Religion in Daily Life

 © By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

Rector, All Saints’ Church

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

“Actually, I always liked Nixon,” said John F. Kennedy, Jr. At an editorial meeting of his magazine, George, someone made a disparaging remark about Nixon. John, Jr. explained that Nixon was kind to John’s family. JFK, Jr. remembered being invited to the White House as a boy. As his family had feared, he knocked over his glass of milk. President Nixon helped him wipe up the milk. John, Jr. never forgot that act of kindness (Reader’s Digest, June 2002).

Kindness was the characteristic that Jesus of Nazareth chose as he redefined religion. When critics saw him keeping company with “a lot of disreputable characters,” they said to Jesus’ followers, “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?” (Matthew 9:11, The Message). In reply, Jesus quoted from his Hebrew heritage where God said through the prophet Hosea, “I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices” (Matthew 9:12). Such kindness imitates God’s “hesed,” his loving kindness. After the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (70 C.E.), Rabbi ben Zakkai consoled his people with the thought that acts of loving kindness could replace the sacrificial service as an atonement for Israel.

Kindness saved the famous Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest in 1804. The starving, frozen men of the expedition stumbled into the camp of the Nez Perce Indians. Some Indians wanted to kill these white men and take their weapons. An elderly Indian woman helped these helpless men. She explained that years before, an enemy tribe had captured her and sold her. Before she escaped, white people in Canada had treated her kindly. “Do not hurt them,” she said to her tribe. The kindness of strangers years before saved the lives of the entire expedition.

Let kindness redefine your religion. This approach can change our view of the cross of Jesus. Looking back at that horrible death after Easter, Jesus’ early followers sought insight from their Jewish practices, such as the Temple sacrifices. They interpreted Jesus’ death as a sacrifice. This traditional interpretation, however, can make God seem like an angry, vindictive God who demands the death of Jesus as payment for past sin. There is an alternate view (associated with Duns Scotus) that emphasizes the primacy of the Incarnation (God’s Word/Wisdom embodied in Jesus). “The purpose of Jesus’ life is the fulfillment of God’s eternal longing to become human” (Kenneth R. Overberg, S.J.). Behind this alternate view is God’s kindness, his desire to share his life and love with his human children. “God has shown us how kind he is by coming to save all people” (Titus 2:11, CEV).