it is because Jesus is already known. He is already there, within, seen and heard.
M Emlyn Humphries 