Indulge Me, Please, in a Little Revolt

The Protestant Reformation, I answered confidently.

Our youngest was grilling me on some of the things he'd learned in his religion class. 

That's not what this says, he countered. What is r-e-v-o-l-t?

Revol-- Revolt?! I exclaimed in dismay. I was clearly offended. Our son attends a school that does not align entirely with our beliefs. And before I catch any hate, we have personal reasons. Additionally, do public schools attended by millions of children across the country teach creationism in their science curricula? 'nuf said. 

So, as I've pointed out, one of the ways we are misaligned is with regard to the Protestant Reformation and its nomenclature. But another way is with regard to one of the Reformation's more infamous catalysts, the practice of indulgences. I bring this up because I recently heard a teaching on indulgences from a Catholic perspective. I've noticed an uptick in videos "clarifying" Catholic doctrine. This is not what you've always heard it is. We don't do the things you've always been told we do. That sort of thing. And the recent teaching I heard with regard to indulgences was that indulgences never gave license to sin; indulgences do not forgive sin. 

I'll be honest, I know very little about the history of the Catholic church. What little I recall was taught within the framework of a Protestant school and a teacher who, each year, dressed as Johann Tetzel. Every class eagerly anticipated her performance and I, like many others, paid little attention to any other lecture she gave. But I'm willing to concede for the sake of argument, Protestant teaching about indulgences are a long-held myth (despite what could be the most honest title I've come across when searching for an explanation of indulgences, The Catholic View on Indulgences and How They Work Today, from Myriam Renaud of the Department of Religious Studies, DePaul University. Note the Today). So, assuming indulgences were never intended for the forgiveness of sins, assuming one could not purchase an indulgence in anticipation of committing some sin, assuming indulgences never existed as a Get Out of Jail FREE card (with regard to purgatory), what does the Catholic church teach is their purpose today?

In a word, it's complicated. I'm providing a link to the Catholic Encyclopedia here: CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Indulgences, and giving you what seems to be the most popular, abbreviated version here:

An indulgence is a dispensation or grant of God’s mercy that removes the temporal punishment due to one’s sins whose guilt has already been forgiven—normatively through the sacrament of penance (commonly known as confession). This dispensation is made possible through the Church’s treasury of merits, which “is the infinite value . . . which Christ’s merits have before God,” plus the prayers and good works of the faithful, which have merit in Jesus (CCC 1476-1477).

In short, after God forgives one’s sins, there typically remains temporal punishment due as a result of that sin. An indulgence is what lessens, or removes, that remaining punishment. It’s kind of like the kid who breaks his neighbor’s window. The neighbor can forgive the child for the offense, and yet the kid still needs to help pay for the broken window.

Similarly, even if one has repented and received forgiveness for his sins, that doesn’t necessarily mean he has fully detached from the bad habits associated with his sins. Thus the need to do penance, and benefiting from the merciful remission of the related punishment granted though an indulgence.

In short, the saints who have gone before us and Christ Himself have left us with a surplus of merits stemming from their good works. Those merits are granted by the church to "the faithful," those who have by some means earned the indulgence, discharging their debt during their life on earth. These "acts of mercy" are, according to current Catholic teaching, valid both in the tribunal of the Church and in the tribunal of God (I'm not thoroughly convinced they checked with Him on this) and purify the "marks left on the soul" by sin.

So, does God require us to pay for the broken window? Well, if the wages of sin is death, as Romans 6:23 tells us, none of us would have been able to play ball more than once. But we have a Mediator; One who paid our debt and "purchased" a new life for us; One who enables us to walk righteously (yes, in God's tribunal); One who sanctified us, is sanctifying us, and will sanctify us; One who cleanses our conscience and has done all this once for all! That being said, I'm not sure what's left for a self-respecting indulgence-granting church to do. I'm not sure any further payments need to be made. I'm not sure the "marks left on the soul" are beyond the purview of the Holy Spirit's sanctifying work. And I'm not so sure a little revol-- Oops! --reform isn't necessary now and again.

