Comments

20 responses to “Grace and the Frog”

1. 

   Byron

   April 24, 2015

   As ever, many thanks, Father! It can be surprisingly difficult to be grateful and joyful. I think I need to get a t-shirt with a frog on it that says “mitzvah”. How fun would that be? Might be a good conversation starter too.

2. 

   Byron

   April 24, 2015

   Grammar note: It looks like “eats” is misspelled in the below sentance from the parable.

   “When that creature is hungry it takes me and etas me.”

3. 

   ajt

   April 24, 2015

   This is a most difficult word. It is much easier to think of our work as prayer or going to church or reading the bible or anything that requires action. Much more difficult when we realize it’s not the work, but an inner condition of our heart in the midst of the work…that of thanksgiving. I find it very difficult to be thankful in my work. Thank you, Father, for reminding me of my purpose.

4. 

   Joseph

   April 24, 2015

   Amen.

5. 

   Steve Allen

   April 24, 2015

   Fr. Stephen,

   I have been thinking about a lot of what you say, and I admit I am very drawn to its power. I share most of your articles, and I find them very refreshing.

   I do, however, have a question that I haven’t quite been able to put into words until now, prompted by your statement, “[God] does not make us into His debtors.”

   How do we explain — or rather, integrate — the statements of our Lord regarding our forgiveness of others’ debts — specifically, that if we do not forgive others, our own debts will not be forgiven, and we will be cast into prison until we have paid the last farthing?

   How, then, can it be said that “[God] does not make us His debtors”? God does make us. And by virtue of said making we are, by default (pun intended), His debtors.

   Surely He doesn’t require this debt of us immediately, but that doesn’t mean we don’t owe it. And if we do not forgive others their debts, He will not (continue to) forgive us ours. Thus we pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

   How do we integrate this with Eucharistic thought? (It’s clearly meant to be.)

6. 

   Fr. Stephen Freeman

   April 24, 2015

   Steve,
   Very good questions.

   Let’s start with our very existence. You noted that “God made us.” Indeed, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” He also made Satan and the other fallen angels – and sustains them in existence. The gift of existence is indeed a gift, and He does not repent of giving it. If a gift creates a debt, it is not a gift. He would be the “Lender of life,” and not the “Giver of life.”

   If we make debtors of others (by not forgiving them), we will find ourselves in a state of being in which we are bound by such debts. There is no freedom in debt. If we do not forgive our debtors, our own debts remain. But this is not because God is holding it over us and punishing us by not forgiving our debts. It’s simply that the reality of freedom will not be known by us because we have given ourselves over to the world of debt.

   “Freely you have received, freely give.”

7. 

   Robert Bearer

   April 24, 2015

   ” . . . any deed done in joyful fulfillment of the commandments of Christ could be called a mitzvah. And the mitzvah of the frog is like the great mitzvah of Christ – a voluntary self-offering. This is the very nature and character of Eucharistic existence.

   . . . Anything that can be done with grateful thanksgiving becomes a point of communion with God.”

   Thank you, Father. This is how an Orthodox Jew understands the keeping of God’s commandments–the doing of His mitsvoth. It is one reason he finds it to understand our claim of being no longer “under law” and of being freed from its “curse.” On his behalf, I truly appreciate your characterizing a mitsvah as an ascetic obedience. The original chassidim and 2 of the 7 types of Pharisees (those “reverence for Heaven” and “of love”–e.g. Nicodemos and the noble Joseph of Arimathaea?) would have also agreed.

   As you say, “living with a Tradition, a primarily Biblical Tradition, can make for frequent sameness.” Indeed, more than we typically are wont to admit.

   May that kinship of Tradition (e.g. the early Pirkei avoth) help tear back down the wall of division between us who rejoice in the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Holy Trinity and those observant children of avinu Abraham, who have not yet been able to see them in their brilliance.

   Christ is risen.
   rlb

8. 

   Steve Allen

   April 24, 2015

   I think I understand. Again, forgive me….I am simply having trouble understanding what the Lord meant when He said, “neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”.

   He did not say, “You will remain bound to the debt obligations you do not release.” He says, “Your Father will not forgive you.” Implying, then, that there are debts we owe, and that they will not be forgiven, because the Father will not forgive them.

   If His giving of existence is without obligation, how then can He require anything of us? And yet He does require many things, not least of which is obedience to the Gospel. If one does not obey the Gospel, He will take vengeance in flaming fire, punishing with everlasting destruction from His face. By what right can He do this if we have no obligation to Him?

9. 

