My early understanding of holiness was confined solely within images of pious stances like hands clasped in prayer and devotional behavior. To be holy was to act obediently and to somehow coalesce with the bigger picture of the Church and its teachings. It was quite shocking for me to discover through the years, that I couldn’t remain in that posture. Through the years it has become clear to me, not that these are incorrect images of what it means to be holy, but more that they are just not enough! They couldn’t be enough for me because there was an ever-increasing sense that this attitude of holiness by itself cannot allow me to engage in my life and my faith in a way that grants real meaning for me and for my life and “place” in the larger community. I couldn’t really “give” myself in what was for me a two-dimensional “flat” and frankly impoverished grasp of what it could mean to be holy. It was a “grasping” for something that was already always available, and even coloring it with sometimes inauthentic hues.
Peter is dealing with holiness today in both his first letter (1 PT 1: 10-16) and Mark’s Gospel story (MK 10: 28-31). Peter tells us directly in his epistle:
“…set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because I am holy.”
This matter of directing our hope toward that which is gracefully given to us through Christ seems to be what Peter is calling “holiness.” Holiness then involves, yes “obedience,” and conduct that is not “in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance,” but I wonder what does this really mean? Could holiness be a stance of being open, of BEING who we are and making every effort to live that authentically? Is Holiness a communal environment that allows the space for all of us to live with each other, being accountable to each other, and committing ourselves to promoting the unique gifts that each one of us has to offer? Could this be a form of obedience?
Wow! I must say the “do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance” is quite striking. What Peter seems to be saying here is that not only do we all suffer from some form of ignorance, but ignorance carries within itself something which we desire. We might call this avoidance. Not wanting to look at something head on because of the some comfortable familiarity of the pattern in our thinking and even behavior. This is a challenging aspect of Holiness to say the least. Holiness can then also be seen as the accountability that we have to be challenged by others and to challenge each other, not in an arm wrestling contest of right or wrong, but in that sacred environment of openness and empowerment of Holiness. We may have to help each other take off our blinders.
And finally the last line “Be Holy because I am Holy” tells us that Christ in God IS the environment of Holiness that is always present. So, it appears that we simply have to fall back into Christ, so that we live from the source of holiness, rather than trying to live into it, so to speak! This is an engaging resting in the Holy Spirit for sure!
But is there a cost for this holiness? We turn to the Gospel for some insight into this…
“Peter began to say to Jesus, ‘We have given up everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.’ ”
It seems clear that Peter is frustrated with the sacrifice that is inherent in the call to Holiness in discipleship. It seems to cost everything. But, Jesus is quick to retort that everything that one could possibly give up will be granted back “a hundred times more now in the present age.” So, we move from a sense of scarcity to abundance again. This is the multiplication of the loaves story cast in a different setting – losing something, not having enough, transforms into more than enough and now abundance. All that we may feel deprived of in discipleship may actually indicate an overall attitude towards life as FOR ME that must be transformed. Could the abundance that Jesus is talking about here be the transformation from looking at life and people as instruments of self-centered service to embracing life as an instrument of self-giving service? This reeks of Holiness to me.
It is important to note here, though, that in the listing of all that will be given back “a hundred times more,” Mark has Jesus inserting “with persecutions” amidst the abundance. So, there is a cost, there is a “thorn,” there is a reminder. Holiness seems to be a design for life, patterned by the self-sacrifice and indeed the rejection and persecution of the Christ! Abundance walks humbly with suffering! But I believe it is the environment of holiness that holds them together. Can Holiness simply be the lived realization that we ARE in communion to be, to love, to guide, to listen, to affirm, to hold accountable, each other wholly! This requires a holy flexibility that allows the “first” and the “last” to bend backwards and forwards so that there is no line at all, but instead a welcoming circle of eternal Wholiness.
Peace
Thomas