Happy Reformation Day!!

Midweek: Time for a Lesson in Love

As we age, the brevity of our time here on earth becomes a greater reality. What are we doing with that time? Trying to fill it with as many distractions as possible? Checking off boxes on some self-published bucket list? Slowing down, having coffee with a friend or taking a walk? Trying to reach as many people for Jesus as possible? 

Last week, we took a very brief look at Jesus' last meal with His friends. In John 13, we see the Son of Man assuming the role of a household servant --even facing protest --to demonstrate His love and teach His disciples in His final hours. His time with them was fleeting and it was essential for them to receive what He was giving them: a lesson in relationship. And as He returned to His place at the table, He draws their attention to His actions, urging them to do for one another what He has done for them. Blessed are you if you do them (v. 17). But there is an overwhelming sadness in Jesus' words; He knows not everyone of His friends will comply. Sadly, the one who will not, his time is as brief as his Teacher's. He will not use his remaining hours wisely.   

Why did Jesus reveal the plot to betray Him? For the good of those who would continue, who would wash another's feet, humbly serve others, and even, treat with honor those who were dishonorable.

I don't want to tell you what to think about this series of events, but I would like to leave you with some questions to ponder:

- How undiscerning did the disciples have to be that they could not detect a rat in their midst? These men were doing life together, walking miles and, presumably, talking along the way, day after day. And they didn't know?

- How good of a grifter did Judas have to be that no one but Jesus could perceive his deception? Even after Jesus had passed him the bread... Even after Jesus sent him into the night...

- How great was Jesus' love for Judas that no one detected a problem? Jesus was grieved by the idea that any would be lost --but not for His own sake --He was grieved for Judas, not by Judas. No one around Him saw anything but perfect love. 

Time is precious. When we think of it that way, most would acknowledge, we have no desire to waste it. But we do. We waste it with foolishness and a lack of discernment in how we spend it or with whom we spend it. We waste it keeping up an image that is disingenuous and separates us from intimate relationships. We waste our time with bitterness over the betrayals and offenses of others.

Even in Jesus' final hours, His character did not waver. He showed love because He is love; a final lesson to His disciples.  

Picking Shirley Up

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

~ Galatians 6:2

My mother was a human being, an individual. Now, it might seem silly to make that point --Of course, she was! you exclaim. But the reality is, it is often most difficult to see those with whom we are most familiar outside of the context of our relationship. For instance, as the daughter of Helen Chambers, it is always a revelation to me when I discover she was more than my mother. She had another child, a husband, siblings, neighbors, friends, fellow employees, a boss... It's self-centered, I know, but we all tend to see people or situations exclusively in light of their impact upon us.

As we were heading to an event the other day, we passed what was once the home of one of my mother's workmates. Mom ran a snack shop at what was one of the first "retirement villages" in our area, and this woman, Shirley, worked with her. I remember my mother picking up Shirley for work. Now, Mom was not exactly a social butterfly. She valued her independence; always preferring to drive rather than carpool. She never just "did lunch" with friends or hung out after church (unless it was to serve for some function). But there was something about Shirley that my mother liked, and she and Shirley developed a friendship. As we passed Shirley's former home, the memory of my mother helping her came back to me and, like a rush, came the thought, My mother was a real person! She didn't have to do that like she had to make dinner night after night or pick us up after school -- Not that she had to do those things either, but my childish mind saw it that way. Mom didn't have to go out of her way by miles to pick up her employee or leave extra early because traffic in Shirley's area was generally heavier than in ours. But she did it. And in so doing, taught me two very important lessons:

1) Be generously kind. Mom loved helping --sometimes to a fault. Her generous kindness was, to her, just the right thing to do, the way she had been raised. Had Mom allowed herself to receive the kindness of Jesus in those years and be used of Him as a vessel --Oh, what good could have come of it! But our Lord and Savior is kind. When she had what I believe to be an encounter with her Savior in her final year or so on earth, her life already bore the marks of one lived in a spirit of generous kindness. In fact, it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance, and it is our imitation of Christ, being kind, bearing one another's burdens in His strength and by His command that points others to glorifying our God in heaven.  

