Water Purifier

I’ve been reading Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity lately, and it’s been a very thought-provoking book for me on how counter-cultural it is to be a serious disciple of Christ.

Rather, [Jesus] takes away the tensions and sins of the community by absorbing them, carrying them, transforming them, and not giving them back in kind. In their understanding, Jesus did this by functioning like a water purifier, a filter of sorts. In looking at his death, they understood this: he took in hatred, held it, transformed it, and gave back love; he took in bitterness, held it, transformed it, and gave back blessings; and he took in murder, held it, transformed it, and gave back forgiveness. Jesus resisted the instinct to give back in kind, hatred for hatred, curses for curses, jealousy for jealousy, murder for murder. He held and transformed these things rather than simply retransmitting them.

Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity

I really like Ronald Rolheiser’s metaphor here, of Jesus being a sort of water purifier or filter. Of how He holds in all the negativity, the evil, the hatred and He transforms it into something beautiful. And this is what He desires to do for us – to hold in all our sins, our evil inclinations, our tendency to judge, criticize, condemn, and look down on others who think, act, or look differently, and he wants to transform it all into love, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and understanding for others. Our workplaces, political spheres, families, and culture would be utterly transformed if this were to happen.

And while Christ is working this out within us, this is also our calling externally when we are called to be Christ-like. To not allow hatred and evil to flow into and out of us, but to be a filter of some sort, so that only love, forgiveness, truth, and grace flows out of our words and actions.

There are no perfect human communities, and so our task as mature adults, as elders, as Christian disciples, is to be that place where the amazement, the gossip, the negativity, and the scapegoating stop because, like water purifiers, we take it in, absorb it, transform it, and do not give it back in kind.

Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity

Gossip and negativity are the two areas I’ve been reflecting on for myself. It’s so easy to jump in and encourage on negativity, complaints, and gossip. It’s much easier for our communities and friendships to be known by or centered around what we are against or what we condemn and criticize, than it is to be known by what we are for. And so this is the area that I’ve been trying to be mindful of in my conversations with others – to not get wrapped into complaints, criticism, or gossip, but to find the good in difficult situations and difficult people, to give grace for others to grow in the midst of their struggles and flaws, and to have forgiveness when others inevitably hurt us or take us for granted.

In Vinayak’s men’s group, they were asked to imagine what they’d want for others to say at their funeral, what they’d want to be remembered for at the end of their lives. And it came down to character. What do we want to be remembered for by our closest family and friends? As someone who gave back in kind? Or someone who could transform the darkest moments and feelings into something beautiful?

I now see that my job in the midst of evil is to make my body a grave for hate.

Sacred Fire: A Vision for a Deeper Human and Christian Maturity