Never Stop Getting Up
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent – March 23, 2015
A MONK VISITED ABBA SISOES and told him he had fallen from grace. “What should I do, Abba?”
Sisoes replied, “Get up again.”
After a while, the monk returned to ask, “What can I do now? For I have fallen again.”
“Get up again,” the old man said to him, “Never stop getting up.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 386]
We are too easily overcome by our failures. We are too quick to think of our own sin as unforgiveable, as – what MUST be so – the pinnacle of all sin.
We live with a human economy of grace – which does not really represent God’s grace at all – that believes God’s resources are limited, that there is a scarce supply of God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s forgiveness. It is, in fact, a flaw in our thinking from which it is very difficult to recover.
Jesus’ disciples spoke from that same framework of scarcity: “How many times should I forgive the one who sins against me? Seven times?” (Mt. 18:21 – 22). Everything has its limits, you know!?!
But God is fundamentally generous. In fact, God is endlessly generous, so that no matter how much God gives away, God always has more to give. There are no limits nor bounds to the extravagance of God. This is the nature of grace. This is the nature of mercy.
So if this is how life is with God, why should we not “get up again” after we fall? Why would any failure be final? Why should any sin keep us groveling in the mud?
The contemporary version of this ancient story has a pilgrim going on retreat to the monastery. After 24 hours or so at the monastery, she notices that the monks pray several times a day, but she sees no discernible evidence of them at other times of the day. So she gathers her courage and whispers her question to one of the monks after prayer: “What do you do all day in the monastery?”
He answers her simply, “We fall down and we get up . . . we fall down and we get up . . . we fall down and we get up.”
It’s actually a beautiful rhythm for life.
A MONK VISITED ABBA SISOES and told him he had fallen from grace. “What should I do, Abba?”
Sisoes replied, “Get up again.”
After a while, the monk returned to ask, “What can I do now? For I have fallen again.”
“Get up again,” the old man said to him, “Never stop getting up.”
[Bernard Bangley, By Way of the Desert, p. 386]
We are too easily overcome by our failures. We are too quick to think of our own sin as unforgiveable, as – what MUST be so – the pinnacle of all sin.
We live with a human economy of grace – which does not really represent God’s grace at all – that believes God’s resources are limited, that there is a scarce supply of God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s forgiveness. It is, in fact, a flaw in our thinking from which it is very difficult to recover.
Jesus’ disciples spoke from that same framework of scarcity: “How many times should I forgive the one who sins against me? Seven times?” (Mt. 18:21 – 22). Everything has its limits, you know!?!
But God is fundamentally generous. In fact, God is endlessly generous, so that no matter how much God gives away, God always has more to give. There are no limits nor bounds to the extravagance of God. This is the nature of grace. This is the nature of mercy.
So if this is how life is with God, why should we not “get up again” after we fall? Why would any failure be final? Why should any sin keep us groveling in the mud?
The contemporary version of this ancient story has a pilgrim going on retreat to the monastery. After 24 hours or so at the monastery, she notices that the monks pray several times a day, but she sees no discernible evidence of them at other times of the day. So she gathers her courage and whispers her question to one of the monks after prayer: “What do you do all day in the monastery?”
He answers her simply, “We fall down and we get up . . . we fall down and we get up . . . we fall down and we get up.”
It’s actually a beautiful rhythm for life.
Comments
Post a Comment