TO ERR IS DIVINE

Fr. Robert Hart

In his famous poem An Essay on Criticism (1711), Alexander Pope wrote, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." Whereas no one should presume to take issue with that sentence, I am about to write a sentence that, seemingly, deserves to be rejected on face value, but that really deserves to be heeded once it is explained. Therefore, I presume to write, and then to defend, a paradoxical and provocative line, after which you may see my point as essentially true, just as, when the meaning and context are considered, Saint Paul’s words say something worth hearing, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Corinthians 1:25).” My sentence is this “To err is Divine.”

So, to explain why I would say something so audacious, I must assure you that I know and firmly profess that God is all-knowing and infallible. But just as Moses saw only the back of God (Exodus 33:23), foretelling that our Lord Jesus Christ would command us all in his often-repeated refrain, “Follow me,” our imitation of Christ requires us to learn how to reflect his glory in this fallen world as his lights in the darkness, and as his witnesses, and therefore ourselves to demonstrate what we know of the Father by looking carefully at the Son (John 14:9), so that, by the grace of God we may exhibit to the world some visible and tangible reality of just who He is. That is, just as priests are alteri Christi to the Church, so the entire Church, as the Body of Christ with every member, is called to be alteri Christi to the world (II Corinthians 5:20).

Therefore, we are called to be like God in this world, as Jesus taught us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48),” or “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36).” But here we have a problem that God does not share: We, unlike God, are neither all-knowing nor infallible. If perfection is, as we see it is, to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful, we must show forth this Divine attribute without any full assurance that every decision we make will always be absolutely correct. Therefore, we must resolve thus: In order to be as much like our heavenly Father as we can be by God’s grace, and as Jesus has shown us by example and has taught us in words (Acts 1:1), we must accept both our capacity to make mistakes, to err in our estimation and judgment, while at the same time following our Lord to make known to the world who God is. The solution is very simple: We must resolve to err, if we err at all, on the side of mercy. Indeed, we may err, but if we err on the side of mercy, this is right in the eyes of God. On the other hand, it is impossible for indifference or cruelty, for any lack of mercy, ever to be acceptable to God. Such attitudes are always sinful.

It is entirely possible, of course, that the poor person asking for assistance is to blame for his own circumstances, or that he is lying. In my experience I have learned that most of them, almost all of them, have been entirely honest, but that some have been dishonest. Generally, that dishonesty has not been about their need, but about promises to come to church, or the claim that they are Anglicans, or other things that would not have mattered anyway. The point is, on those occasions it was not my place to judge them; and if anyone has taken advantage of me, then I trust that God has used it to convict his conscience. For the most part, I know that I have helped people who were bringing to me real needs, and who knew of nowhere else to turn but to God’s Church. It is better, in the eyes of God, to err on the side of mercy: In the long run, such is no error at all really.

Again, it is not for us to judge. The commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ leave no wiggle room, no means for excuses and rationalization.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:38-48).”

            We all know the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, the judgment before the throne of Christ when he comes as the King. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me (see Matthew 25:31-46).” What we, in our weakness, as sinful creatures, may see as inconvenience, must be seen with renewed and regenerated eyes. These are not inconveniences. These are opportunities. Do we believe in the Incarnation? Do we fail to see that, when the woman poured the costly ointment on our Lord (Mark 14:3-39), she was showing her love for God and for her neighbor – the two objects that envelope every commandment of God – by pouring out her love on the one who is both fully God and fully Man? It is your opportunity, as Christ comes to you in the human flesh of those in need, the hungry, the ones in need of proper clothing, the stranger or immigrant or refugee, the one in prison, the one who is sick, to “work out your own salvation (Philippians 2:12).”

            Before discussing these things further, I must bring in another element of following Christ, one that needs to be always before our eyes so that we may see the Good Shepherd as he walks before us, so that we may indeed follow him. As modern people, part of how we perceive our duties in this world all too often involves a very worldly and carnal tribal identity, and, especially in America and Europe, a political or ideological loyalty that requires us to label every person and every thought by such empty notions as “Liberal,” “Conservative,” or more broadly, “Left” or “Right.” There are some people who are committed to applying those labels as a standard of judgment, and everybody is certain that God is on their side. But these labels have noting to do with the Kingdom of God. In fact, there are only two categories to be considered. The Psalmist foretold of Christ as the Bridegroom of the Church in Psalm 45 with these words:

“Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness (Pslam 45:7).”

Just as “In Christ there is no east or west,” I assure you, in Christ there is no Left and Right. The only categories are righteousness and wickedness. To be loyal to any political party will, eventually, require you to betray Christ in order to justify evil. It does not matter which party: The trap is laid for you. The deception that many of our own people wallow in is confusing what is righteous or wicked with what is Left or Right. I know that, fallible as I am as one who is not all-knowing, my position on matters of righteousness and wickedness are right in the eyes of God because they are based wholly on God’s commandments as taught by our Rabbi, Jesus.

Clearly, oh so very clearly, people who lean Left or Right see the wickedness on the other side. But God sees the wickedness on both sides, neither of which represent His kingdom, which is not of this world (John 18:36). If they must fight it out, neither side has the blessing of God. God will not bless sexual perversion or license, and will not tolerate the murder of children in the womb, sacrificed to the Molechs of convenience and greed. But neither will God bless those who hate the immigrant, who cheer on the use of a political prison called CECOT, the very existence of which constitutes a Crime Against Humanity, as the life-long hell for people who have been convicted of no crimes whatsoever. It is simply because they take refuge in  lies, in the Bearing of false witness against those young men, parroting the entirely unproved accusation that they are gang members or terrorists, that they allow their love to wax cold, and their hearts to become hard, evil, callous, and uncaring. Some imagine such a weak sinful state of mind to be strength: But it is cowardly weakness. The Left-wing apologist for “a woman’s right to choose” murder and the Right-wing apologist for mass deportation without even the minimum requirement of Due Process of Law, are equally wicked. Both will be sent away for mistreating Jesus Christ who has come to them in the flesh of their neighbors in need.

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24:12).”

Many of you are forming arguments and justifications and rationalizations in your minds. As a man of exceptional experience, as both an investigator and a journalist in my many years, I warn you now: The partisan lies you choose to believe, because those lies are convenient either for fueling your sinful hate or for justifying your endeavor to achieve comfort, for ignoring the pain of the unborn child who feels the sharp blade, or the agony of the young man forever imprisoned in a hellish nightmare, both of whom have suffered the loss of their futures, will not shield or protect you when you face Christ on his throne, when you must give an account of your soul to God. He commanded you to love him and to love your neighbor. But you chose a party, a label, a tribe, and rejected Christ your Lord because you would not recognize him. Repent now, before it is too late. Pray that God will circumcise your heart, give you a soft heart that, if it errs in judgment, errs on the side of the love of God: That alone is acceptable with Christ our God.