"By your words you shall be acquitted"

By your words you shall be acquitted, and by your words you shall be condemned. - Jesus (Matthew 12:37)

The Bible invites us to imagine the Last Day, and to wonder about the words that will be spoken to us. While Jesus has given us more than one picture of the Last Day, they share a common theme: "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." Jesus said that our own words would come back to us on the Last Day, not only for those who are condemned but even for those who would be acquitted:

I say to you: That every idle word that people shall speak, they shall give account for it on the Day of Judgment. For by your words you shall be acquitted, and by your words you shall be condemned. (Matthew 12:36-37)

So, if the words I hear on that day are words that I have used myself, I should ask myself: with what words would I like to be acquitted? When we imagine the Last Day, we might worry about what words we will hear, and we may wonder what words will be spoken to us. But if we are judged "by our own words", then we have a hand in choosing the words we will hear on that day.

May I never again say something I would not want to hear said back to me on that day. What words would I want to hear? When I think of words of forgiveness, these words would be sweet to my soul: 

• "There is so much good in you. We'll remember the best, and the rest will be like it never happened. You'll see. This is a new beginning."
• "Is that even worth comparing to all the kindnesses you have shown, day after day, week after week, year after year? How could I see only the bad and overlook all the good?"
• "You're remembering what you said? I know that's not the kind of person you want to be. Let's put that behind us."
• "I have waited for the day when we could get past that. Consider it forgotten." 
• "What I've really wanted is a chance to be reconciled to you. This place is better with you in it, and that's what matters to me now."

When Jesus said our words would be used to acquit us, he wasn't talking about a blog. He was talking about words we say to other people. So if we want to choose the words that we most want to hear on the Last Day, it's time we start saying those things to other people. Make your own list. Let yourself imagine what you'd most want to hear. And then make sure that someone hears it from you, from the heart. The words of judgment we hear on that day will be our own words. We are invited to live our lives in such a way that the Lord will have plenty of beautiful things to choose from.

If I Corinthians 13 were written today

If I Corinthians 13 were written today, what would Paul have used as his examples? Just imagining:

If I study my Bible every day and have private devotions, but have not love, I am nothing. If I tithe to the church, and support good charities, but have not love, I gain nothing. If I pray day and night, and join the choir, and worship every time the church opens her doors, but have not love, it is nothing. If I teach Sunday school, and serve as a church officer, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful or proud. It is not rude or self-seeking or touchy [easily angered]. It keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, perseveres through all things.

Love never fails. Where there are Bible studies or sermons, they will cease ... for now we know in part, but then we shall see face to face.

Three things remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Some of the details would change based on church membership. Some might have

• If I abstain from drinking, smoking, and dancing, but have not love ...
• If I fast twice a week, but have not love ...
• If I pray the rosary but have not love ...
• If I observe the Sabbath, but have not love ...

Every group has its thing. Why isn't the thing love?

A familiar verse, a different way to interpret it

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." -- Genesis 1:28

Reading the Talmud and overhearing the ancient sages interpret Scripture is fascinating to me. It is completely common to see a single verse discussed at length from one angle after another. What would happen if we interpreted this familiar Scripture above in that way?

I could picture a conversation on this verse much like the following. I hope I can be forgiven my poor attempts at dialog and imitating the general flavor of the conversations in the Talmud. Here is how I would picture a conversation on this verse, in the general style of the conversations in the Talmud:

First Student: "Did God bless them, or did God command them?"
Older student: "It is a command. He said two things, for it is written, 'God blessed them and said to them, etc".
Other student: "It is a blessing, for it is written, 'God blessed them.'"
First Teacher: "If you say the blessing and the command are two different things, if you say 'Be fruitful' is the command, then what is the blessing?"
Second Teacher: "The ancients have taught that this is a command for us. If you say 'be fruitful' is the blessing, then what is the command?"
First Teacher: "The blessing is fulfilled in living the command."

Third Teacher: "The ancients taught, 'God's Word here is part of the Words of Creation.' As God said 'Let there be light' and 'Let the earth produce life,' so the Holy One also said, 'Be fruitful.'"
Student: "But -- 'be fruitful' -- is it not the first command of the Torah?"
Third Teacher: "The first command of the Torah is part of the Words of Creation."
Second Teacher: "Are all the commands of the Torah part of the Words of Creation?"

