Thinking like God: 6th Thursday of the year

“At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mk 8:33)

Peter could not accept the hardness of God’s goodness: the death of the Saviour. This is serious. Not accepting the “foolishness of the Cross” is not accepting God’s way of love and ultimately, not accepting God. No wonder, Jesus calls Peter “Satan”. Of course, Peter does not reject God’s love openly. He does not know that yet. He thought “like men do”.

But the rebuke of Jesus is not a hopeless condemnation but both a scolding with an invite: “get behind me” is also an invitation to follow. We can only follow someone if we go behind him. The way to understand God, and to think “like God thinks” is walking the path Jesus walked.

At then end of his life, Peter was to learn this the hard way, because others would bring him where he did not want to go and would eventually be similarly crucified.

Learning to think like God thinks entails a long process of schooling.

Flesh is of no avail: 3rd Saturday of Easter

John is the theologican of the flesh. “The Word became flesh” are his opening words in his gospel. In his mind, maybe it was his intention of avoiding the spiritual scapism of Greek philosophy where the flesh tends to be regarded as the prison of the spirit.

Catholic faith has taken this danger very much at heart. We believe that God was made flesh. It is in the resurrection of the flesh, that the Eucharistic bread becomes Christ’s flesh, that the church is the “new” flesh of Christ. Love is only a vague ideal until it comes true when it becomes flesh in concrete actions of the bodies. “Jesus gave up his body on the cross”, the church not only shared moments of prayer but made communion true by sharing material wealth: “they have everything in common” (Ac 3). Today, we practice acts of almsgiving, etc.

However today’s gospel is very clear. “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail” (Jn 6:63). Material flesh is only the support of the spirit, very much like water is only the support of the waves. There can be no waves without water, yet, the waves travel far faster and further than the water itself can move. Just like the waves move the water, making it look alive, “it is the spirit that gives life” to the flesh (Jn 6:63).

Daily Wisdom

“He departed from our sight, so that we should turn to our hearts and find him there.”

St. Augustine

You are gods! 5th Friday of Lent

“Every man who knocks at the door of a brothel is looking for God,” G. K. Chesterton said. True. But I would add, every one of those wants to be God. Jesus himself quoted the Scriptures, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods?’ “

The desire to be gods must be a deep one, because the serpent, the most astute of the animals, knew it was man’s soft spot. The one lie with which the serpent could tempt Adam and Eve out of the garden was this : “If you eat…, you will be as gods.”

Like all desires that God put in the human heart, the desire to want to be like God is a good one. What is wrong is the use of strategies that fail to achieve that end. We call those bad strategies sin.

The sin of Adam was to want to be god without God. Jesus shows the right strategy. No man can be god apart from God. Not even the Son can be God apart from the Father.

Who can fail to notice the obsession the gospel of John has for the verbs “abide”, “dwell” and “remain”. That concept opens the key to the mission of Jesus. He shows us how to remain in God, and in so doing, he heals the rupture Adam caused. Jesus abided in the Father and the Father in Him. When His word abides in men… then and only then, can men fulfil the age-old dream of becoming gods in God.