Should we as Christians commit ourselves 100% to living and spreading the Gospel message? That is, give up our jobs, stop worrying about money and spend all our time helping others?
Our season of questions continues with the question offered above.
It reminds me firstly of some comments offered by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his book To Heal a Fractured World.
He mentions some thoughts provided by the great Jewish thinker Maimonedes. He draws a distinction between a sage and a saint. ‘Walking in God’s ways’ means involvement in society and that is why the sage is actually greater than the saint. ‘The sage is concerned with the perfection of society. The saint is concerned with the perfection of the self’. The sage acts not out of emotion but on the basis of a ‘careful deliberation of what is best for all concerned’.
Isaiah Berlin draws a distinction using the analogy of a fox and a hedgehog. The fox knows many things and those of us who have ever seen a fox nimbly trotting through a back garden can sense the wonderful mixture of feline agility with canine awareness. The hedgehog, by contrast, knows one big thing: how to dig. The sage is like the fox, interested in the world outside. The sage balances many responsibilities, such as career, family, home, community, faith. The saint is like the hedgehog: focussed on the world within, longing to be closer to God.
These distinctions are not absolute. One might point to the fantastic work done by some of the saints working with the poor and the disposessed. But perhaps they can only be saints and effective with this laser like focus and intensity. And whilst that is important to achieve one goal it might not necessarily draw others into the economy of grace.
One might argue that Jesus would argue for the saint and that type of focus and the giving up of all things for the Gospel. Look at the story of the rich young man. Go and sell everything you have and follow me. But Jesus didn’t say that to all the people with whom he interacted. Perhaps there was something about his young man’s bearing and evasiveness in questioning that suggested to Jesus not someone who was wise with his wealth and using it in faith, but one who was tied to a wealth that would become the millstone that would drown him. Perhaps it was a particular time, place and person.
In the Russian Orthodox Church there is a fondness and respect for the Holy Fool. For centuries there have been holy men and women who have lived at the margins of society and have by their words and their lives questioned the established structures. They have been particularly important when the rulers of the land or of the church have sought to streamline and organise the church in a manner that is more to their liking. Because of these holy fools their presuppositions are questioned and because of these holy fools many everyday people feel an encounter with God and the Gospels which might otherwise be denied. For an excellent discussion, see Diarmaid MacCulloch’s ‘History of Christianity’.
We need these Holy Fools to remind us of the unreal, unrealistic, unbelievable demands of the Gospel.
But Paul himself revelled in his continuing role as a tent maker. And perhaps it was through his career as a tent-maker that he was able to understand the ordinary people. Perhaps it was through his career that he kept his feet on the ground when the energy, verve and excitement of the resurrected Christ could so easily have carried him off in waves of enthusiasm that would have been unintelligible to the people of the Roman world.
Perhaps more of us who work full-time in the church should take a leaf out of Paul’s book. When I was doing my training I visited a TV factory and spoke with one of the workers. His job? Bolt the back of the TV’s on to the TV’s. Eight hours a day. Day after day after day. Mind numbing and de-humanising. If this guy showed up at St. Philip’s on a Sunday morning, would it speak to him at all? Probably not. Perhaps I need to be out there making tents.
So, what are we to do?
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he reminds them of the importance of the many gifts granted to them. Preaching, teaching, admin., etc. Each person has gifts and they are called to use them. An analogy can be drawn with our wider gifts. If the world were full of people living, preaching and teaching the Gospel, what would happen when we needed some DIY done? What about those times when someone with an acute sense of organisation were needed? What about those times when sensistive listening and understanding takes precedence over preachin’ and teachin’?
I would rephrase the question.
How, in our lives, can we lead them so that every word, action and thought is committed 100% to the love of the Gospel? To achieve that in our everyday lives, in work, at home, at the store, is truly superhuman. It is divine. And I believe that God has granted to us unique gifts that can and should be used for particular purposes in this, the created world gifted to each of us. Some might be called to be the holy fools but many of us are called to be doing our tasks faithfully and gracefully, bringing the kingdom that much closer in the patience of a sage and a saint.
And so, one last image from Jonathan Sacks. He tells the story of a Rabbi Hunter, who used to describe a sheet of paper with a huge number of dots as nothing but a multiplicity. However, these same number of dots could be ordered as a circle round a central point. Our duty and call in life is to place everything we do around the one centrality: God.
All of the worries, all of the cares, all of the joys, all of the possibilities are these many dots. And we need only organise and arrange them around the creator of all things, who also liberated us and sustains us.
In this way, we can be saints and sages. Of the world and yet not of it. Blessed as a child of God.
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