First teacher: "He spoke from paradise. What blessing was needed in paradise?"
Third teacher: "The whole world was not paradise, as it says, 'And God planted a garden in the East.' Therefore the Holy One says, 'Fill the earth.'"

And so ends my flawed attempts to give you all an idea of the way a verse might look when it is discussed in the Talmud.

I mostly wanted to give you all an idea how "context" comes up in ways we might not expect. When a blessing and command are mentioned in the same verse, it raises the question whether there is a difference between a blessing and a command. When a saying of God occurs in the context of creation, it may be part of creation. And if the very first command of the Bible could be viewed as a blessing and as part of creation, it raises the same questions of all later commands.

What Bible verse are you?

"I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat ..." - Mother Theresa of Calcutta.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." - MLK

"Consider the lilies of the field." - Francis of Assissi

"Sing to the LORD a new song." - Charles Wesley, Amy Grant ...

I suspect that everybody has a verse, or a collection of verses, that really speak to them. The saints among us are those who follow that call of the Word of God.

If you think that being "born of again of the Word of God" is just a figure of speech, ask yourself this: Was Mother Theresa just an unusually good person, or was she an incarnation of the parable of the sheep and the goats? I believe that her spirit was born again when she heard the verses that called to her, and the word of God took root in her and lived.

I think most of us know the call of those verses that speak to us.

So I'm not kidding when I ask, "What Bible verse are you?"

What if your profession had been named?

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely -- be content with your pay."

These are some of the conversations recorded between John the Baptist and those who came to be baptized. But I can't help but wondering what he would say to us today. I know most of us could stand to hear, "Be content with your pay." But would there have been more pointed advice for some trades? What if ...

If some lawyers came to him and asked, "What should we do?"

Would he have said, "Do not defend the guilty nor accuse the innocent; seek only justice" and "Do not bear false witness"?

If some car salesmen came to him and asked, "What should we do?"

Would he have said, "Do not take advantage of the widows or the young" and "Do not use dishonest price scales to take extra money from the unwary"?

I know there are other professions that have a reputation for being ethically challenged. But do you wonder what he would have said if he were talking to people of your trade? Here's mine:

If he were talking to programmers, would he have said, "Do not inflate your estimates to avoid an honest discussion on the merits of a project"? Or "Don't abuse your expertise to give misleading answers that suit your convenience"? (You always suspected some of us did. Well, some of us do.)

If your profession had been named, what would have been said to you?

Return good for evil: Forgiveness struggles #2

Last post, I took stock of bitterness and resentment taking root in my life. I asked you all to bear with me, that there was a good purpose to this. As far as rooting out this kind of spiritual poison, Jesus taught some things that, the more I work with them, the more I realize just how practical they are. The first thing is to pray for those who mistreat us. The list of people who get on my nerves is a prayer list. I should pray for them particularly for God's goodness and blessing. I should give thanks for any good in them in particular. I should pray that I have patience and God's Spirit towards them in particular. This probably does more to change my attitude towards them than anything else. Left to my own devices, my "solution" is to grit my teeth at injustice and to hope they see the good in me. Meanwhile I do not see the good in them, and resentment, self-righteousness, and hard-heartedness grow freely. Prayer is the place to start. The second thing is to do for them what I wish they would do for me. It is sometimes difficult to imagine what nice thing I should do for someone who is wronging me -- until I ask myself, "How do I wish they were treating me?" I can easily tell you how I wish they were treating me; that is what I should do for them. That is how to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" for this situation, and how to return good for evil. So below I run through each of the things that are bothering me and try to see how to repay good for evil, and make it my goal to do these things for the people in question.
What's bothering me	As I would have them do to me
For pouncing on every mistake I make, no matter how small, and overlooking anything I do right, no matter how large or difficult For regularly refusing to be more than coldly polite For often refusing to be even coldly polite Although we need to work with each other to get through the day, being pointedly uncooperative and seeming to delight in making things difficult In sum, for treating me unjustly and with seeming hatred no matter what I do	Make sure to notice when they do something right, and if any mistakes must be noticed, notice them with gentleness Be genuinely warm Be cooperative and delight in making things easier In sum, treat her justly and with kindness no matter what she does
For keeping me at arm's length even though we are family For believing every story told about me without checking whether it is accurate For making all Christian holidays unpleasant by pointed, hostile "indifference"	Be welcoming and open Be slow to believe the worst and quick to believe better Make sure never to treat with indifference, instead making a point of appreciating
For avoiding family occasions For rehearsing stories of every wrong thing I've done even back to elementary school, and in front of other people who do not know first-hand whether the stories as retold are fair or accurate; in effect training certain other people to dislike me and getting in low shots when I am unaware and unable to speak in my own defense	Seek out chances to break the ice Rehearse stories of every good thing they've ever done, back as far as I can remember, and in front of other people
For treating a friend of mine as worthless For encouraging this friend to stay unemployed so that she would be justified in ignoring his thoughts on finances and treating him as worthless For putting him in a no-win situation and then blaming him for losing	It's actually more difficult for me to figure out the reversal when it's not me being wronged. Make sure she knows her worth and find ways to acknowledge her worth in front of her Encourage her to do her best as a show of faith that she has something to offer Try to put her in a situation where she can win; avoid harsh blaming and instead build up shared regret over the bad situation
For belittling me, treating me with contempt, and constantly holding over my head the threat of rejection and abandonment For abandoning me in a hundred little ways before finally and officially abandoning me	Treat with respect Set aside coldness and indifference during times we see each other (e.g. exchanging the kids) Be willing to listen and encourage as needed, setting aside bitterness, not returning hostility for abandonment but instead showing steadfastness and kindness without any thought to whether it is deserved (it rarely is) or whether it is appropriate (it is more appropriate than the alternatives)

