Love & Our Shadow Selves....

 Today's Gospel lesson  doesn't seem, upon a first look, to be " good news". At first , it seems like Jesus is giving His followers yet another set of rules to memorize. { as if Deuteronomy isn't enough rules! }

 Here is a sample of the sins that we are NOT to commit. 

ANGER 

"21 ^y“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ^z‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable ^ato judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that ^beveryone who is angry with his brother³ will be liable ^ato judgment; whoever insults⁴ his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to ^cthe hell⁵ of fire. 23 ^dSo if ^eyou are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 ^fCome to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, ^gyou will never get out until you have paid the last penny.⁶ 

LUST 

27 ^h“You have heard that it was said, ⁱ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that ^jeveryone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 ^kIf your right eye ^lcauses you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into ^mhell. 30 ^kAnd if your right hand ^lcauses you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into ^mhell.

SWEARING OATHS 

33 “Again ^hyou have heard that it was said to those of old, ^q‘You shall not swear falsely, but ^rshall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, ^sDo not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for ^tit is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is ^uthe city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; ^vanything more than this comes from evil.⁷


Add commandments against divorce { always the woman's fault…} and retaliation to this list of sinful behaviors. There is a whole laundry list of possible infractions and their { somewhat gruesome} punishments. 

Okay, so what is the " good news" in these words of Jesus? I'm a seasoned Bible-studying Christian and these words make me feel uncomfortable. Honestly, the warnings against divorce  are archaic in their assumption that a married couple is of the opposite gender. 

I am grateful that the Jesus Whom I've come to know in community with other imperfect human  is a Jesus of LOVE.  Our Savior does expect us to " be your best self" { as one of my favorite Youtubers always says at the end of her videos} but in the end, we are called to love each other as God Incarnate loves us. 

While we are called to strive daily to avoid sin, Creator God knows how much we will screw up. We are encouraged to be mindful of our " shadow selves" parts of our psyche  that remain hidden 

Carl Jung says: "Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants himself to be.  Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is” (Jung, 1938, p. 131).   Source www.mindfulmuse.com 

Jung continues " “To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light.  Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self.  Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle” (Jung, 1959, p. 872).

For me , this is hard and scary work. Yet I am finding out how to live more into the light, as I begin to embrace those shadow traits. 

" “A man is whole only when he takes into account his shadow.”
― Djuna Barnes 
“I embrace my shadow self. Shadows give depth and dimension to my life. I believe in embracing my duality, in learning to let darkness and light, peacefully co-exist, as illumination.”

― Jaeda DeWalt 

This work is hard, but will be worthwhile. 

Peace and love always,

~Sarah