If you are paying attention to
the Gospel next Sunday[1]
you may hear the phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth. In fact you may hear it twice. The angels of God, says Jesus, at the end of
the age, come and sort out the righteous from the evildoers – the latter are
consigned to the furnace of fire where, understandably, there is weeping and
gnashing of teeth.[2]
Interestingly, the other two synoptic gospels (Mark and Luke) omit mention of
the furnace of fire and the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Perhaps they thought, as many of us have
privately thought, that it has always seemed out of kilter with the spirit and clear
intention of Jesus’ message.
Now, we could go on for the rest
of the time available, about the textual and other problems raised by this
passage… but there are other things to be seen here. Firstly, if the whole concept of inevitable ghastly
and eternal torture for the wicked strikes you as abhorrent, and you find it
difficult to believe that Jesus taught such things, then you are in excellent
company. But it is wise to remember that
there are to this day earnest Christians believing that it is not only
true but essential; it is even imagined that this punishment of the wicked is
just and that it glorifies God.
Why is this? Why has the church, including good and wise
people, through the centuries, thought it necessary to teach that the God Jesus
called Father is retributive and punitive?
Is it not yet another instance of idolatry, making God in our
image… in this case needing to rain punishment on sinners not like us? In the Catechism of the protestant tradition in
which I was brought up, Question 152 asks:
What doth every sin deserve at the hands of God? And the answer is: Every sin, even the least, being against
the sovereignty, goodness and holiness of God, and against his righteous law,
deserveth his wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come,
and cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ.
Well, mercifully, our contemplative
spirit causes us to pause… In this 21st
century, that intransigent judgmentalism is still everywhere to be found. Secularism has embraced it with
enthusiasm. It takes its root in fear…
fear of difference, of colour, of different belief, of sexual choice, even fear
of different nationality, or of gender… along
with much wilful blindness to causes, such as social disadvantage, personal
demons, family failures... Fear even of
peace, of unity and understanding across walls and boundaries. Fear of being wrong.... all engender a need
to punish, often more politely expressed as being held accountable. So the most secular society comes to reflect
the conflict in both church and bible between the God Jesus loved as the Loving
Father, and the God who consigns the wicked to eternal punishment.
I cannot think that the love that created all
things and declared it good, is finally defeated in wailing and gnashing of
teeth… for goodness sake, that is superstition, not faith. Maturing in Christ and in contemplative life
and prayer means choosing whom we will serve, simply because the God who is present
to us in our silence and stillness is the God Jesus knew in his silence and
stillness, whose presence is signalled by love and mercy… and that love and
mercy, as Paul told us, bears all things, hopes all things, endures all
things, never ends.[3]
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