The Wrath of God

A merciful god, tender, inclusive, tolerant of all...free of wrath...is a soft, "femmy" god without gravitas and unworthy of worship. The God of the Bible is a God of Wrath and of Mercy. His wrath is not against the sinner, whom He loves, but against sin which he detests...which he absolutely does not tolerate...which he takes upon himself and destroys. It is helpful to view the passion and crucifixion of Christ as the final and complete expression of God's wrath. But it is not just the wrath of the Father. Rather, the Son shares fully in this wrath and so he enters into his passion, not just in weakness and passivity like a lamb and victim, although he does surrender in humility and obedience. No, the other side is that our Savior despises sin and enters his passion and death as a champion enters into battle. He despises sin. He absolutely un-tolerates sin. He completely vanquishes sin, guilt and death. He is our champion, riding into hell to deliver us, fearless and reckless and aflame with anger at sin and Satan and the entire realm of darkness. The Catholic iconography of the passion...stations of the cross, sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, bloodied body on the crucifix, Gibson's "Passion"...easily lead the imagination into a feeling of sadness, defeat, and despair. But when Christ talked with Moses and Elijah about his passion on the mountain of the transfiguration, they were not melancholic! They were exultant about this event of unexcelled love: love of Jesus for his Father and for us. But it was also an event of unequaled vigor, passion, strength and triumph: the absolute defeat of sin, death, guilt and the kingdom of darkness. And so, our Church needs more Wrath, more anger against the Darkness, more aversion to sin! Our love for the sinner will be in proportion to our hatred of sin! Our Yes to God will be as strong as our No to Satan! Just like our baptismal promises! Let us pray that our Love and all our loves be fortified by our wrath and hatreds of the Dark Side!