The End of Contempt – Thoughts from the Edge

“To come” expresses possibility beyond possibility. I think that was the way Jack Caputo put it this past weekend at “Subverting the Norm.” (And yes, my recent series has been prompted by thinking through the presentations at Drury University.) When I read Joel 2 and Psalm 65 the phrase “to come” came to mind. Each of these texts appear to point out the difference “to come” makes. God’s Spirit comes to “all flesh” and the “pastures of the wilderness overflows.” To come.

What is “to come?” For Caputo this represents all possibility If I have understood correctly. Revelation ends with what is “to come.’ The in-breaking of the “to come” shows up as the Way of the Kingdom finds expression in “weak vessels,” or as Scot McKnight describes us as “cracked eikons.”

Jesus calls attention to the possibiliteis to come. The end of contempt is possible. Jesus makes it so. The embodiment of his life, death, and resurrection shows up in the end of human contempt for others. Read the Luke passage. Be careful not to hold either character in the parable in contempt. You see it seems the parable would lure us to thinking we should not hold contempt for the “tax collectors” among us. In that move it is all to easy to hold the Pharisees among us in contempt. To do so undercuts our human tendency to hold the “other” in contempt only to discover the “other” in ourselves.

What are your thoughts?