When the Homily is about Immunology

Thinking Outside of the Penal Substitution Box

Understanding of salvation from the Orthodox perspective is not for lawyers and scientists, but rather, it seems to me for children, poets, and lovers. (Try and not be offended - I am myself a sort of scientist.) My friend Steven-Paul wrote this and it really struck me. It is long, but worthy of your time - IMHO.

I praise Thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst
hide
these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them
to babes.
Matt 11:25

"When I was a child...
Let me begin again.
When I was younger, I had a set of children's books I loved. My
favorite volume was "folk and fairy tales". I put away my childish
things when I began growing up . . . let me restate that, I put a way
the things of my childhood as I got older and pursued childish things:
Owning lots of things. Owning few things (it was a stage i went
through). Impressing people. Seeking spirituality in grown up places and
grown up words. Knowing lots and lots of stuff. So now I've owned
some things, impressed a few people, and know some stuff. In the
process I learned the gospel. At first I thought it was a fairy
tale. Then I thought it was a way to escape reality. Now I think
it IS reality. It is the same reality I learned from the Brothers Grimm
and Hans Christian Andersen in my first childhood.

You see, in the process of becoming grown ups we join the ranks
of the king and his court who, because they were too proud to
admit they were fools would not speak the truth that the emporer
in his new clothes was parading stark-buck naked and all were
greater fools in the end for it.
But growing up I still knew deep within, like the king and
everyone else, what the truth really is. The truth, spoken by The
Child admonished me to become a child again. In Him I understood
that reality is as profound as the the fairy tales I lived in all
those years of rainy days and bedtime stories.

I knew the truth that we all got to go to the grand ball by grace
and there found our true love. i knew too we disobeyed the
command and we ran in terror and shame as our garments of silk
and splendid coaches and prancing white horses turned to rags,
pumkins and rats. But our prince sought us and found us again, in
our rags, amidst our rats, living in squalor and took us home
with him and married us anyway.

I knew the truth that the steadfast tin soldier endured great
misfortunes for the love of the paper dancer. He was cast into
the flames because he was rejected and deemed unworthy to be
counted among the whole and pretty toys. In the end his love drew
the dancer to him in his fiery death, and perishing together they
were resurrected as a tin heart that declared to all their
everlasting love that fires could not overcome, that many waters
could not quench, a love that was stronger than death.

I knew the truth that the Magic Fish granted all the things the
fisherman's wife desired to make her happy, but when she desired
to be like God she lost it all.

I knew that we lost our precious Rapunzel because we desired and
ate what was forbidden. I knew too that evil seemed to triumph
over the prince who came to rescue the one he loved, the one held
hostage by the evil one. But no matter how the evil witch tried
to keep them apart their love drew them together and through
tears of sorrow over his wounds endured for the sake of his love
a miracle occurred and the two were united forever.

I knew the truth that no matter how ugly a duck we believe we
are, how
misfit, how rejected and outcast we think we may be, we are
created swans, in the image of The Swan, one so graceful and
wonderously beautiful. And that image will someday be manifested
both to ourselves and the world, not because we are able to make
ouselves into acceptable ducks, but simply because of the Swan
whose graceful image we bear.

And my favorite truth: that love, true love, unconditional love,
graceful love will tranform the ugliest of beasts into a prince.

These truths struggle for their place against our grown up
notions of reality: that you get what you pay for, you earn your own
way,
you do yor best, work hard and you'll succeed, if you ar
competent, impress the right people, meet the qualifications and
stay on top of things you'll be rewarded, and there's no such
thing as a free lunch. these grown up truths claim the right to
replace my childish notions that there is mystery at work in the
world, a profound order we can speak of only in images: that
speaking truth is best, evil gets it in the end, love conquers
all, death is only sleep when the One who is willing to die for
love comes along and kisses us, and that Someone loves me in my
ugly beastness and through that love I will someday be fully,
perfectly human. Given the choice, i will take my fairy tales
over my dull, bookkeepping adult world, thank you.

The gospel is the most marvelous of all fairy tales. But it is
not a tale of imaginary elves and dragons. The gospel is reality,
truth, the fulfillment of all human hopes and desires to be saved
from the world and even from ourselves by some benevolent fairy
god mother, some prince, some princess, someone whose love is
pure, whose invincible goodness is stronger than the evil of the
wicked witch. We know within the child in us all that without
that fairy tale hope we don't have a hope in the world.

The gospel is the mystery of God, told in a foolish tale as real
as death, lies, envy, pride, ressurrection, hope, love, grace and
truth: a mystery only a child would believe. Or an adult who is
not ashamed to admit the truth about the emperor's new clothes
and himself."