   MichaelPatrick

   April 24, 2015

   ajt, you aptly note that dealing with the “inner condition of our heart in the midst of the work” is more difficult than the work itself.

   I agree. But I’m encouraged, too, because doing that is so practical!

   Giving thanks in any situation is like turning a key — a simple (not easy) matter that’s well within our control.

   We can thank God anytime for anything and when we do our very being becomes a prayer offering, especially when it is difficult.

   Please pray for me to cultivate this habit. I will be praying the same for you and the others fortunate to be blessed by this blog because it reminds us of our present inheritance in Christ.

10. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    April 24, 2015

    Steve,
    Yes. I understand the questions. What I’m offering is an interpretation that moves beyond a literal reading. We do this at any number of points. We do not literally “hate our father and mother,” even though we’re told that unless we do so we will not inherit the Kingdom.

    “Neither will He forgive” is a statement that has to be understood in some depth. That understanding will rightly take us to what I have said. That is the Tradition of the faith.

11. 

    Greg Davis

    April 24, 2015

    The parable of the frog is indeed illuminating. However, the idea that, “Apparently, living with a Tradition, a primarily Biblical Tradition, can make for frequent sameness,” is misleading. Orthodox Christianity is the religion of the Bible; Judaism (at least Orthodox Judaism) is the religion of the Talmud, which usurps the Bible. The Biblical religion leads to the affirmation of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ; the Talmudic religion leads to something very different indeed.

12. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    April 24, 2015

    Greg,
    I have not asserted otherwise. But the Talmud is deeply rooted in the Scriptures, but without the right interpretation that comes only in Christ. But, if you read things such as the Sayings of the Baal Shem Tov, you would have to admit that my observation is correct. I think it is quite incorrect, even anachronistic to say that the Talmud “usurps” the Bible. Some of the earliest portions of the Talmud are older than certain portions of the Old Testament. Christ had clear criticisms of certain things that would come to be part of Talmud. But I think your characterization of the Talmud and the Bible (Tanakh) in Orthodox Judaism is simply wrong. No Orthodox Jew would agree with your characterization. The Talmud, for them, is a weighty commentary on the Scriptures, something with which they debate and through which they interpret and understanding – but they would never agree that it is a substitute.

13. 

    Dino

    April 25, 2015

    Perhaps Greg’s assertion might be based on the fact that the Talmud’s “Oral Law” (severely criticised by our Lord when He said, “By the traditions of your elders you make void the Word of God.”) now contains such extremely blasphemous verses amongst its other collected writings that it’s (as Saint Paisios used to say) like a couple of fine fried eggs with some bird droppings in, i.e.: it’s no good to eat…

    [here’s some pretty horrid examples I would not like to repeat, for anyone contesting this: ]
    Rosh Hashanah 17a
    Sanhedrin 107b,
    Shabbath 104b, (Hebrew Edition only)
    Gittin 57a,
    Shulkan Arukh, Yoreh De ‘ah, 158, (Hebrew Edition only)
    Sotah 47a
    Sanhedrin 106a

14. Frogs and Saints | Ona Kiser

    April 25, 2015

    […] one opens a very true and lovely blog post about gratitude which is so very worth reading. The opening quotation, however, set me off on a […]

15. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    April 25, 2015

    Dino and Greg,
    Of course these things are true. I simply found it beside the point and unnecessary to bash Orthodox Jews. Let it be.

16. 

    Dino

    April 25, 2015

    Of course Father, that goes without saying.

17. 

    Greg Davis

    April 25, 2015

    Not bashing anyone, just pointing out one of the critical, indeed crucial, differences between Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. One leads to eternal life in Christ, the other to the rejection of the only True God and Savior.

18. 

    Fr. Stephen Freeman

    April 25, 2015

    Greg. Yes. That was never a question here.

19. 

    Greg Davis

    April 25, 2015

    The assertion of “a primarily Biblical Tradition,” which “can make for frequent sameness” was what caught my attention. Orthodox Judaism is not “primarily Biblical” it is “primarily” Talmudic; the Pharisees of the Lord’s time quoted the Scriptures in the same manner that the Talmud (from whom it is descended) has quoted them to this day.

20. 

    Lina

    April 27, 2015

    Years ago I was blessed to be taught to develop an “attitude of gratitude.” I am still working on it. Sometimes I forget.

    In the book, “The Enlargement of the Heart” by Archimandrite Zcharias, on page 56
    he writes, “But there is another way, for people living in the world: to keep thanking God continually, thus: I thank Thee, O Lord, for all the things that Thou hast done for me”, and then stating them. and finishing with “though I am unworthy.”