In his first letter to the Corinthians Saint Paul says that 'knowledge puffs up while love builds up'. He refers, then, to two kinds of expansion, puffing up and building up. That which comes through 'knowledge' tends to expand the ego and leave less room for others and their concerns. That which comes through 'love' tends to expand one's environment, leaving space for others to grow and flourish. Knowledge tends to exclude as it inflates the knower, love tends to include as it reaches out to more and more. The Christian call is to live in a more spacious place and in Lent we try to remove the clutter from our lives so that there will be more space for what really matters.
What dimensions is this spacious place to have? The measure of love's expansion is to be taken from God as Jesus teaches in today's gospel: 'be compassionate as your Father is compassionate'. To be holy since God is holy - this teaching is found already in the Old Testament. The gift of the law is the gift of God's loving wisdom to the people to show them how to live in accordance with what God is like and so be worthy to be God's people. Again and again they fail (as we all must do) to live up to this measure. But the life and death of Jesus give flesh to the measure of God's love - it is infinite, he loved them to the end, and his sacrifice, like his outstretched arms, reaches from the rising of the sun to its setting. The gift of the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to us too so that we may live a supernatural, theological life, a life beyond our natural capacities, reaching to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Knowledge remains knowledgeable and in that space we know where we stand. But love is always also knowing, and wise, and understanding, and so to grow in love is to grow in all other ways too. But love's knowledge is more risky and we will not always know where we stand as we venture into God's world, the environment that we call 'the kingdom of God'. There it is more a matter of being known than of knowing, and of allowing God's grace to lead us. 'I loved to choose and see my path, but now lead Thou me on'. Faith and hope give us our hold on this infinitely spacious world and assure us that we are growing into Christ, our tremendous Lover.
The book "This Tremendous Lover" is excellent. I had it on my shelf for months, and was reluctant to start it because the title put me off.
ReplyDeleteOnce I started reading, I didn't want to stop.
I am enjoying these reflections very much; they assist me in my prayers every day.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I don't quite see how today's reflection relates to the scripture of the day and I always thought that Jesus raised Himself from the dead. Could you elaborate a little more on Jesus being raised by the Holy Spirit please.
The reflection starts from the notion of the 'good measure' about which Jesus speaks in the gospel reading. What reality is to be measured and what are its dimensions? 'Love' and 'infinite' seem to be the answers because we are to be compassionate as the Father is compassionate. It brings to mind Paul's comment about knowledge 'puffing up', an expansion that might seem impressive but that is empty compared with the measure of love which 'builds up' - another image of expansion and increase but one which is now desirable rather than to be avoided.
ReplyDeleteThe reference to the Spirit raising Jesus from the dead paraphrases Romans 8:11 - 'If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you'.