Blessed Are the Distant
Tomáš Halík on Folks On the Fringes
Tomáš Halík begins chapter two of Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing in Us a thought about Jesus presence in this world, “the world Jesus entered appeared sickly, empty, and inward-looking—a world without heart (14).” It was a world of hypocrisy, decadence, exclusion, hypocrisy, and many “felt abandoned like sheep without a shepherd. And Jesus Himself cannot find a home in such a world; he has nowhere to lay his head. That is another reason,” according to Halík, “why he speaks above all to people on the fringes and identifies with them (14).”
Halík’s central story for reading the ministry of Jesus is the story of Zacchaeus half-hidden away up a tree, apart from the crowds, and timid to step into the circle of attention. It is in the center of attention where “hangers on” and eager disciples (perhaps another way of calling them is: Johnny Come Lately, or something funnier) try to chum up next to Jesus. This is the shape of typically religiosity—people impressed by Jesus yet who are all too eager to simplify, codify, legalize, and institutionalize through exclusion the ways one is permitted to love and follow Jesus. But as Halík reminds us, “Jesus’s entire ministry. His teachings and His actions, could be characterized using Nietzsche’s expression ‘reevaluating values (15).” Thus the ENTRE sermon of the Mount, for which Halík puts one of its phrases in his own words, Blessed are you on the fringes, for you shall be at the center, at the heart! And according to Halík this is what Jesus did in summary! Another way of saying this is to simply say that Jesus included marginalized and unpredictable types at His table and there He, as host, sat amongst all!
Part of what concerns Halík is how we think about and thus how we treat those who are on the margins of faith. While he is open to discussing those on the fringes of society due to injustice, as he does with his glosses over liberation theology, his primary interest is in those who are on the margins because of doubt, perpetual seeking, uncertainty, or simply those who find faith challenging. Halík is concerned with what many call secularity. The first approach to all such folks is patterned by Jesus and introduced above: solidarity. There is no communication, teaching, service, nor is there any ministry, or even proper being human without first being with folks who are different than you! The second approach, and one which will serve pastors, priests, teachers, spiritual directors, evangelists, and indeed, every one of faith and good will is the approach of the spirit of seeking. And this does not simply mean that we are able to “notice” the spirit of seeking where it occurs—we must be and inhabit the act of seeking in our own lives.
Halík praises “the beginner’s mind” as it has been taught in Eastern traditions, which is akin to the many post-Ted Lasso meme’s that now suggest curiosity over judgment:
Let the people say: Amen! Halík writes further, “and our closeness to the seekers ought also to teach us openness; we don’t have to solely think about having to teach and edify them—we can also learn a great deal from them (18).” Such an approach pushes back against the temptations for what he calls “baroque triumphalism” which results in arrogance and ultimately a limit to our own growth and transformation. “If we can understand,” says Halík, “or distant God—including those who have been led to reject religion because of that experience—it can help us achieve a more mature form of faith than the naive and vulgar theism that is rightly criticized by atheists (20).”
Ultimately, solidarity with seekers, as Halík describes it can be an incredibly healthy thing for the faithful, spiritually! I write this reflection in the wake of a conversation with my wife. She told me a story about an interaction my daughter had with one of the faithful in our world. My daughter said she wanted to see the new film Wicked but we have not yet taken her. My wife overheard this dear one say to our daughter, “and your mom is right not to take you. You do not need wicked things in your life,” we are at this point unsure whether or not this person knew of the musical, film, or books, “as a Christian you need to be on guard about what ideas you put into your head,” this person asserted to our daughter. “Oh no,” my daughter replied, “Wicked is about,” and then she went on to explain the narrative’s meaning and her past engagement with it and so on. But her explanation fell on deaf ears. My daughter (and my wife) thankfully find themselves following Halík’s wisdom—they are not closed off to seekers, questions, expressions of the heart, or even those who are not firmly in the center of attention…sidling up to Christ! And that openness not only offers its own pedagogy in making their faith stronger, richer, more compelling, but it is also the best chance that they will be able to call those in the margins to find a seat at heart of the table, right next to Christ, the host!