Getting on my nerves: Forgiveness struggles #1

Struggles with bitterness and resentment aren't really something we Christians talk about very openly. Speaking for myself, I'm embarrassed to have these struggles and these ugly spots in my heart. All the same, every so often I find myself struggling against resentment and bitterness, especially when dealing with various people who have treated me badly. In keeping with Paul's instructions "Get rid of all bitterness" (etc.) I'd originally planned a spiritual Spring Cleaning for Lent. I have now decided that I'd rather not wait for Lent. Bitterness and anger work against love, and are often temptations to hatred. The sooner I address it, the better. I'll have to ask you all to bear with me on this post. It's awfully forthright. It does not exactly show me in the best light, but I decided to post it in the hopes that other people might recognize their own struggles. The list below is not meant to justify my anger; it is simply meant to locate the problem. The next post on the subject will be more edifying, but this one has to come first: tracing down the various roots of bitterness and resentment, and being forthright with myself about the things that I need to address. I'd originally made this list for my own private use by name of each person who has been getting on my nerves. I'm omitting the names in this published version. At first I hesitated to even acknowledge the various resentments that were growing inside me because I wasn't sure what good it would accomplish. I'll show the advantage of making such a list in my next post. It turns out to have been a real help to be specific about not only who was getting on my nerves, but also what, exactly, was bothering me. For now, I just identify resentments: where I struggle with forgiveness and love.
Who's bothering me	What's bothering me
Anonmyous #1	For pouncing on every mistake I make, no matter how small, and overlooking anything I do right, no matter how large or difficult For regularly refusing to be more than coldly polite For often refusing to be even coldly polite Although we need to work with each other to get through the day, being pointedly uncooperative and seeming to delight in making things difficult In sum, for treating me unjustly and with seeming hatred no matter what I do
Anonmyous #2	For keeping me at arm's length even though we are family For believing every story told about me without checking whether it is accurate For making all Christian holidays unpleasant by pointed, hostile "indifference"
Anonmyous #3	For avoiding family occasions For rehearsing stories of every wrong thing I've done even back to elementary school, and in front of other people who do not know first-hand whether the stories as retold are fair or accurate; in effect training certain other people to dislike me and getting in low shots when I am unaware and unable to speak in my own defense
Anonmyous #4	For treating a friend of mine as worthless For encouraging this friend to stay unemployed so that she would be justified in ignoring his thoughts on finances and treating him as worthless For putting him in a no-win situation and then blaming him for losing
And just for good measure, Anonmyous #5 -- some older stuff that still bothers me sometimes	For belittling me, treating me with contempt, and constantly holding over my head the threat of rejection and abandonment For abandoning me in a hundred little ways before finally and officially abandoning me
In the next post: what good can possibly come from opening that can of worms.