All Aboard!

Psalm 37:1-18

¹⁸Adonai knows what the wholehearted suffer,
but their inheritance lasts forever.

(The NRSV has “blameless” in place of “wholehearted.”)

Exodus 20:1-21

^18 (21) So the people stood at a distance, but Moshe approached the thick darkness where God was.

Colossians 1:24-2:7

⁵…...the disciplined and resolute firmness of your trust in the Messiah.

Matthew 4: 1- 11

⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says,

‘He will order his angels to be responsible for you. . . .
They will support you with their hands,
so that you will not hurt your feet on the stones.’”

⁷ Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’”

“Wholehearted”; “Blameless”— How could I ever claim that those words apply to me? But maybe there is no need to think in terms of claims; or prerogatives; or entitlements. Maybe it isn’t about ideas, or thinking, at all. Maybe this is a whole ‘nother take on Christ’s redemptive work. Maybe it’s about being entirely blameless but at the same time fully accepting blame. Maybe it’s about being utterly wholehearted with a broken heart. I don’t really understand, but the Psalm seems to be saying that it isn’t about my knowledge or understanding, it’s about the Friend who knows all about what the blameless and wholehearted suffer. I’ve been binge-watching Stargate SG-1 and just finished season 5. In one of the later episodes a being known as Oma Desala says that “there is really only one thing that we can ever truly control —whether we are good or evil.“ Of course, that led me to the Gandalf quote, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

“The thick darkness where God was”— I got stuck on the word “thick.” It can mean ‘a measure for width’; it can mean ‘impenetrable’; it can mean ‘gooey’, and it can mean ‘dense’ as in ‘stupid.’ Maybe that means when we enter into the darkness where God is, we get stupid. An apt and useful kind of stupid; the kind of stupid that makes us wholehearted and blameless. The kind of thoughtless, senseless stupid that leaves us utterly vulnerable and unguarded. The kind of stupid that doesn’t know how to hedge our bets, but only knows one choice— whether to trust or not; whether to be good or evil; what to do with the time we have.

“Disciplined and resolute firmness”— I ended up shaking my head, because I couldn’t imagine any way for me to manufacture or produce such a state. Then (of course) Zen snuck up behind me and picked my existential pocket. It isn’t for me to claim such a state, any more than I can claim that I am blameless or whole-hearted. So, what’s the point then? Maybe the words “disciplined” and “firmness” don’t have anything to do with the person doing the trusting, maybe they refer to certain unassailable characteristics of trust itself. Maybe the more we trust, the more discipline we will have at our disposal. Maybe the very act of trusting generates confidence and teaches us how to be steadfast.

“But it also says”— Here’s Jesus using one quote from the Bible to refute another. Hold on!! The implications here are profound! Jesus’s point can only be that it’s ridiculous and utterly unreasonable to try to use scriptural chapter and verse to justify any position; any opinion; any standard. If Jesus can use one quote from Scripture to make a comeback to Satan, when Satan’s quoting the very same Scripture, then where does that leave us? It leaves us where it left Jesus, with the certainty that it’s beside the point. It’s not about choosing to jump or not jump; in fact, it has nothing to do with the kind of either-or choice that causes us to suffer so much. If we put all of our choice-making aboard a little boat named “Trust” then that changes the whole paradigm, doesn’t it?

So:

Suffer wholeheartedly;

Accept blame innocently;

Get right in the thick of stupid;

Forget all those either-or choices.

‘Trust’ is a disciplined and resolute little boat—

even if it has no oars.

All Aboard!