2) See people as people. These times that a new perspective is revealed to me are times for which I am infinitely grateful. God is generously kind despite my foolishness! But how much better it would have been if I had taken the time while she was still with us; asked her about her motives, asked her what she liked about Shirley or why she went so far out of her way for this one woman. Did she do it begrudgingly? Or because to leave Shirley stranded was to shoulder the day's workload alone? Did she realize she was teaching her children generosity and kindness? My mother, like all of us, had hopes and dreams. Her life, like many of ours, was never necessarily as she planned or would have liked. She had children who saw her as little more than a resource, a boss, a turbulent marriage, an aging vehicle, nosey neighbors --all of those things with which we might struggle. But she was a person who tried to be kind, to herself and to others; a woman who, when called to do so, always picked Shirley up. 

Happy Heaven-iversary, Ma!

Midweek: Making Time for Relationship

If you knew your time on earth would soon be coming to a close, what would you say or do differently?

It's a question one might be called to ponder. My thoughts usually go right to the offenses I have committed and the time I've wasted in them, or the things I've left undone; I rarely get past them to any ideas of the "above and beyond."

In the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel, I can almost hear the clock ticking. I think John did as well, which is, perhaps, why the Holy Spirit tasked him with recording Jesus' final moments of "normalcy" with His disciples. In John 13, He is not agonizing in a garden; His friends are not looking up at His brutalized and naked body as He draws His last shallow breaths. They are simply doing life as they have for three years before, and we are given the precious gift of a window into those relationships. It begins with verse 1:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

To the end. Even as He died. For eternity. To the full. The tool of repetition John uses here --Having loved them...He loved them --is meant to indicate a perfection of His love for them; utterly, utterly forever.   

The next ten verses, Jesus washing His disciples' feet, are often spoken about in terms of Jesus' servanthood, His great willingness to wash the feet of His betrayer, and the theological teaching behind the bathing and the washing of believers. But what do these verses mean in terms of His personal relationships? 

Imagine yourself at a birthday party. Of course, foot washing is not a normal part of Western culture but think of the guest of honor schlepping coats to the bedroom, serving hors d'oeuvres, and flying around the kitchen --not hurried, but jubilant --getting the prime rib from the oven and putting the finishing touches on the cake. What can I do to serve you? to make your evening more enjoyable? to connect with you on a personal level before the night is over? I know I'm oversimplifying --there was so much more to the holy day they were celebrating and its connection to the events that were soon to transpire --but I want you to consider the difference in how Jesus' disciples received His intimate act of kindness toward them. Of course, we're only told of Peter's response, but did anyone else wriggle with discomfort in their seat? Did two or more exchange glances, wondering if something should be said? Did they look into His eyes, try to think of something to say, or uncomfortably look away? What thoughts ran through Judas' mind? Jesus knew them all. As He cradled each man's foot, as He knelt before them, He knew --maybe because He is God, maybe because He loved them so perfectly. 

Jesus' time with His disciples face-to-face, was coming to an end. He was compelled to give them this message. Of His tender love for them, one Human to another. Of the importance of servitude and humility. Of the willingness to forgive even before one is wronged. Of washing again and again under the restorative waters of our Savior's love. Of moments of silence and, perhaps, a little discomfort for the sake of shared experiences among brothers.

How often did these men look back and recall this message? As the unstoppable events of the following hours rolled in like a stone, threatening, but for God, to crush everything in their path, did they think back to the gentleness of their Friend, kneeling before them, urging them to pay attention and receive? Did they wish they'd been more present? As they grieved and trembled in fear throughout the Sabbath, did they wonder why their Hope had washed their feet rather than fled the city? He had such little time left! Did He do with it all that He could? 

Of course He did.