Impossible Possible

"The Impossible Possible." This is a term that has been rattling around in the back of my head for the last few weeks. Perhaps it is because I am currently writing a paper for a conference on Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion. John Caputo talks of how these men are the "apostles of the impossible." For them, the impossibility brings the possibility.

In thinking about the impossible possible, my mind is constantly been drawn back to Christmas. Back to the Incarnation. This may be the "impossible possible" par excellence. In the incarnation we have the God of the universe colliding with a human person. This collision results in something much more than just two people bumping into each other. It results in one person - two natures, one person. How beautiful. How impossible.

For many, the impossibility destroys faith. The fact is that Jesus cannot be God Incarnate. This is impossible. There can be no resurrection. Again, this is impossible. And so on, and so on. The impossibility destroys faith.

Or does it? Perhaps faith begins here. Faith begins in the realm of the impossibility. The impossible is that which opens up the possible. The possibility of God Incarnate is only possible in the impossibility that is opened up by faith. This is not to say that there is not good evidence for this, but it is still a faith issue. And faith is only opened up by the impossible.

In fact, I would venture to say that to have faith means to believe in the impossible. I mean, it is not really faith to hold to the possible. The possible is a justified possibility. The impossible is something that destorys this possibility. It is outside of this realm of possibility. It is something radically other, but radically here.

Is this not the Incarnation? Does the Incarnation (the radically impossible) not arise out of the possibility of the Messiah?

(Quick thought to ponder - think about how the radical impossibility of Jesus is completely outside of the possibility of the Messiah in Judaism? What about our own culture?)

Living the Sermon, Pt. 1

These are the beginning of fleshing some thoughts out on the Sermon on the Mount -

The Sermon on the Mount. This is the sermon par excellence. It is a call to Christians to live a life that is holy.

The Sermon on the Mount is where we get the call of Jesus to "Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in Heaven is perfect." This is a tall order. It is also the verse that gives us holiness people a nice trump card. It's hard to argue that Jesus does not really mean perfection here. So, what does Jesus mean? Well, let's see.

Like a good exegete, I know that I have to look at the surrounding context of the Sermon on the Mount to get a valid picture of how to interpret the verse. Surprisingly enough, this verse is located at the end of a paragraph dealing with loving one's enemies. It is the summary statement for this paragraph. Actually, I think that it is the summary for the entire first part of the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. I really think that what Jesus gives us here is a cursory view of what He will be talking about. It is almost as if He is saying, "I want you to be like 'this' and the following is 'this' fleshed out." He begins by an affirmation of the disciples being salt and light. Again, what follows is what salt and light are.

The discourse then begins with Jesus talking of how He does not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Then He goes onto talk multiple times of what was said and what He says. The fulfillment of the Law comes ultimately in what Jesus says. The law may say not to murder, but the fulfillment of the law is not to hate or have anger toward someone. The last paragraph of this section deals with loving one's enemies. In fact, it compares one's neighbor to loving one's enemies. Enemies are our neighbors. They deserve the same respect.

The fulfillment of the law finally comes when Jesus says "be perfect." Not be good. Not try to fulfill the law. No, it is to "be perfect." Our call is to fulfill this law in such a way that we are the perfection of the law. All of this is done through the grace of God. However, what grace does is to empower us to overcome and to fulfill the law - to be the law's perfection.

Immediately following this call to perfection is a paragraph about caring for the poor. I find this really amazing and important. Matthew has surrounded this call to "be perfect" in calls for social holiness. It is not about loving God or about doing devotions or praying a lot. This does not surround the call to perfection. What does surrounds it - the call to love enemies and the call to care for the poor. Stunning!

As I continue to read this I am struck out how the first part of the Sermon on the Mount builds toward this. There are six paragraphs talking of fulfilling the law. It seems to me then that this call to perfection is the culmination, like the seventh day of creation. It all builds to this. The seventh day of creation is the sanctification of creation, just like this is the sanctification of the Christian.

I think this has major implications for the way that we view holiness. Often holiness is seen as a personal thing. However, it must be acknowledged that Jesus is speaking to His church - the disciples. Matthew is writing this to a church to be read in worship. This is a call to the chruch to be holy. And the ultimate holiness in the church is found when the church is able to love enemies. This then is surrounded by the call to help the poor.

Often, in the holiness denominations and the church in general, the idea of social holiness has been dismissed. Many times I think it is because we believe that the ultimate sign of holiness will be in the individual. However, it seems that Jesus and the Biblical authors believed that social holiness of the Church was the culmination and the place where "real" holiness occurred.