Posted by
dullhammer on Friday, September 07, 2007 2:56:22 PM
Paul Edwards, in his commentary on September 6, 2007, does not come right out and condemn Mother Teresa to Gehenna, but he comes pretty close. He comes close by his distancing himself from her because of the revelation that she had a private side to her that struggled with a lack of feelings of the presence of Jesus Christ. She had doubts about herself and her faith. And this darker side of her was never seemingly resolved in the course of her life. So, Paul Edwards is moving more toward agreement with Christopher Hitchens and further away from Mother Teresa, lest he be taken in by scandal.
The scandal of the cross.
It is worth noting that Jesus himself did just the opposite. He moved closer to the scandal of our human condition of sin. He did so by becoming human. He did so by being baptized by John in a baptism of repentance. He did so by associating with sinners and tax collectors. He did so by entrusting confidences to the likes of Peter, James . . . and Judas. He did so by siding more with the adulterous woman than with the righteous accusers. He did so in weeping at Lazarus’ tomb. He did so by being alone in a world of the helpless dying and unbelieving. He did so by dying with them. Even on a cross. He joined David and all those who might look up and cry: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” And he left it up to us to read the rest of that song and see his utter faithfulness in the midst of those very words.
Jesus despaired of his own life. Not for his own sake, but for the sake of the desperately dying multitudes across all earth and time. This Savior became a scandal himself for getting so close to sinners. He became cursed. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) In this way God brought reconciliation between himself and sinful men and women. The residual darkness still within our hearts, be that of Mother Teresa or even Paul Edwards, notwithstanding.