As every wag has noted, it was indeed a Good Friday for Boris Johnson; and this blog is mighty pleased he is out of ICU and on the mend. We are also pleased his father has recommended he take it easy. Yesterday, an almost empty St. Peter's in Rome featured a homily by a priest who suggested God had allowed all viruses to evolve, like all life forms, within their own free patterns, and that He therefore had not stopped Covid-19. This is a fascinating argument, and one that I need to think through more closely.
He also called the Crucifixion the 'most evil act in human history' - which, if one agrees that Christ was God Incarnate, may well be the case. Like many others, I have long struggled to understand the Matrix-level complexities of an event that HAD TO HAPPEN and yet was not divinely-controlled.
I suppose it equates to epidemiological modelling. The scientists who predict a thousand deaths a day next week in the UK are not making those patients die - they just know it is bound to happen. Bound being an intriguing word here. Was Judas, like a virus, free to sin, yet also, likely to, being human? The historical crucifixion occurred, and Pontius Pilate and the main figures of the Passion were historically real. Indeed, the only doubt is over the miracles beforehand, then the return to life, after three days, after the monstrous inhumanity at Golgotha.
Miracles are just unexplained laws of science; and resurrections do seem to happen, more and more, as modern medicine crosses over the threshold between life and death, and extends those barriers and boundaries. It may be that Christ was supra-humanly strong; that he 'died' and came back to life, as patients now do; and his return was, as we would say, miraculous.
I am Catholic, and believe in the Resurrection. I admit to being often stupefied, worried and perplexed, but I am doing my best to comprehend the major mysteries. Fortunately, as a mere human, I am not expected to know the mind of God.
We who are alive, and not yet dying or dead, have much to be grateful for this Easter, this Passover; this time of year. Humankind can still go much farther, and learn more, from this event, this epochal event that may well count as a foreseen Apocalypse. We have all the moral tools and precedents, and the occasion, to now justify paying those who fight, teach, police, clean, and watch over our health - the essential workers - far more than we do. They risk all for us, in good times, and bad times, and the rich pocket the clever tax rebates, and avoid shouldering their risk and burden.
But Christ did not come to topple political or economic systems; he came to change our relationship to our neighbours, our selves, and our creator. He required loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Now is not the time to blame. Or hate. Let us love each other, and wash our distant hands.
Comments
Concerning the event that HAD TO HAPPEN and was not divinely-controlled, let me quote from the Book of Lamentations: ''But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.'' This quote being in the Old Testament, the author believes that God creates good and evil. The minute Christians deny this and postulate that God only does good things, then they have to also invent the devil, who is only evil, in order to explain where evil comes from. It gets very complicated.
One night, around 45 years ago, I was living in a hunting cabin in the middle of the woods, and was petrified with fear as I heard a bear in the dark growling as it devoured a small animal. The victim was also screaming and howling as it was dying. It was dark outdoors and I couldn't see anything but heard it all.
Some people will claim -- as your theologian - that the Crucifixion was the most evil event in history. Others only see the evil caused by civilization, done by men. I wouldn't say the bear I heard in the forest was committing an evil act. But I realized there and then that in Nature there are atrocities, just as in the civilized world. So much for the hippies and the ''back to nature'' movement of the sixties.
If Christ is indeed the Son of God, yes then the Crucifixion is a very nasty business. But remember it was common practice in those days to crucify criminals. Now Jesus was not a criminal. Maybe the fact that He was a sacrifice without blemish makes His death worse. It was certainly unfair.
What appeals to me in the story of Jesus is that He assumed the lot of the common man, he worked with His hands and underwent capital punishment as other men of His time. When he went to Nazareth, they wondered where He had gotten this power to do miracles, since He was the son of the carpenter and the local people knew His brothers and sisters. He struck everybody as an ordinary guy.
The Church has gotten a lot of mileage out of the Crucifixion and it has produced material for great sermons -- Jesus did say that when He would be raised up, He would draw all men unto himself.
But the Crucifixion, and the current pandemic, are first of all natural events. Of course capital punishment should be abolished. Of course no one should die. Pandemics have come and gone. Wars and murders have also. No need to overdramatize. Remember that common criminals have often been put to death.
God, help me get through this ordinary day without hurting anyone.
Yours
Robert Markland Smith
Montreal