Verbal Venom 2

Over the course of time, we disciples are given insight as a result of reading the Word and spending time with the Lord in prayer. This work of the Spirit is not done in a vacuum, however, but rather in and through the community of other like-minded believers and followers of Jesus. That has certainly the case for me in terms of this subject.

I have had a rough week. My sister-in-law, the one I posted about last week, died three days ago. Being 2000 miles away from the epicenter of my family (not to mention being a starving student) made that stressful, not only in terms of the grieving within my family - but also in terms of preparing to fly out for the funeral, etc. Here's my point. I haven't had time to follow up the Verbal Venom posting... much less the desire. Somehow, the loss of someone I love - someone who died too young - distracted me, and prevented me from thinking very clearly.
But God, in His mercy, provided insight through the community of online blog-ism. He provided Bub... probably not his (or her?) real name (if it is, perhaps we should flog the parents). Nevertheless, Bub came through for me in his response to the questions I asked in my last post. Since it is more likely others will actually see his response if they are posted afresh, his insightful, Spirit-directed advice on living with jerks (even in the community of God) is copied below in all its unedited glory:

interesting situation. seems strangely familiar. in reflecting on this situation, i'd venture a guess that this is all too common in our churches. this could be troubling, or it could be seen as an opportunity (or it could be seen as a troubling opportunity!) . i really think that our struggle really isn't against those pain in the butt types that we encounter in life. rather, it's a struggle against those forces of the enemy that may be at work in those pain in the butt types we encounter. ( i think that's Paul's take on it.) and let's be fair. who of us has not been the pain in someone's butt? we've all fallen short of God's glory, right? we all screw up.

so what's the difference in the body of Christ. honestly, my temptation would be to right off this veritable vomiter of verbal venom. you know, just disconnect completely and detach. classic conflict-avoidance. i'm not sure Christ will let us get away with that. admittedly, i can be kinda dim and there is a lot about Christ that is mysterious, but I think i get this much. Christ is about redemption and reconciliation. what if your friend didn't excuse or take this kind of behavior from her acquaintance? but what if she also surrounded this situation in prayer and invited others to join her in this truly spiritual battle? what if truth was spoken in love and sin was confronted and restoration began? what if the attempts of the enemy to fracture Christ's Body were thwarted because the members of the Body resolved to hang together and together, administer healing to this wounded member?

my life's experience is that those who bark loudest and bite hardest are often also hurting most profoundly.

i think if it were me, i'd advise your friend to pray for patience and grace. i'd counsel them to find a way to confront the sinful behavior and seek active loving ways to manifest Christ's healing to this injured individual. pie in the sky? a naive and pollyanna approach? maybe. but if Christ really can make all things new and if He expects us to get involved in the process, i guess i have to believe that He can make it happen.

i think that a largely non-christian world watching us "Jesus people" would sit up and take notice if we really loved eachother when it wasn't easy and resolved our conflicts in our churches.

anybody can love folks that are nice and just like them. even sinners to that. (have i heard that somewhere before?) i am hearing a call to a radical kind of love - a love i know precious little about and have absolutely no resources in and of myself to create....but i've got to believe it exists. otherwise, i've got nothin' to hang my hat on with this jesus.

Amen, Bub. It sounds like you have wrestled with these issues before, and we get to be the benefactor in an iron-sharpens-iron sort of way. Thanks for a thought-provoking response to a difficult set of questions.

Amazing Grace

So, what is it about human nature that makes it so hard to forgive one another? I was reading the account of the crucifixion this morning in Mark 15, and something struck me afresh. Jesus was on His way to the cross, carrying His own cross (actually, just the crossbeam portion I'm guessing). Of course, this is only after being put on false trial, mocked, brutally beaten, etc... you get the idea.

But the thing that caught my eye this morning wasn't the story of Jesus carrying His own cross... it was the fact that "they" (whoever they are) grabbed a passer-by named Simon of Cyrene and made him carry the heavy, splintery, now-bloody crossbeam... apparently because Jesus could not physically carry it any longer Himself. I wonder if Simon of Cyrene ever forgave the Jews, the Romans, and perhaps even Jesus for invading his privacy and making him carry that stupid cross. He was just passing by from the country - he had no beef with the Roman government. Why'd "they" pick him to carry that disgusting thing... UPHILL? And Jesus... if He hadn't gone and stirred up trouble, taking on the religious leaders, and making statements like, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days" (John 2:19)... Simon would not have been put in this God-forsaken position in the first place! But alas, as the Bible so often does, it only mentions Simon in passing - it never lets us in on his emotional state after being forced to do such a humiliating task.

Why do I ask if Simon ever forgave everyone? Because even though he had to carry the cross, I wonder if Simon really understood what was really happening in Jerusalem that fateful day. I wonder if he stuck around and heard Jesus cry "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" shortly before breathing His last? I wonder if Simon ever realized that Jesus died for him... and his family... and his relatives... and the whole world? Because, unless Simon understood the significance of the cross in which he was enlisted to carry - that is, the significance of the crucifixion of Jesus - he probably went away embarrassed and angry, rather than grateful and repentant.

I'm convinced that it is only in the light of the cross that we have the proper perspective on our own pain and suffering at the hands of evil-intended people. If we judge our actions based on our own, extremely self-serving sense of justice rather than God's supremely self-giving act of love... then it is next to impossible to forgive those who conspire to hurt us. If we truly want to be free when we're trapped in a prison of unforgiveness... then all we have to do - all Simon had to do - is look to the enormity of God's willingness to become one of us and lay down His life for our sake. Anything and everything we'll ever face in this life pales in comparison. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, he said that in order for us to roughly understand the significance of the Incarnation (The Son of God coming into the world and being born of a woman)... is to think of ourselves letting go of our humanity in order to become a slug! Amen... and, I might add, becoming a slug with the full knowledge that evil people would eagerly be there to pour salt on our slimy little body.