-Pastor Melissa Fain- There are times the spaces between make me happy. Like, as a child, being able to squeeze into those in between locations during a good game of Sardines. There are times when the spaces between comfort me. Like, the space between my couch and a quilt on a February day. There are also times when the spaces between bring me peace. Like those moments where I have nothing to do so I pray, meditate, walk around in circles reading a good book... Space, if used appropriately, can be very good. It can define what is around it. It gives opportunity to be filled appropriately. But, it can also be taken advantage of. Subverted SpaceWe all think we could avoid true evil when it comes our way. Of course, any of us would be able to pick up on a bad guy, twirling his handle bar mustache and wearing a black trench coat. If that was how evil worked, we'd all be masters of avoiding it. That's not how evil works. Part of what makes evil, so evil are the tools evil uses to move ahead. Most specifically, truth. The truly evil plans are planted with a seed of truth in a bed of corruption. To plant that truth, evil uses empty space. I think, deep down, that's why we want to fill empty space to quickly. Deep down, we're afraid of the potential danger of the wrong people taking the space. It's not some physical devil that subverts the truth either. It's often good people, with good motivations. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it is humanities worst. We think we'll see them because they'll stick out like a classic villain with a handlebar mustache and a black trench coat. That level of evil knows they cannot look like what they are. They put on sheep's clothing, and gain favor with the little lambs to slaughter. It's often times the good people who just want to do good that buy into the seed of truth among a crop of lies. The Space between Maundy Thursday and the CrossWhen truth is used to subvert or corrupt space, it is often the one championing the tiny seed of truth that gets hurt the most. This is when things turn upside down. What was good is turned evil. Goodness is looked upon with suspicion.
The Pharisee's subverted the truth when they used Judas to turn Jesus in. Judas was the one who held on to the seed of truth. Jesus was there to redeem what had been stolen. Only Judas thought that would be a warrior King, not a prince of peace. I truly believe Judas did what he did because he was trying to force Jesus' hand. Between the first Holy Communion and the cross, the world was turned upside down. This is space we are not allowed to fill. We must sit in it. We must allow it to exist. We must realize how foolish the Disciples would have looked as Jesus was arrested and tried. How lost everything had become. Something is gone. Something's not the same. It never will be again. |
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