Does God feel?
There are two images of God that we strain to reconcile. The first is from our Greek philosophical roots in which creation has a strong dualism. What pertains to the spirit is higher in value and closer to the divine, while what pertains to matter and our bodies drags the spirit down into the messiness of earth. Thought and reason are valued much higher than our bodies and emotions, which are subject to change, and ultimately death. God is pure Spirit - “above the fray” so to speak, beyond all emotion. This God is perfect in an unimaginable way, unchanging, and cannot be affected by the world and cannot suffer.
In contrast, the Hebrew tradition (Jesus’ tradition) paints a much different image of God. Creation is decidedly NOT dualistic. There is no separation of Body and Spirit - we are one unified whole (hence Jesus’ bodily resurrection). Body and spirit are inseparable and emotion is every bit as spiritually valuable as reason. God freely chooses to become active in history and is passionately related to what is going on.
The very essence of God is LOVE that is involved; compassion embodied and discernable with and among us. The ideal for us, then who are made in this divine image is to be engaged and moved by all the joys and turmoils of life. Here, the real opposite to being “God-like” is to be indifferent or aloof…above it all.
In the Hebrew tradition, to be moved by suffering and to relate to those in need with compassion is how we become conformed to God’s image. For example, when Jesus saw Simon’s sick mother in law he approached her, grasped her hand, and helped her up. It does not say that “Jesus healed her fever”, he simply saw her, went to her, took her hand and helped her up and then, almost as an after thought, it says the fever left her.
We, as the body of Christ, are asked to care for one another in the same way. When we see another suffering, we are asked to come near, even when it is out of our comfort zone, or we are busy, or we have some heavy doubts that we can be of any help at all. We grow in the image and likeness of God when we take the other’s hand, in friendship, solidarity, and kindness and help each other up.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser tells a story about a woman who, in the midst of great suffering and despair, wanders into her church. Alone, she closes her eyes and fervently prays, “God, I am in great pain and I need to know that you care. I know I’m not supposed to ask for miracles or signs, but I’m at the end of my rope. Please, I beg of you, give me a sign of your presence.” After a long while, she suddenly feels a hand on her shoulder! And for a moment her stomach flips and she is paralyzed! Could it be God is actually giving her the sign she asked for? Slowly she turns and opens her eyes and sees behind her one of her friends. As their eyes meet, the woman can’t hide her disappointment. Her friend says, “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but you seem very upset, can I help?” The woman explains about her prayer and how she thought her friend was God touching her on the shoulder and her friend asks “But, what hand did you think God would use?” As St. Theresa of Avila writes “Christ has no body now on earth but yours….”
Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: http://crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment