The Sound of Silence

Gladstone, my gargoyle puppet, turns out to be quite the singer.  He performed the following yesterday, to a very well-known tune originally by Simon and Gar...goyle?

(We've been going through the life of Elijah in our Old Testament readings.)

Hello Yahweh, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again

Because a sadness set me weeping, and despair has stopped me sleeping

And the mission that you gave me is too tough, I've had enough

And all I've found is silence

Near desert streams I walked alone, laid my head upon a stone

Drought had put me in a bad mood, I turned to calling out to you for food

Then surprise! There's bread, in a flash of a raven's flight, every night

Falls to the ground in silence

You made the widow's oil jar pour, and every day there was some more,

We were living without starving, but her son died without reason,

I was righting wrongs and praying that you cared, and so I dared

To raise the dead from silence

Fools, said I, aren't you aware, idols cannot answer prayer

Hear my words and I might teach you, here's a sign that God might reach you

With the fire, at last the raindrops fell, and filled up all the wells in silence

And the people bowed and prayed, for my God had won the day

But the king sent out his warning, so I fled here in the morning

And I sought a word for your prophet in the earthquake, wind and fire

But they passed by, and you whispered in the sounds of silence.

Optical Illusions in the Bible

Once, at school, I came across one of those books of optical illusions.  Each page was just a picture, with a little note explaining the two different things you were supposed to be able to see: two faces, or a vase?  An old woman, or a young woman?

One of the pictures baffled me completely.  No matter how hard I squinted at it or which angle I viewed it from, I just couldn't see the second option.  In the end, I gave up and closed the book.  Later, going back to show a friend, I couldn't find the picture.  I flipped through the book several times before I worked out the problem - I was now seeing the other image.

There are bits of the Bible exactly like that.  Take tomorrow's Gospel reading: Luke 7:36-50.

A woman comes in and pours expensive ointment all over Jesus, making a big fuss.  The Pharisee, Simon, whose house it is, makes a sort of internal snorting retort about Jesus obviously not knowing who is touching him, because she's a notoriously sinful woman.  Jesus notes the unspoken snarkiness and tells a little story about a man who forgives one person a debt of 50p, and a second person a debt of £500, and asks which person would love them man more.  Simon answers that it would be the one who was forgiven more, and Jesus says he has judged correctly, and adds:

“Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Now, I have always taken that to mean that this poor sinful woman was so incredibly evil that she had been forgiven a multitude of sins, whereas shiny Simon the Pharisee only ever needed to be forgiven for things like blowing his nose at the dinner table, and so he wasn't as affected by Jesus' offer of forgiveness.

Tonight when I re-read it, the picture had flipped.  I realised how crazy that interpretation is.  It doesn't tally with what we know of the nature of sin, which is that all have fallen short: everyone is equally in need of God's grace, and everyone is equally undeserving of his mercy.

So what is going on?  Could Jesus be saying, “Because of her faith, this woman has been forgiven, and so she loves me.  But you, Simon, have not been forgiven, because you have never thought to repent”?

Ouch.

Or is he just making the point that the more sin we are aware of in our lives, the more acutely we are aware of our need for forgiveness, the more grateful we are for the knowledge that we have been forgiven?

Another thing I notice about the passage is that there is a sort of circular motion going on. Jesus describes the woman's actions and says "Therefore her sins have been forgiven" - as if the outpouring of tears and perfume led to the forgiveness - but then, "As her great love has shown", as if the outpouring is a result of being forgiven.

That circular motion, I suppose, is how faith and grace are all caught up with each other: and the difference between Simon and the sinful woman is not the level of sin, but the fact that Simon hasn't yet leapt into the whirlpool. Believe in a reality in which you have already been forgiven, and your thankfulness and the actions that love and gratitude lead you to perform will make it so. Know that Jesus has accepted you, and your confident approach will make you accepted. Like Esther when Xerxes points his sceptre. Like Elijah calling down fire. Like all the many people to whom Jesus says "Your faith has made you well", and they stand up realising that healing has taken place, but they are not entirely sure when, or what, or how; only that they already knew that if they just touched the hem of his cloak, everything would be all right.

Rave On!

Today's continuous Old Testament reading is the defeat of Baal's prophets, from 1 Kings 18.  This is one of my favourite Bible readings, because of the brilliant descriptive vocabulary used in Elijah's mocking of the prophets: they limped around the altar, apparently, and at one point he asks them whether their god is on the toilet.  Then it says this:

"And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention." - 1 Kings 18:29

If you're not very familiar with Buddy Holly, you might want to listen to this song.

No-o-o matter what you pray and do

Baal’s not here to stay with  you

Rave on with your crazy fooling and

My God will soon be ruling

When he sends fire from heaven, rave on

The way you dance and limp about

The way you beg and scream and shout

Rave on, you crazy lot, you,

Maybe your god forgot you, or

Maybe he’s on the potty, rave on!

Rave on, I’m gonna match you, cos

I know your god’s a statue,

I’m so glad that I’ll dispatch you when I’m proved right,

Rave on, rave on and tell me

Tell me not to be holy

I tell you, the Lord’s the only saviour in sight

[Instrumental] Come on, you crazy prophets of Baal!  Show me some real rock ‘n’ roll!

Rave on, I’m gonna match you, cos

I know your god’s a statue,

I’m so glad that I’ll dispatch you when I’m proved right,

Rave on, rave on and tell me

Tell me not to be holy

I tell you, the Lord’s the only saviour in sight

Ha, ha, ha!

Ha, ha, ha!

Ha, ha, ha!