I spent the last week in the Kentucky woods. Worn and dismayed by the world around me, I took my leave of it for a few days. The woods are healing for me. I was here in the woods in March when Covid broke in on us. I noticed then that God was sending us spring with its green, its beauty, its growth just like he has always done—no matter what was happening in our cities. The image of emerging green was anchoring to me then, even as this all green world is anchoring for me now.
A friend came up for part of the time and other friends visited. On Friday we sat on the front porch and talked about the chaos in world and church. One of my friends said, “You know, it seems we all tend toward truth or mercy. I’m a truth person. I call it like I see it. I name the right or wrong of things that need to be named. Other people are mercy people. They focus on empathy and patience and forgiveness. Their more gentle touch enables the power of truth to sink in and be accepted. We are meant to work together.”
She went on to say, “But now instead of using each other’s strengths to help and heal the world, we are judging and condemning each other. We have lost our connection with each other. What I don’t know is how to get it back.”
We talked about motivations. My friend continued, “I want people to understand that when I speak confronting truth it is because I want people to make life-giving choices that will save them extra heartache.”
That made good sense to all of us.
But then another said later in a text, “But it is the way truth is presented that can make a great difference in how it is received. How it is received makes the difference in whether it influences, converts, is ignored, or leads a person toward repentance and goodness. I, too, am a truth person in my way, though often the truth I speak is about vulnerability, equality, and mercy.”
As I have thought and prayed, there is clarity and wisdom in that conversation. There is anchoring beyond the steady peace of summer green.
This morning, as I reflect again on our scriptures for today, a new way of looking at the Gospel emerges.
Different Words from Jesus
Jesus speaks frequently in the Gospels about peace. “Peace I give you,” he tells his disciples again and again. “Blessed are the peacemakers” he says as part of the Beatitudes. Yet today he says,
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”
He goes on to say he will create division for his disciples—even in their own families. And I know, in fact, this particular Scripture has been applied often in family discussions around God matters. Jesus continues,
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”
Those words of Jesus could lead one to say this divide in holy people is necessary, predicted by Jesus, and we just have to pick up the cross, dig in our heels for our perspective, and reject or fight.
But then Jesus’ next words do not quite fit with that meaning, especially for situations where good and holy people approach an issue differently, yet all from real foundations of Scripture and Magisterium.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
Jesus Advice to Us
Jesus seems to be saying here, “Wait, accepting the divisions that come is NOT THE WHOLE STORY.” He gives four ways to deal with the reality of difference:
- “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” When a difference (truth-mercy or otherwise) is perceived, both people can receive the goodness in the other point of view, as well as the goodness in their own, and work together through the Holy Spirit to create solutions.
- “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.” When a difference is perceived, one can receive the goodness and truth in the other person’s perspective and be converted by it.
- “Whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.” If one is not persuaded to see things from the other side’s perspective, and still sees them as wrong, he or she can STILL see the goodness in the PERSON who speaks and respect that their perspective can come from their effort to follow God.
- “And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is my disciples—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” And if a person is a “little one,” not yet well formed in the ways of God, a person of faith can give him or her a bit of refreshment by both respectfully listening and then respectfully expressing a swallowable drink’s worth of truth.
Application
Looking at this Scripture this way gives me a new take on our Friday conversation. I must be true to my understanding of what God asks of me. Yet, the Kingdom of God is not built by Christians constructing bunkers to protect their polarities. And, the truth-mercy debate, like most of the other polarities, has been around in the church since Acts 6, when there was an issue of whether the apostles should preach the Gospel or tend tables. When the issue was faced with respect and connection, the solution of the diaconate was found.
And so it has been through twenty centuries. Should Gentiles be required to be circumcised? Was forgiveness possible if a person seriously sinned after baptism? How could Christianity survive after Rome fell? How could the influence of religious be brought to the cities? EVERY TIME people stayed in connection, the Holy Spirit gave them solutions that kept Christians bound together in unity to build the Kingdom of God.
But there were other times when differences led to heresy or even divided God’s church.
God knows us. Jesus knew what we would face. Do I do the best I can to AT LEAST ALWAYS give those who see things differently a cup of cold water? Do I try to be open to be converted by a truth I had not seen before? Do I see goodness in the opposition? Do I, after consideration, need to respectfully stand my ground? Do I take the time and trouble to discern the difference?
Questions for prayer. Food for thought. Gift of God for me from today’s readings and honest, respectful conversation with my friends.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for my learning this week and Your healing work through the green of the trees, the rest, and good conversations with friends. Thank You for helping me see a next step in Your continuing conversion of me. Now help me apply what You have shown me. When I read or hear a differing perspective, help me think, pray, and respond with connection—whether that connection is a cup of cold water, a mutual respect that leads to work together, my moving to the other’s point of view, or disagreeing with respect. Help me grow Lord, even when following You brings crosses and swords. Lead me, guide me.
