Hard Sayings

The parts of Scripture we find uncomfortable we call hard sayings. Actually, the term might apply to Jesus only; but I find it here in Paul and the author of Genesis too. Jesus is saying he has a NEW family now, and his old family thinks he has stepped outside of himself. Paul writes that the immoral man in the community must be "handed over to Satan," to destroy the body that the spirit will live. (One shudders to think of the line from here to the Inquisition, while not exactly a straight one, does lead there.) And for Joseph ben Jacob, eating well is truly revenge, as his famished brothers come seeking food and he responds by clapping them into prison.

One help I find is: What is the ultimacy? Today's readings present snippets from certain points in the story. From hindsight we know Jesus' mother and brothers eventually converted. Later in I Corinthians we read Paul's unsurpassed hymn to love ("If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels..."). Joseph reconciled with his brothers. The hard parts can be strangely comfortable words when you're actually in the grip of rejection, anger, and failure. Joseph has been here, and the apostle, and our Lord. Suffering and evil and death--while extremely real--do not have the last word.

Ultimately, we look forward to the "happy ending," or as the scholar Walter Brueggemann expresses it: orientation -- disorientation -- reorientation. I can also use the reminder that religion isn't about "being nice" all the time.