Monday, July 16, 2018

Love and Punishment

Ben the Bully taunts Small Paul, "you're a flinched, a quitter and will always be!" Small Paul struggles not to flinch every time that Ben swings at him, narrowly missing him. However, at each swing, Paul's impulse causes him to jerk away and desperately want to flee.

Twenty years later, Small Paul, the police sergeant, takes a bullet in the shoulder meant for Ben and is awarded a medal for gallantry.

The End.

What? Did you want Ben to get his comeuppance? Why?

It's actually quite natural to want to see Ben punished for his bullying of Paul, and perhaps it says something about our sense of justice. We should not expect to get away with wrongdoing. We want offenders to get their just desserts.

Yet, it was Paul who proved Ben wrong. Is that not enough? Do we have a need to see Ben grovelling in the dirt?

It's a good question. Why is Paul's medal not enough for us? Good triumphs. Evil is defeated.

 Schlock horror producer, William Castle, famous for his gimmicks in movie theatres, shot the film, "Mr Sardonicus" with two endings, one in which the titular antihero is punished and the other where he is shown mercy. The audience were then given the choice as to what ending was shown in a manner similar to the audience at ancient Roman gladiatorial contest. They were invited to punish Sardonicus or show him mercy. I don't think I have ever seen the version of the film where he is shown mercy. The villain must get his comeuppance.

Often in films, the more horrible the villain, the more gruesome the death. Think of Major Toht in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", or Bellatrix Lestrange in the last Harry Potter film. 

Evidently, we still possess the desire to attend public executions and howl in derision at the downfall of some perpetrator of evil.

And it's quite Biblical. When Babylon falls spectacularly and completely, the angel says:

"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her."
(Apocalypse xviii.20)

That really does sound like we are bidden to rejoice in another's misfortune even if they were promotors of evil. In the fourth chapter of the Book of Wisdom, we read of God laughing the wicked to scorn. Of course, we cannot attribute human emotions to God the Father, but we are interpreting some fundamental aspect of God. To rebel against God for whatever reason is foolish and laughable.

Is laughter the right response?

In many ways, laughter is a human response to contradiction or to a surprising outcome. Like the wagging of a dog's is caused by confusion albeit of a happy disposition, our laughter is sometimes a reaction to things that confuse us. You can see this in the beautiful absurdity of Spike Milligan or Monty Python in which the common course of life is subverted or shown up for being silly.

Ultimately, when faced with God, the human being who continues to rebel is committing an act of absurdity at which we might conceivably laugh. Laughter robs an evil act of its power by showing it to be meaningless. We can think of St Laurence telling his roasters to turn him over as he is done on one side, and we see how light the great saints can make of evil because they trust wholly in God even in their last agony.

This is why we don't need Ben any more in Paul's story. His part is played and his scheme to rob Paul of his dignity are thwarted. The focus can only be on Paul's joy as he is recognised as the hero he is. We don't need to see Ben's fall.

And what if Ben were to fall. Could we really take pleasure in the ruin of another human being? We are tempted to. The child  murderer Ian Brady was told to rot in Hell by so many. Given that those beautiful little people he murdered have been robbed from the world, it is right, surely, that we cry out for justice particularly on behalf of those who can cry out no more.

Yet were he to have repented in that last millisecond of his life; were he to have called upon the name of Christ for forgiveness, what then? We have to look at the thief on the Cross. We don't get a say in the matter. We have to accept the fact that it is still possible for Ian Brady, Adolph Hitler and even Judas Iscariot to inherit eternal life with God and, we hope, us. Love must demand every possibility for reconciliation.

But not as we are.

For reconciliation requires transformation, and to be transformed requires us to accept the need for this transformation which will prevent us from existing on our own terms. To accept transformation means relinquishing all that stops love from operating. This is why Pride really is the deadliest sin because it refuses to allow anyone else to have a say in who we are. Pride tells us to continue in our way, regardless. Pride rules out true forgiveness because it insists on terms and conditions which may be impossible to meet.

This is why the proud are deserving of so much pity and why this infuriates them because pity is something they do not wish to invite because it does not come from their will. The gentle waters of Love are as acid to the proud. Not for nothing does St Paul say,

"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."
(Romans xii.20)

But that sounds like punishment! "Get your revenge by being nice."

Except, by being good, noble, loyal, humble and valiant, we allow ourselves to be transformed. We recall that in biblical languages, justice and righteousness are synonymous. To obtain justice, we need to obtain righteousness for ourselves, not rob it from another. By being transformed by Christ we gain justice and grow in love which the Devil hates because it corrodes his massive pride through our turning our backs on him.

For Paul, he acquires virtue through a bullet to the shoulder. The scar becomes his badge of honour and his righteousness is seen for what it is. His suffering for the sake of goodness, fighting against his fears, this is how the balanced is addressed. This is how he is transformed and how justice is done.

And Ben?

Well, the challenge for us is always to seek righteousness. And Mercy is of Righteousness. If we cannot be merciful then we do not let righteousness fully into our lives. God wants to show us mercy, but we can only attain it if we ourselves are merciful. This is another reason why Ben must disappear from the story. He has to be allowed to repent and we have to be prepared to meet him again with warmth and generosity. Until he does, we must not allow ourselves to demonise him or make him any less of a human being and child of God. We give him space in his life and in our own, so that he may turn and be transformed just as we must be transformed ourselves.

It is the Christian duty to bring Christ with us into every single part of our lives and meet Him in every relationship with others. That way justice and mercy can be done properly and the Kingdom of God made available to this dark world.

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