Not So Fast, Mr. Bond

And what of this heaping of coals upon the heads of our enemies? -- in Romans 12:20. Might it not be a reference to the custom of sending folks home with some friendly embers, as some have asserted? Well, it is an exegetical principle that we take our meaning not from coincidental custom, but from specific context. Paul is citing Proverbs 25:22, a book known for the poetic device of startling rhetorical contrasts – here it would be an antithetical, almost antiphrastic apposition. Thus, in close context, Pr 25:15: “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.” Again, the craving for justice is easy to find in the Bible, as in the imprecatory Psalms, e.g., “Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into pits, no more to rise!” (140:10) Hmm. Perhaps those "burning coals" are just part of some old custom.

As for Paul and his times, the custom of smelters, metal workers, was to heap coals not only below the metal, but upon it as well, and thus melt it. Refine me, O Lord. This enemy, then – what are we to do with him? We wash his feet, certainly the custom. And we place cosseted coals on his head, also perhaps the custom. Of course the language is symbolic – the opportunity does not always arise to do these things, and so the specifics are generalized. Shall Paul's "heaping" of coals be likened to the "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over," that Jesus talks about? (Lk 6:38) Yes, as the context proves: "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." (v. 36) But this in no way mitigates against the pain involved in Paul's imagery, contrasted with that of Jesus. The point, in Romans, is not hospitality, but transformation. Either we make a friend of an enemy, melt his recalcitrant heart, refine his enmity into amity, as Saul with David – or his iniquity will be confirmed, as was the hardness of the heart of Pharaoh … his malice will be the more inexcusable, his condemnation aggravated.

Again, we look at the language. To place coals in a bowl which might be transported on the head is one thing. To heap them on the head is another. There's nothing especially generous about a necessarily small gift of a heap of coals on the head - coals are not hard to come by, and it is not niggardly to give something smaller than a small heap. Is Paul a careless writer? There are difficult passages in the Bible, no doubt, but the need to ransack the antiquarial archives to find an alternative explanation to the very clear image created by Paul’s words, seems to argue against the idea that love is sometimes harsh, and not “warm fuzzies,” not “cowardice” and certainly not “vengeance.” I never know how carefully anyone reads my little jottings, but I trust that those who looked at “What You Should Think about 9/11” have also read “Loving the Enemy” – in which I make a point, clearly, I hope: “That’s what lies at the heart of love – a yearning for the ultimate good.”

So what. I can make a case for my point? Bully for me. But the thing is, we are not told that God is Justice. We are not told that God is Mercy, nor Grace. What is it, that God is? There is a virtue that is specifically, and uniquely, Christian. Every faith that's not just some weird minor cult acknowledges and lauds the idea of love. But only one faith has identified God as Love. And it is in this, more than in any other thing, that we are to be perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

So everything that I have written here must withstand the test of meeting this requirement. And only as far as it approaches this standard, is it ultimately valid. And of course I fail. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong. There are degrees of rightness, and only at the extreme of the continuum do we find this commanded perfection. Gee, too bad for me, then, cursed, condemned to be wrong - or rather not fully right. But just because I cannot succeed, doesn't mean I will not strive. And if the expression, or manifestation, of my love is imperfect unto invisibility, yet will I continue to try.

Today, you see, I felt love, mildly. I saw, you see, a father with his little child. I jokingly said I was jealous. I wasn't, but it did bring home to me how much I miss that role. It also melted my hard heart, and reminded me of some important and neglected things. For some inexplicable reason I found myself opened up, slightly, wide enough to feel some small tenderness for the people around me. That's not so common nowadays, with me, for some inexplicable reason. I'm not a stranger to it. It just ends up being so painful. Look what it did to Jesus.

J