Living from the Center

One of the fascinating things about the Bible is that it hardly ever portrays anyone as all good or all evil. The good guys have a dark side, and the bad guys have some redeeming characteristics. They're mixed bags, like most of us.

Today, we encounter two kings in the readings: King David and King Herod. King David is one of the heroes of the Bible. He is considered Israel's greatest king because he defeated the Philistines, united Israel, and put an end to the idol worship that was happening in parts of Israel. The Bible lavishes praise on David, and in later years, Israel looked for a savior to come from David's line. In the Gospels, Jesus is called "Son of David." He traced his ancestry to David, even though it was on Joseph's side, which is a subversive little joke.

But despite all this adulation of David, the Bible is absolutely unsparing in recounting his sins. He had a commander named Joab, who conveniently bumped off David's enemies, giving David plausible deniability. And there was the whole Bathsheba episode-while one of his captains was away fighting the Philistines, David fell in love with his wife, and had an affair with her. She became pregnant, so David arranged for the husband to be put in the front lines of battle, so he will be killed, which is exactly what happened. How many political biographies are this honest about their subjects?

In today's text, David is dancing in front of the ark as it is brought into Jerusalem. The ark was a wooden chest containing the stone tablets with the 10 commandments on them. According to some traditions, it also contained Aaron's rod that had budded, and a little container of manna, as a reminder of God's provision for the Israelites in the desert. The lid of the ark was called the mercy seat, because people envisioned God enthroned on it, showing mercy to those who came to atone for their sins.

This procession of the ark into Jerusalem was highly significant-it represents the defeat of the Philistines who had actually seized the ark for a while. It also represents the end of idolatry and corruption in the priesthood, and the restoration of true worship under David's rule. At this moment, David is listening to God and obeying God by bringing the ark to Jerusalem. Notice that he does this despite the contempt of his wife Michal. He was wearing a linen ephod, a kind of loincloth worn by priests, and evidently she did not think it was appropriate garb for a king.

So here we see David at his best, uniting the people, restoring worship, obeying God-in the face of his wife's scorn.

Now let's look at Herod. He is definitely one of the bad guys in the Bible-he did this horrible thing of succumbing to his wife and his daughter's demand that he behead John the Baptist. And of course, later, he conspired with some of the religious leaders to destroy Jesus-he played a part in the events leading to Jesus' crucifixion. But the picture we get of him in Mark's gospel is nuanced. We read that though he was greatly perplexed by John's preaching, he liked to listen to him-even though John did not hesitate to speak out against Herod's marriage. He married his brother's wife after they divorced-under a strict interpretation of the law, divorce was not allowed so the marriage was illegal. But Herod listened to him anyway, and considered him a holy and righteous man. At least initially, he resisted his wife's demand that he kill him. But he makes a rash promise to his daughter and then does not want to look bad in front of his guests, so he gives the order to behead John. But he is clearly haunted with guilt, because when he hears about Jesus attracting crowds and preaching and healing, he immediately says, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." It reminds me of the scene in Macbeth, when Macbeth comes into the banquet room and finds Banquo's ghost sitting in his chair. He is haunted by guilt for the murder.

Again, the Bible does not give us a one-dimensional view-Herod does evil deeds, but he is not without a soul.

What is the Bible's purpose in showing the good guys' dark side, and the bad guys' good side? Aside from being a truthful portrayal of human nature, it is also an invitation to humility about ourselves and humility in judging others. We may think of ourselves as good people, but all of us are capable of evil. We may think of some people as evil, but all of them are children of God, with a core of goodness within. And if we are inclined to judge ourselves harshly, the Bible reminds us that we too are children of God, no matter what choices we have made.

Imagine what it would do to our political culture, our families and our communities if we were to internalize this truth? What if we were to see the leadership of Iran, or the president of North Korea as children of God? Even Bernie Madoff is a child of God. What if we could do the same thing in the Church and in our families? The fundamentalists who may seem narrow and intolerant are children of God. Or from another perspective, the liberals who may seem to have thrown out so much doctrine that the faith seems unrecognizable-are also children of God.

The Jesuit writer, George Aschenbrenner, says that all of us have a core self-the deepest part of our soul. It is distinct from our thoughts, and our feelings, which are more superficial and transitory. It is even distinct from our behavior, which is also transitory. The core of our soul is the part that is united with Christ. It is where God's Spirit dwells. Aschenbrenner puts it this way: "This inner core of a person has a profundity and a simplicity that is literally beyond words. …This core of the soul is marked by a simple calm and quiet beyond any cataclysmic storms and brutalizing temper tantrums. This deepest core of soul speaks of the infinite simplicity of God and of love beyond words…."

Evil cannot reach this central part of ourselves-it is the part that was created in God's image, where the "beauty of God's creative love exists in all its uniqueness."

The spiritual journey, he writes, is to develop this hidden part of ourselves. The path is one of self-discovery, and as we discover our truest selves, we also experience Christ at an ever deeper level. As we learn to live more and more from the center of our being, we find that we are less at the mercy of our thoughts, and feelings. We can take a step back from our ego demands, and respond to events from a place of love, rather than a place of fear. We are no longer ruled by other people's judgments of us, or even our own judgments of ourselves. And we learn to judge others less. When we live rooted and grounded in love, from the center of our beings where we dwell with God, we can see ourselves and others with the same compassion with which God sees us.

Then we are truly free-to listen to God, and to our own inner voice.

When King David was able to listen to God's voice and ignore his wife's scorn, he was living from the core of his being. When Herod felt he had to follow through on his promise to the point of beheading John, he allowed himself to become captive to his own ego, and the fear of what others would think of him. He lost his way-but even Herod did not lose the core of his soul.

All of us are mixed bags, as the Bible unhesitatingly points out. Sometimes we fall captive to our fears, and act out of our ego needs. We judge others, we try too hard to please people, or please our own inner judge, and we wind up doing damage to ourselves and others. But more and more, as we continue on the spiritual path, our awareness of God's love and our own inner beauty and truth grows. And we also become aware of others' inner beauty. And then it becomes easier to not worry about what other people think, or whether we are good enough. It becomes easier to refrain from judging others. If we have this inner treasure-the knowledge that God loves us in the uniqueness of our being-then we have everything. We are children of God, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before God.