Who May Dwell?

                                                     Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

    Who may live on your holy mountain?

The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person
    but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
 who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.  (Psalm 15)

 

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3)

            Dwell… remain…live…

            To dwell, remain, or live in God’s sacred tent or holy mountain, one must have a blameless walk, do what is righteous, speak the truth, never slander, never do wrong to a neighbor, never cast slurs on others, despise evil people, honor those who fear the Lord, keep one’s oaths, lend money without interest, and never take a bribe. Always. Never. No sometimes or oopses allowed. In fact, sometimes and oops was the reason the high priest had to sacrifice on his own behalf before he could sacrifice on anyone else’s.

            If you read the Old Testament, you’ll probably note that even the best of the best (which weren’t always that great) didn’t dwell in the sacred tent/temple or dwell on the holy mountain: not Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua (though he might have spent more time near it than anyone else), David, Solomon (who built the Temple!), or any of the prophets.

            Our automatic response – if we want to dwell in His sacred tent or on His holy mountain is to buckle down and work. I remember hearing that some of the “Founding Fathers” of America tried this idea, working to build the virtues into their lives. When they decided they had one virtue nailed down, they started on another, but quickly found that they lost the first. Each item on this list is impossible for us.

But Jesus proved Himself worthy and then He goes beyond that to extend grace to those who aren’t worthy. He even held a comparatively civil conversation with Satan while Satan was tempting Him in the wilderness. As I write these words, I find myself wondering whether they’re really true. There were times when Jesus seems to come close (at least) to slurring the Pharisees, Sadducees, the emperor, and Peter. I suspect my definition of “slur” is off.

Another thought that comes to mind comes from the verse from Isaiah 53 above. Normally, I think we associate not esteeming Jesus with His appearance as He hung on the cross. But I can’t recall ever hearing of a study that examined Jesus in terms of the seven lively virtues:  prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude with the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. There probably are studies, but I suspect there’s not as popular as a study of Jesus’s commission of the seven deadly sins would be, if such a thing existed. A study of Jesus’ virtues would be boring to us, I think. It would be unrelatable.

This is one of the challenge writers face. We’re told to give our characters a weakness and to make them relatable. Unfortunately, many writer seem to think that if one weakness is “good” then “the more the merrier,” and we end up reading about characters who have cheated on their spouses, are addicted, can’t keep a job, are undisciplined and out of shape…and the list goes on. It’s not a new idea – the various pantheons of gods are basically ancient soap operas, with lots of adulterous trysts, betrayals, and intrigues. Would we be interested in a TV or book series in which one or more of the characters was without a vice or weakness? Some might suggest Superman, but Clark Kent is a lie.

I wonder if the reason we held Him in low esteem is because He wasn’t flawed.